so in one of my gas station inspections from yesterday, i mentioned in the report that there was no main ID sign. they never have you provide photos when there isn't a main ID. whoever reviewed my report kicked it back to me saying that the little blue price sign is a main ID, and they want me to drive all the way back to the location to get a photo of that. how is that a main ID? there's nothing that identifies the brand. what do you guys think? here's the photo
[i66.tinypic.com]

You're not going to like my answer.... but I definitely would've taken that photo and then reported in comments that its nothing else was branded, then let them decide. Always take "just in case" pictures for something like that.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/19/2018 01:38AM by tcurione.

Do you have any other photos that the sign is visible in? Perhaps you can zoom in on it from one of those?

@tcurione wrote:

You're not going to like my answer.... but I definitely would've taken that photo and then reported in comments that its nothing else was branded, then let them decide. Always take "just in case" pictures for something like that.

you are probably right, i just didn't think there was any way someone could call that a main id sign. i mean i've seen plenty of dinky main id signs, but that?

@Megs7521 wrote:

Do you have any other photos that the sign is visible in? Perhaps you can zoom in on it from one of those?

unfortunately i don't

I have a solution. Edit the photo by using the crop feature. By cropping the MID it will magnify and the rest of the station will be out of the picture. It should satisfy the editor and save you a trip back. If you need help in cropping, let me know.

@LIJake wrote:

I have a solution. Edit the photo by using the crop feature. By cropping the MID it will magnify and the rest of the station will be out of the picture. It should satisfy the editor and save you a trip back. If you need help in cropping, let me know.

hey man, i really appreciate you offering to help. i took your advice, and cropped the photo, so they should be happy with it. of course, i sent it through email, as when they first put it on hold, i got a little hot and just submitted it again saying there was no main ID sign, and what they saw wasn’t one.

Should be a happy ending. Stay cool

Am I the only one that just can’t seem to figure out from that picture where the little blue price sign is?
I come across those now and then, usually attached to the building or the canopy. I always get a pic but still write in the comments “NO MID.”

If it’s pushed back to you again, your other option is to just call and speak to a supervisor. I usually have luck getting them to override the editor and push it through.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/19/2018 10:06AM by Hoju.

Look on the right side. There is a blue price sign attached to a pole.

I agree it really is not an ID sign but rather a price sign. But I think it is easier to crop than argue.

Oh. That looked like a standard OSA to me in this little picture.

We now live in the age of "discreet signage". Sometimes, the signage is so discreet that one does not see it until after one has entered some newfangled, convoluted traffic pattern and cannot return to the discreet signage until one has successfully completed several annoying gyrations and, possibly, pissed off other drivers.

So, yeah. What they said. Always take extra pictures of everything, however unlikely it is to be helpful for your report.

This discussion is making me happy I do not do gas stations! I read the thread as I am always considering doing one but now the answer is nope, at least for a while.

@sandyf wrote:

This discussion is making me happy I do not do gas stations! I read the thread as I am always considering doing one but now the answer is nope, at least for a while.

Based on my own experience with gas stations, I feel like they are an “all or nothing” type of shop. Meaning people either do lots of them, or they don’t do any. IMO, it’s easier to do several of them rather than one here and there

I’ve learned with gas stations to take lots of pictures. You do have to do a lot of them to keep it fresh in your memory.

@Megs7521 has it right. You can't dabble it in. It's either your bread and butter or you're wasting a lot of time.

Even if there is not an apparent MID in your opinion, yet you find a sign of some sort, anything with pump prices, a sandwich sign, or something similar (like yours), snap a photo and submit it or, at least file it in your site photo folder. Let them (the editors) decide what is what.

In your situation, LIJake is correct, crop the photo and submit it. I've had to do that where the editor asked about a yard sign in the overall. I cropped the overall (using free PhotoScape software) and submitted. Don't argue about it, that never works.

I once did a "Green" gas station, where, like most gas station shops, it had a required photo of the MID. This particular station had 2 of them. I submitted the MID photo. I remembered that somewhere in the guidelines, for "Green" stations, the shopper should take photos of ALL the MIDs present at the site. The only reason I did not submit the second MID was that I did not wish to confuse the editing process. "Let them ask," I told myself. In the overall photo, the editor saw the second MID and asked for its photo. Submitted and all was good!

BTW, in the past, I submitted my overall photo of everything, MID, canopy, pumps, etc. Often, when taking the overall to include everything, it was almost impossible with out crossing or standing in the middle of a busy highway. In my comments, I said as much.
The editor messaged me, stating that they would rather just have the Cstore, canopy and gas pumps. I could exclude the MID if necessary. Since then, I do not cross streets and hardly ever include the MID in my overall shot.

I think your overall photo is great. Apparently, your situation arose because you took it from across the street in order to include everything. They saw that little blue sign on the pole.

Just saying.....

PS, one of my Rules of Thumb is: As the distance from your home base increases, take more photos.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/20/2018 01:33PM by French Farmer.

The editor is confused as to what MID sign is/means as that is obviously not a MID sign. As everyone has already said though, crop it and send it in and let them call it whatever they want to call it. I would not take a picture of that sign and enter it into a report as a MID sign though, but include all signage in at least one photo.

I took another look at the photo and I may have been mistaken about the MID. If you look at pg 14 of the 4/27 update letter it it pictures 2 MID's as part of the canopy deck. One has a logo and pricing and the 2nd has just the logo. Perhaps this is what the editor was referring to. If so, the Mobil logo in the photo can be cropped and submitted. Although I suspect this has already been resolved. Hope this helps.

Oh, if you are talking about the price sign on the canopy on the left yes, but not the one on the pole to the right

There no pricing sign on the canopy.

The one on the canopy is a canopy sign the main ID would be a station identifier. As in the name of the gas sold there IE... Shell, Exxon, Mobil, Esso, Phillips, Conoco, 76 and it will have the price on it. If not it isn't the Main ID sign. Editors may have a separate opinion but the guidelines should spell it out. Everyone that I have done shows what it will look like.

on the "we are not allowed to have email, even though it is 2018" company, the sign on the canopy with the company name on it, the guidelines say if there is no other mid, call that the mid with or without a price, right!?

Those instructions are on page 873 lol

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/2018 07:05PM by spicy1.

i am doing those jobs now. i just take a photo of the building, and, since i was getting confused,
i try to make sure the physical address shows on the bldg in my photos.

This particular "blue" store has a "no more than 4 signs on perimeter poles" stipulations. From your overview it does not appear to have 4 signs, however, I have gotten into the habit of taking pictures of them. I try to take enough pictures to "back up my answers". If the store tries to say they only had two signs, but I have 5 pictures of signs I can "back my self up" lol.
Your right, I found these and they are my bread and butter. My cheap phone LG Fortune messes up pictures but I have a "free" gov't phone that is an android slider and it takes better distance and night shops than my primary phone. I've had to crop a curb or mid to submit another pic several times. You might not even notice the little yard sign on the ground by the MID until your at home and uploading the MID pic. So I enlarge and crop the yard sign and submit. Also, on the blue and white shop, I go over the cure sheet and the areas needing improvement. I've had too many merchants tell me they didn't even know what was going on, on a reshop. I'm not afraid to tell them someone will come back again in a month and check behind me (a reshop at a failed location). I have them sign my cure sheet too. That way later they can't say they didn't know anything about my shop or the infractions. I keep a carbon copy and give them the original which is easier to read. I read my notes to them so there are no "handwriting" issues. I know everyone doesn't do this but I do. I want them to have the opportunity to save their place from debranding if that's what they want.

All of that for $12.50.

@spicy1 wrote:

All of that for $12.50.

I've taken thousands of these and not a single one for $12.50.

Well, that IS the base price less for other stations.

hey, it's cool to see my photo sparked such a conversation. by the way, they accepted the cropped photo, and all is good..