How I Got Free Beer & Made $5,000/Month By Auditing Liquor Stores

Professional Beer Buyer might not look good on a resume, but I’ll tell you it’s a kick ass job. If you have ever worked at a grocery store or a gas station you might know that there are undercover auditors who try to buy beer or cigarettes just to see if you ask for their ID.

Yeah – I’m that guy.

For the last year I’ve worked as a compliance auditor trying to buy cigarettes and beer from unsuspecting cashiers at places like Wal-Mart, Winn-Dixie, Exxon Mobil, and others. My job is to observe whether the cashier asks for my ID, which most do.

Regardless of whether they ask me for my ID, I have to buy the beer, submit the receipt, and fill out a quick report in order to get paid for the audit. All of this is done with the hopes of re-training the cashiers who aren’t checking IDs before they get caught by a different kind of auditor. The kind that carries handcuffs.

How to Become an Alcohol Compliance Auditor

1. You’ve got to be between 18-30 for this job. Sorry dad.

2. Fill out an application with the following auditing companies: Corporate Research, The Source, & Sinclair Customer Metrics. They are the middle men. Companies like Wal-Mart hire them to audit all of their stores around the country. They hire you, collect your report, and then pass it on to the brass upstairs.

3. Each site may ask you to take a small test before getting hired. They are pretty easy, but if you can’t spell your own last name than you might consider a different job.

4. After you’ve been hired (only takes a day or two) you can start searching for assignments. The assignments are self-assigned meaning that you get to pick which stores you want to audit. Depending on your state, there might be hundreds of locations for you to choose from. You can audit one of them or you can audit all of them.

5. Submit your report. The reports only take about 5 minutes to complete and they require that you upload a scanned copy of your receipt. Each assignment pays between $5 and $30 with the average being somewhere in the middle. However, I have had jobs pay up to $50 for locations where the company has had a tough time finding an auditor. The company will also reimburse you for any purchase that they required.

6. Drink the beer. Well, technically that’s not required in order to get paid. Consider that a bonus.

Good luck Penny Hoarders!