Some of the shops require that the card be a credit card. For those, I use my debit card as a credit card and I haven't encountered any problems.

@SunnyDays2 wrote:

Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought techman did 20 a day?

I remember one thread where he claimed having performed over 50 shops in a day. Don't know if any/all were gas stations though.

I've never seen any requiring a credit card and not a debit card. I also don't shop for the company with the lion's share of gas audits these days.

After I ran into CC denial after 2 uses per day I switched to Co gift cards. No problems with them.
I pay cash for the store item.

One of the brands I shop allows for gift card use for in store purchase. I LOVE this option because they have always voluntarily given the receipt unlike when I pay in cash so I am less likely to forget an important receipt.

I ran into problems last time I was completing a route, the card was being declined but not by
the CC company. This time I"ll get a gift card and avoid any issues at all. Wow you guys kill it.
I do four and I'm ready to go home. LOL

@schristy33 wrote:

@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.

Yes, I agree that could be true. I believe that Bill and many others have brought in that much in a month shopping stations. Whether that can happen depends on where you are working (what's available), how many shoppers there are (the competition), and how hard you're willing to work (your personal grit level). A high one month total does not equate to superiority or best paid overall.

I use my debit card. I was called the one day I did several gas shops from my bank's debit card fraud service. I explained the situation and they said no problem.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/2015 11:00PM by cjbstar.

5 shops max for the shops where you fill up your car, more if I have another car to use. For the audits, I think 7 is the limit. I could do more but after awhile, I get bored and tired.

Sunoco definitely flags a card if used more than once or twice. It's not the banks so much as the gas brands that flag the cards.

I could comfortably do 9 a day. I could push it to 20 in one day if I was feeling like a challenge. Often I will do as others at 4 to 6 a day with other shops mixed in. I use my debit card and never had a problem. My favorite are the ones where the attendant refuse the audit in a nice way. I take my 4 shots and leave. sometimes across the street as I don't want to be on the property after being refused the audit. Saves me time on both site time and report.

I did 20 in a day once, but only because some had nightime requirements and that was the only way to fit them into my schedule (they were all far away and bonused.) Otherwise, I would never have attempted so many. I always select the debit option at the pump if it's available (and allowed by the MSC,) because that doesn't trigger the limit. I now carry another debit/credit card and a regular credit card as backups for when my main card is no longer accepted as a credit card. If all else fails, I just go inside and pay cash, and then explain it in the report. It's extra work, but I have never had a problem with the big gas station MSC.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/2015 12:36AM by mystery2me.

Pump it directly into your gas tank. Leave the station. Use a siphon to move the fuel into an external gas can. All rules have been met unless your state prohibits transporting more than "x" gallons in external gas cans.

That won't work on every car. Mine has a block. But its a good idea and I bought a siphon intending to empty out my car when I got home so I could work again the next day. Good idea that failed.

I cannot do that either, Mary.

Most newer cars have a siphon block so that is no longer an option.

Just wandering in to keep track of this. Free gas is a good thing.

I have a little experience and will share from it.

I have little time for shops, audits, etc. This discourages large batches/quantities and long routes.
Some shops take me where I want to go and regardless of how much/little they pay, I must have those shops! This is my personal value. Once, I wanted to see x place during x season. Non-bonused but quick-to-complete shops were available. I nabbed those shops, went to x place during x season and was delighted. In future, I may care less about where the shops are as long as they combine into doable small routes. If lucky, someday I may have the privilege of waiting for bonused shops of all types and doing only those. I dare to comtemplate the day when I am available for long routes of one type of task or a variety of tasks. As preparation for that time, I read information on this forum and elsewhere and store it away for future reference.

Will your route be only additive in your world? Will there be any impact that you can foresee? Here are 3 basics for work planning. 1. Read all the information that the shoppers share about all kinds of tasks because some of it may apply as is to your situation and some may be modified to suit your needs. Some word or phrase may give you an inspiration for how to do something in your work. 2. Remember your obligations. Will a long or intense working session result in too little time or energy for people, exercise, renewal, contemplation, etc. 3. Speaking of time, consider that you may need more or less time for each assignment based on weather, road and travel conditions, equipment conditions, etc.

The determining factors for me are travel time and my experience level with the particular client. Motivation also plays a role: if I am away from a home I will work longer hours to be more productive.

Something no one has talked about is how to be more efficient. Here's what I mean: I am constantly looking for ways to shave time off my field time. If I am stopped at a red light at the intersection in front of the station, I am already making observations while I wait. During the 12 seconds it takes to pump my gas, I'm checking the paper towels, windshield fluids, and for bad lights. While I wait in line for the cashier, I am looking at the register area, any required POP, and interior condition. Before I leave my house, I have my route ordered sequentially, with my cheat sheet pre-filled with address, ID number and any notes about the location. I make sure I have one credit card for every two shops; otherwise I already have a gift card in my wallet. I have a fully charged backup battery and backup SD card. The appropriate number of gas cans are in the trunk to accommodate the fuel purchases that won't fit in my tank. If I forget something, I "write myself up" and punish myself by cutting something out of the budget for that month or depriving myself of something fun I had planned. Acknowledging my own shortcomings is the only way I can correct them and become a better person!

I don't cut corners, but by being smart about my time, I've gotten my average time to the following:

Shell: daytime 12 minutes or less; nighttime 15 minutes or less (shopping since 2009)
Exxon: 12 minutes or less (shopping for 10+ years)
BP: 15 minutes or less (shopping since 2009)
Valero: 8 minutes or less

When out of town, I've done 25 Shell audits in a day, broken up into two shopping periods so the reporting doesn't kill me. If I'm doing local stores, I usually stop at 10.

Experience: I've done hundreds, if not thousands, of each of these audits. I don't need to review the guidelines. I know every single scenario, every exception, and I take a few extra photos onsite that can be zoomed in just in case something dawns on me while I am doing my report.

I try to set myself up in a similar fashion, because I'm a bit of an efficiency freak. How long did it take you to get the shop times down, and how much time do you allow for travel per shop?

How long would be a realistic amount of time if you're a newbie?

AND can pictures be just resized and then uploaded? scanning adds extra steps since they don't wind up in my computer's pictures section.

I've done 14 in a single day with a couple of retail shops thrown in as long as I was going right by anyway. I do the reports in order of how I did the shop so the reports are always within the window of time.

Wow Jonk I'm impressed. Thanks for the tips. The most I've completed is 13 but I've found the more you complete the faster you complete future audits. You will develop a routine. Also taking extra pictures for reference and just in case you miss anything. I love auditing stations.

Jonk, good job on trimming those times.

@SunnyDays2 wrote:

Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought techman did 20 a day?

I just recently did 39.....but who's counting

Next time you go in somewhere and need a POV you can get a reloadable Debit card for a few
bucks. Use that for some of your gas shops. I have seen those cards everywhere. If you do a lot
of different bank shops get an account if it doesn't cost much if anything. That means you will be
staying away from B.O.A. With chase if you are former military a copy of your DD214 will get
you a free account or it would last year.

I do a lot of gas station shop for MF. I wait until they get 20.00 a shop maybe more since there is a lot of their stations where nobody wants to go. But now I see they are doing something new. They are charging 9-10 dollars a shop they will pay up to 5.00 reinbursment. But you have to buy at least 2 gallons of gas and something in the store. I called them on it that where I am from Washington state gas is right now 2.80 a gallon average. So if you buy 2 gallons of gas that is 5.60 and buy something in a store for 2.00. You are eating into your profit margin. I asked them about it and they told me that I didn't need to buy 2 gallons of gas. But if you read the instructions it says if you buy less than 2 gallons of then your shop is invalid. So what gives??? Your thoughts.

I had to use a gas can with the pump test shops in OR because it was a little telling asking for $7
of gas from the attendant.