I'm so curious. How do you do so many gas stations in a route? What do you do when you get that next station and you can't fit in $5 more gas? I see quite a few in my county but don't see it as being possible.

I do a lot of gas stations. I own 2 vehicles that I switch back and forth with and sometimes I will swap with my daughter and fill her tank as well. Most times I do not purchase the maximum that they will reimburse. Quite often I will only purchase 1, 2 or 3 dollars of gas.

A few times during a route I've had to put just a few cents of gas in! Sometimes I'll bring a gas can too, but that's pretty stinky.

Don't let the MSC know you use a gas can - the MSC does not allow it, even though it is not specifically listed in the guidelines

@SadieBelle wrote:

I'm so curious. How do you do so many gas stations in a route? What do you do when you get that next station and you can't fit in $5 more gas? I see quite a few in my county but don't see it as being possible.

If you are doing routes with one car, you should know how many gallons of gas the car takes. You should strategically average out how many gallons you are going to put in tank from each station. While $2 is good, there is nothing that says you have to put $5 in. If you are paying at the pump, $2 is possible, even when the station has a sign up inside, saying something about ....miniumun CC $5.

Decide how many stations are in your route. And base you amount on that. You do need enough gas in the car to complete your route and get back home. OR maybe you should go to the furtherest gas station first. and get the remaining route stations on your way back home.

good ideas!

can always be a good samaritan and pump gas into anothers car free if you can't fit any more in yours. Make sure you know when your doing said route and make sure your car has a little above what you need to get to first station and no more.

@BuffaloNY101 wrote:

can always be a good samaritan and pump gas into anothers car free if you can't fit any more in yours. Make sure you know when your doing said route and make sure your car has a little above what you need to get to first station and no more.

I've done this before (enteprise rented me a diesel pickup despite me specifically asking for a gas engine truck) and I even have had a few people refuse the free gas. Lol

Gas management is one of the hardest parts of the job. My wife gets angry at me because I leave her car nearly empty VERY frequently in anticipation of a route I have coming up in a couple days.

On the other hand, I've had time where I did the nice thing and bought strangers gas. They always act like they won the lottery when someone gives them $5 worth of gas. It's kind of funny.

One time, I had so little gas in my car that by the time I got to the first stop the gauge had read "0 miles to empty" for several miles. After putting in my $5 it still said the same thing. I was baffled. Apparently it takes more than 2 gallons to reset the system in my car. It was a scary ride to the next location, though.

A few times on a route, the gas attendant walked away and let the pump go way over the requested amount before I called him back. (NJ..we don't pump). It messed up my whole trip. I was out of pocket on that gas and could only get less at others. If you have enough gas in your car to start, be sure to go to the farthest station first. Do any other non-gas shops in between and hit the last ones on the way home so you come home with some or more gas than you left home with.

I wish i could figure out which company does the gas shops. I have been MSing for 3 years and am signed up with at least 30 companies and have never seen them. They must not be in my area but i would like to see if they are when i travel.

You can always do gas shops that don't require a gas purchase!

I am wondering what company does the red and white gas stations that start with 'S" ...... I already do some for the yellow and blue stations but would like to do some of these others anyone have a clue? I know you can only give me initials.... someone told me RBG does them but I never see it on the job board Help.

Thanks
Lisa

I don't think you will see those on job boards.

I simply start my route with very little gas in my car.... It's nice to finish a long day of shopping with a full tank of gas, which is totally reimbursed...

Just was curious what station was red and white and started with s. I googled and found this site. Wanted to share without naming so the msp could be named. here is the site link
[www.hoursguide.com]

If your tank is too full to get more gas, you can go inside and speak to the attendant. Just say that you want to surprise someone with some free gas and let the attendant pick out the gas pump. You still get the receipt. $5 in California is something like less than 2 gallons of gas. You can use the ruse that your debit card was not reading correctly and needed to go inside if the MSC questioned your receipt. They can tell if the receipt was printed from the register and the gas pump.

the station I was talking about begins with a S and ends with a y ....... I heard they are shopped but wasn't sure by who.

It's done internally....

@leicholtz wrote:

the station I was talking about begins with a S and ends with a y ....... I heard they are shopped but wasn't sure by who.

According to an old scheduler that handled this company's sister brand, they are no longer shopped. That was a couple of years ago though.

@leicholtz wrote:

the station I was talking about begins with a S and ends with a y ....... I heard they are shopped but wasn't sure by who.

I am currently out of their area, but they are not shopped as far as I know.

I carry gas cans.

If it's allowed, I've put premium gas in my car if I have more gas to buy than space to put it. I never believed a better octane would make any difference, but I notice a difference when I accelerate. I also have a lot of gas cans. Over the years I've amassed a collection, and can now store almost 80 gallons of gas in them.

Wow, I have 8-5 gallon cans. I thought that was a lot

Somebody would mistake you guys for preppers.

@booger66 wrote:

Don't let the MSC know you use a gas can - the MSC does not allow it, even though it is not specifically listed in the guidelines

That makes sense but I will pretend I didn't hear about it. Lots of people use gas cans to bring gas to their lawnmowers or boats and stuff.

Ive not been told what i can do in my car. its pretty obvious after 5 or 6 in a row

Unless it's in the guidelines, I don't care what they allow or disallow.
#guidelinesarescripture



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/11/2017 10:51PM by Hoju.

When I was doing routes, it was before being able to use the phone to enter reports on the fly. I would do the following:
1- Map out the route
2- Start with as little gas in the tank as possible to make it to the first station on the route
3- Carry 2 each 5 gallon gas cans
4- If the fuel purchase was based on dollars and not gallons, I would use premium if possible
5- Use gift cards for fuel purchase, so you don't run into credit card problems.
6- Have a cheat sheet for the evaluations, some of the MSC have forms themselves, but they are multi page, and a pain when doing many shops in a day.
7- carry a charger/ cables to make sure the camera/ phone battery has enough charge to make it through the day
8- Work smart, and get your system set so it takes a max of 20 minutes on site per location, including taking multiple photos if that's part of the shop. If possible, aim to be at 3 stations per hour

Doing this, depending on the client and route planned, I could complete anywhere from 20-30 stations per day, and wind up with a full tank of gas, full gas cans, a bunch of oil, windshield fluid, bottled water and snacks. I have a friend that has a car repair shop, and he would get the oil/ windshield fluid and any excess gas from the cans. He also kept the cans stored for me since I don't have a garage or shed.

I could not physically or mathematically do 20 to 30 shops a day. The ones I do average 25 to 30 minutes at the station plus 16 to 20 minutes for the report. At the upper end that is 50 minutes per shop plus travel time.That would make 25 hours for 30 shops plus travel time, and I can'r squeeze that into a day. The most I have done is 8 per day. In fact I just finished a route of 22 bonused shops. Three days, 8, 7 and 7 involving rush hour city traffic and tolls. These were long but profitable days for me and I will only do this type of route when I can negotiate bonuses. Congratulations to those of you that can do 20 or 30 stations in a day.