Gas Stations, how many can you do in a day?
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I generally don't do more than 6 in one day, but I have done other types of shops in addition. I can usually get the audit done in about 20 minutes and the report takes me about 15 minutes, not including the time it takes to upload all of the pics and scan the receipts.
Some of the stations run about twenty minutes on site, most run about thirty minutes, and the real cesspools can run forty five minutes or so. That's my average but I don't get in a hurry. How many can be done in one day depends on three things:
1. What kind of station - some inspections require more time than others.
2. The condition of the stations - pristine stations take less time than those not so well maintained.
3. Travel time.
What that all means is I can't answer your question. I've done as many as fourteen in one day but I don't recommend it.
Also, what are you calling a day? Some people might be thinking six hours, others might be thinking eight. I think from can to can't, as in how early I can get out and on the road and how long I can hold up to the grind.
I try to constantly work ahead of the curve. For example, if I have stations scheduled for a week and deadlined on Friday, I'll try to knock them out by Wednesday. I find I can often report some of them early the following morning with no blow back. Of course the plan doesn't always work but it always better to have a plan of some kind.
I don't burn out, but I do get tired and have to take breaks.
1. What kind of station - some inspections require more time than others.
2. The condition of the stations - pristine stations take less time than those not so well maintained.
3. Travel time.
What that all means is I can't answer your question. I've done as many as fourteen in one day but I don't recommend it.
Also, what are you calling a day? Some people might be thinking six hours, others might be thinking eight. I think from can to can't, as in how early I can get out and on the road and how long I can hold up to the grind.
I try to constantly work ahead of the curve. For example, if I have stations scheduled for a week and deadlined on Friday, I'll try to knock them out by Wednesday. I find I can often report some of them early the following morning with no blow back. Of course the plan doesn't always work but it always better to have a plan of some kind.
I don't burn out, but I do get tired and have to take breaks.
Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.
Fourteen in a day is amazing. That's 7 hours of auditing plus travel plus debriefing. Mary, you're a better shopper than me. I can do 3 or 4 stations and 3 or 4 shorter shops, perhaps banks, and that is my day. But then I like to leave around 9 am and return home in early afternoon, then do the de-briefing. I plan my month out in advance and like to work four days a week, keeping Friday open. It all depends what you want.
Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought techman did 20 a day? 
Sunny, I think twenty a day is certainly possible. On the day I did 14 those were out of town bonused shops reported the following day in accordance with arrangements made with the MSCs. My memory is that I shopped three brands for two MSCs on that run. I see no reason why a person couldn't do twenty if the stations were close enough together and the time window was long enough.
Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.
Not all gas station audits are the same.
There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind
At the moment only demons come to mind
Amen, b.
Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.
20, 14 - the most I have done is 6. Guess I'm just old, slow and lazy.
Jake, six is more than a good day if you report them the same day and you want to work regular hours. I like your plan of four banks and four stations a day, that's a solid plan and a measured way to work. I tend to work in spurts because I have something else that absorbs me totally when I'm into it. At those times I don't do this at all, or at least very little.
Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.
Five a day is my ideal number. I have done more, and sometimes I do less, but 5 is the number I am comfortable with. This leaves me time to do a FF breakfast, a lunch shop and maybe 2 or 3 other shops in between if needed.
Logistics play into how we plan our days. If memory serves, LIJake is successful working a smaller radius while Mary often has to plan a long route. For Jake the short day makes sense but Mary would be putting a lot of additional miles on her car and increasing her expenses. OTOH, my life is filled with a combination of the two, days with several hours on the road followed by reports that afternoon and others where it is a full day of route shopping followed by a day at home to catch up on reports.
Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
I'm in Boston. I have two routes on my list as of right now. Thankfully I have until the end of March because I'm not doing them in this weather.
Maritz called yesterday telling me I was behind on my 10% and I told her that my track record of never missing a deadline should be enough to make them feel better about the fact that I was going to get them done, but I'm not going out there when it's 26 below. She seemed relatively understanding.
Maritz called yesterday telling me I was behind on my 10% and I told her that my track record of never missing a deadline should be enough to make them feel better about the fact that I was going to get them done, but I'm not going out there when it's 26 below. She seemed relatively understanding.
______________________________________________________________________
Seriously, nobody cares that you're offended.
Seriously, nobody cares that you're offended.
In my area, Market Force would often have a bunch of people flake out on gas stations after rescheduling them to the very end of the quarter. Then they would either call me or put them up on the board at $50. My record was 14 of those for a $700 day. I always kept the last three days of the quarter free, "just in case". These end-of-quarter frenzies don't seem to be as common with Maritz.
Migrants, way to go!!
Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.
PDG, I'm in Texas and I can make the gas work in almost all cases. If I can't make it work totally, I can always pump a little less per station. None of my stations have a requirement to pump ALL of the reimbursable gas. Since January 1 I've probably left a total of less than $15.00 in gas at the pumps. Two of the negotiated GS bundles I did this year did not pump gas at all. So far this year I've driven over 3800 miles so I'm going through some gas. My goal is to not buy gas, to arrange my stations so that I get reimbursed gas. So far, so good.
Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.
@pdg wrote:
Where do you put all the gas?
My tank is about 13 gal and I have three 5 gal certified gas cans which I strap in the back of my SUV. Being I am back home every day my wife and son appreciate any overage.
@LisaSTL wrote:
If memory serves, LIJake is successful working a smaller radius while Mary often has to plan a long route.
You are absolutely right. Texas is a bit bigger than LI.
@migrants wrote:
In my area, Market Force would often have a bunch of people flake out on gas stations after rescheduling them to the very end of the quarter. Then they would either call me or put them up on the board at $50. My record was 14 of those for a $700 day. I always kept the last three days of the quarter free, "just in case". These end-of-quarter frenzies don't seem to be as common with Maritz.
Looks like its true then what Bill Bryan/Big T-Bone said about making $2700/month on bonused MF gas stations in the sticks.
Thank you, I never thought of gas cans. Chalk one up for me. I was so excited I booked 9 stations and each one was minimum of $5.00 at $1.99 a gal. The car takes 14 and was half full and the truck 3/4 at 20 gal in a 10 miles radius. I had to book shops to use the gas just so I could buy more. Live and learn.
I did 12 one time (all in the mid size town), but never again. That was also when gas was higher. I'd rather not do more than 6 in one day. Good thread, I always learn something when people respond with their different techniques.
Be sure to check the shop instructions. Some specifically prohibit using external gas cans.
Back when gas was $3.50/gallon, I could leave home with 1/4 tank, do 6 shops, and arrive back home with almost a full tank. Now it's really not feasible for me to do the shops where I have to make a gas purchase. OTOH, on the non-gas purchase shops, I can usually do 8-10 per day.
Then again, my business model changed late last year, so I have a different philosophy about accepting shops this year.
Back when gas was $3.50/gallon, I could leave home with 1/4 tank, do 6 shops, and arrive back home with almost a full tank. Now it's really not feasible for me to do the shops where I have to make a gas purchase. OTOH, on the non-gas purchase shops, I can usually do 8-10 per day.
Then again, my business model changed late last year, so I have a different philosophy about accepting shops this year.
.
Have PV-500 & willing to travel.
"Answers are easy. It's asking the right questions which is hard." (The Fourth Doctor, The Face of Evil, 1977)
"Somedays you're the pigeon, somedays you're the statue.” J. Andrew Taylor
"I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him." Galileo Galilei
Have PV-500 & willing to travel.
"Answers are easy. It's asking the right questions which is hard." (The Fourth Doctor, The Face of Evil, 1977)
"Somedays you're the pigeon, somedays you're the statue.” J. Andrew Taylor
"I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him." Galileo Galilei
The $5.00 minimum fuel purchase requirement is put in place to limit the number of shops that a shopper can perform in a single day. Other gas station shops reimburse up to $5.00. There is also the issue with credit cards being used at multiple locations in a single day, usually triggering a fraud alert and a denied transaction after using the same card two times in a 24-hour period. Multiple credit/debit cards have to be used to perform multiple gas station shops if the same brand is being shopped during a single day.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/2015 06:31PM by schristy33.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/2015 06:31PM by schristy33.
I've never had the debit/credit card problem. It's simply a matter of being proactive. When I know I'm going to be on a route, I let my bank know the day before and they put a notation on my card so it doesn't raise any red flags.
Now that I have a second account with the bank that includes a free safe deposit box, I had that card permanently set so that it can be used for gas shops, and I keep it in the safe deposit box. I get it the afternoon before I go and put it back the day after I finish the route.
Now that I have a second account with the bank that includes a free safe deposit box, I had that card permanently set so that it can be used for gas shops, and I keep it in the safe deposit box. I get it the afternoon before I go and put it back the day after I finish the route.
.
Have PV-500 & willing to travel.
"Answers are easy. It's asking the right questions which is hard." (The Fourth Doctor, The Face of Evil, 1977)
"Somedays you're the pigeon, somedays you're the statue.” J. Andrew Taylor
"I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him." Galileo Galilei
Have PV-500 & willing to travel.
"Answers are easy. It's asking the right questions which is hard." (The Fourth Doctor, The Face of Evil, 1977)
"Somedays you're the pigeon, somedays you're the statue.” J. Andrew Taylor
"I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him." Galileo Galilei
I know there are lots of station brands out there, but the one I do for the major GS MSC that has a $5.00 gas purchase does NOT require pumping the entire amount. It only requires pumping enough to test the operation of the pump and the ICR printout. Anyone who is being inhibited by the $5.00 gas pump requirement should check with their MSC and find out how it applies to their MSC and to the brand in question.
Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.
I always had good luck with using the brand's gift card. The only prohibition was the card could not be part of your required purchase on a shop. It also made my accounting easier.
Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
@James Bond 007.5 wrote:
I've never had the debit/credit card problem. It's simply a matter of being proactive. When I know I'm going to be on a route, I let my bank know the day before and they put a notation on my card so it doesn't raise any red flags.
Thanks, I appreciate the information. I just got off the phone with CS at Discover. I asked about any restrictions on my card being used at the pump, and explained that after using it two times within a 24-hour period, the transaction is declined. I was told that no transactions had been declined by Discover, and that the transactions in question must therefore have been declined at the pump, before any information from my card was sent to Discover. I was then informed that the brand that owns the pump is probably declining the transaction at the pump for their protection. This information is consistent with what the brand itself informed me. If the same credit card is used more than a set numnber of times in a 24-hour period it will be declined at the pump. This is true of other brands as well. I have six credit cards so I use different cards to avoid the limits set by the brand that owns the pumps. I have not tried using a debit card, and perhaps this problem isn't met with debit cards. I will give my debit card a try.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/2015 07:25PM by schristy33.
Without looking it up, I'm thinking I've easily used my debit card at one brand's stations for a dozen shops within 24 hours which would mean 24 actual transactions between the pump and inside purchases. I also had a route of 26 of another brand over two days and probably used my debit card for those as well.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/2015 07:29PM by LisaSTL.
Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/2015 07:29PM by LisaSTL.
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