Some MSCs seem to change shops to self-assignment as the deadline nears. Some seem to make it an option for the scheduler. Just last week, I was able to self-assign shops for Bare in NJ, and they got done. I applied for shops in Pennsylvania (different scheduler) and they never responded, and I eventually removed them when it got too late in the day for them to be feasible for me to do. Ath Power also seems to have a mixture of self assign and request, and the only pattern (not 100%) I have seen is that near the deadline, some will turn into self-assign which had been apply. Those are the two MSCs which I see this issue to most often.
The issue of Applications just sitting there has been addressed as parts of other threads. I have learned to do what others do. I try to include a "need to know by date" in my request. I always record ones I have applied for, and when it gets to a point where I can not longer wait to find out, I make sure that I delete them. Once in awhile I forget to delete one, and - Murphy's Law - it gets assigned to me 45 minutes before the store closes and I am 60 minutes away on a route.
Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008