Pinecone Research Downgrades Rewards

Formerly one of the best online survey companies because it paid $5 cash via PayPal for each completed survey, Pinecone has decided to follow the trend set by its competitors and lower its survey incentives. Pinecone will now offer $3 plus an entry in its cash sweepstakes (does anyone ever win these?) as a reward for completing each survey.

For me, $5 was barely worth it. Some of the surveys I took were tedious, requiring me to answer what felt like way too many questions about my propensity to use a particular product. To me, the downgrade in Pinecone's offerings says that they do not think highly of their panel participants and want to pay them as little as possible. $3 is still a higher payment than offered by many other survey companies, which only offer points that can supposedly eventually be redeemed for cash or other prizes, but with an incentive that doesn't even allow me to buy a gallon of gas or a gallon of milk, I don't feel compelled to remain part of the panel.

Photo by eflon