I have been doing them for three years for Maritiz. Demanding on how many pumps and pictures they want between 20 to 60 minutes if you fill out the work sheet on site ( 15 minutes for me) If you file time less than 15 minutes it set flag off when filing. I have done up to 14 in one day but they where 5 minutes apart. I have found 10 is a good number given you 1/2 hour to do the shop, 1/2 hour drive time and between 15 to 45 minutes to edit photos and fill out the shop.

Interesting discussion. I primarily do revealed gas station audits and have probably completed a couple thousand of them. My time on location roughly matches others who have posted. On average, it takes me 35 minutes to do a yellow location, 25 minutes for a green location and 20 minutes for a blue one. Times vary widely depending on the number of pumps, how busy the station is and its condition. If you have to take a lot of infraction photos it takes longer. Where I find myself differing with others who have posted is in the number of audits that can be completed in a day. I have seen no discussion regarding the gas that is required to be purchased for each station. What do you do with it? If I tried to complete 12 or more stations in a day, I would need to fill my trunk with gas cans. I limit my routes to no more than 6 stations per day because I can't deal with the fuel. If the route is entirely made up of green stations, it could be done as they require only a $2.00 purchase; but at the yellow stations you can purchase up to 2 gallons and the blue stations up to $5.00. I never purchase less than the maximum allowed as getting gas is just as good as getting cash for a Mystery Shopper. If you purchase less, you are voluntarily accepting less money for a job than they are willing to pay. I also am not comfortable driving around with a trunk full of fuel so I stick with 6 per day. Would be interested in other's thoughts on this.

@LuCroix wrote:

Thank you for the non-bashing reply. My post was based on what I see the shops pay. I didn't know you could get $1,500+ for doing a days worth. That's well beyond any bonus I've ever seen. The shops pay $10-$13 each that I've seen. Even at 20 per day that's less than $300.

I guess I should just keep my opinions to myself and not expect constructive replies around here.

I've done over 100 stations in a three day weekend for one brand.

The blue brand limits to 10 per day, the green limits by requiring daylight. There are two brands that are EASY, can be done day or night and bonus well once you have a great relationship with the company. (Don't flake/ do the job right the first time)

I prefer to do 2-3 a day because I choose them to match up with my routes of other shops and it gives me the gas I need. I've certainly done more than that. In NJ we still don't pump our own gas and more than once the attendant walks away and lets the pump run to more than I requested before I notice. Screws up a good route when that happens and I have too much gas. I used to add several for CoRi's stations (Stericycle) when the pay was through the roof with the old scheduler. Now I may only do one or two of their shops in 6 months...way too low paying. I've stopped doing the yellows because I found although the time on site wasn't too bad, the reporting was taking me way too long. The greenies seem to have a rotation now and I haven't done any this period yet. I enjoyed them better when they reimbursed $7 for gas. So I mainly do the blues and some for Market Force that are less than 5 minutes on site. This month I did have to buy gas a few times on my own...hate when that happens. It's been a long time since I had to use gas cans, but I've done that a few times. I don't like the way it smells up the car even with them in the trunk.

I can't handle the smell of gas it makes me ill. Whether I leave some gas money or not depends on the bonus. If I"m getting more than double the regular fee I consider it worth it gas or no gas. I have pumped some into a strangers tank before, and since I like being able to pay it forward that is okay with me. I don't do many stations without a good bonus so I really consider the gas a perk and not part of the pay. The reason I don't do many stations without a bonus is I can be doing easier and faster shops for the same money. The shops I do depend on what is available on a given day. If I can do an apartment and a couple of 5 minute convenience stores for $60 I would prefer that to 4-5 gas stations. Easier visits and come home and write up the apartment in my slippers with a cup of coffee. If the gas stations pay better (and sometimes they do) I'll choose them.

I find that 6 is about right for me. Of course i try to streamline the process as much as possible. Time is money, so getting as many required photos out of the way fast, helps me.

I just did one yesterday where the pumps were roped off as they were doing a compliance test. Quickest one i have ever done. Didn't have people sitting in their cars on their phones.

I admire all of you. I just started doing these and I’m taking 2 to 3 times as long. I think because the first one I did, I was asked for more photos or the angles weren’t right. So I input everything including photos at the station to make sure I had everything. Then when I tried to submit, it said I needed photos of the pumps and they were already there? So I went back and uploaded again. Unless I find a shortcut, I won’t be doing these again. Oh yeah, the one I did today had 24 fueling stations!! Too many for somebody just starting out.

@OHGuy wrote:

I have seen no discussion regarding the gas that is required to be purchased for each station. What do you do with it? If I tried to complete 12 or more stations in a day, I would need to fill my trunk with gas cans. I limit my routes to no more than 6 stations per day because I can't deal with the fuel.

You don't have to pump $5 per shop, or two gallons at a yellow. Those are simply the maximums. $1 is perfectly fine. Now you also mentioned that you never pump less because you are feeling that you leave money on the table. You are probably leaving more money on the table by not accepting more shops on a route that you could be, or you are spreading out your routes over more days then you could be, keeping you from doing over things. That's your call, though, I'm not one to tell another how to do it. On a route, I will do 8-9 a day and gladly pump less. If I limited myself to 5-6 a day, then I am leaving at least $37.50 on the table.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/29/2019 11:31AM by KA047.

I have done a lot and agree with the timing. Blues are great. Usually 20 minutes using the app, but they limit to ten. Yellow take the longest with all the stupid pictures, but the worst part is the app never loads them right so I've started to just take the pics and do the report later which adds another 20 minutes to my timing. I've done as many as 22 in one day, mixing types of stations, companies, and doing a very long day. One thing i always try to do, even with experience, is get one shop a couple days before I plan routes so that I can refresh everything and look for changes in the reports.

And i use 3 five gallon gas cans in my trunk... we almost never buy gas anymore.

Yeah, you get nose-blind to the smell after a while. Or come to love it.

Thanks again for all of your feedback. I just completed a route of 72 revealed audits. I don't know about colors you mentioned. But the largest station had 30 pumps and the app only allows for 28! I had some rain, clouds, and snow delays since they were daylight audits. Averaged about an hour per audit. Most of them were 12-20 pump stations. And quite a few had major infractions that took forever to document. The most I could get done in a day was 7 before I would run out of daylight. And some had more travel time between them than others, anywhere from 5 mins to almost an hour. I personally would be ok with never seeing that fuel brand station again!
Oh and i did run into the where to put gas option. I started using the more expensive gas and a few shops I had to put less than my $2 allotment.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/05/2019 10:00PM by Rtstshel.