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Route Tips

June 28, 2023 03:12AM
I just did my first successful (I hope) route today. I did a circuit of 4 shops. How many shops do you do in one day? And how do you plan for them? Any tips would be helpful!
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June 28, 2023 04:01AM
I did four locations today also, 200 miles total. I normally don't do this. I use mapquest's route planner. (This will be $345 if all works out)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/28/2023 12:18PM by Niner.
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June 28, 2023 04:23AM
I have an about 70 mile round trip route tomorrow, in two small cities relatively close to me. I have two or three shops, and my son has two or three shops, between the two of us and doordashing we should make between $100 and $200 tomorrow.

I use google maps, mapquest doesn’t seem to work well in rural areas. There are places in northern AL where google maps is either slow to respond or just plain wrong. But it's better than mapquest.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/28/2023 11:53PM by Morledzep.
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June 28, 2023 12:39PM
It depends on the shops and distance, sometimes I've done 4, sometimes 8, etc. I always bring a few bottles of water and see where the cheapest gas is along my route. I generally don't take a route of shops unless I've done at least 1 successful shop first, so I know what I'm getting into.
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June 28, 2023 01:28PM
I have done a few by accident.. meaning that I had 2 jobs planned and then some others got bonused so I grabbed them as well. I don't live in a large area but it is populated so I will drive roughly 25 miles max in any direction. That one day, I did 6 jobs for $330 and my total mileage was just under 100 miles. I use google maps to navigate the unknown but I am pretty familiar with the towns around me.

If I am out of state and looking for work, I usually have google maps up in front of me.
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June 28, 2023 02:58PM
WTG on your first route!

For me, it's the more the merrier, and I'm always looking for opportunities to hit the road. If I can turn equal or better money than driving rideshare, and can afford to wait on the money (I have close to instant access to rideshare earnings), I'm outta here.

I'm heading out tomorrow on an overnight loop. First leg is about 280 miles, with 6 gas stations (all remote with nice bonuses). It'll be a long day... probably 14 hours from leaving the house to getting to my hotel.

Next day is a couple of stops as an IC in a totally different industry, with a car wash mystery shop to end the day on my way home.

Have synthesizers, will travel...
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June 30, 2023 03:23AM
These are all great tips and ideas! Thank you very much. I am going to try to do it again!!
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June 30, 2023 06:04PM
Oh, in terms of planning, use a map tool to actually figure the mileage and driving time address to address.

I am in a rural area and sometimes the shop information will show up that a location is 30 miles from me, but if I actually put it in google maps, it could be 42 miles. Zip code to zip code searches aren't always accurate, and google maps is normally updated with things like detours or road closures. I've learned that sometimes what looks like a small detour is really 9 miles and another 20 minutes out of my way! so I have learned to better map things out before even applying or taking on jobs.
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June 30, 2023 06:24PM
Morledzep,

I think if you map out your route before hand, goggle maps will download area maps to your device.

Also, please explain how door dashing increases your take.
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July 01, 2023 12:31AM
Rosie, dashers get paid to dash. My son does door dash and uber eats. Everything he makes Monday - Sunday he gets paid for on the following Tuesday. We go and do our mystery shopping jobs during the day, and he dashes in the evening in whichever town or city we end up in. He makes anywhere from $30 - $100 or more almost every time we go out. It's not worth making a special trip out, but it adds on to a productive day pretty well.
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July 01, 2023 01:20AM
@Morledzep wrote:



I use google maps, mapquest doesn’t seem to work well in rural areas. There are places in northern AL where google maps is either slow to respond or just plain wrong. But it's better than mapquest.

I use RouteXL most of the time when I'm going out of my area. I have had a few, that I had no idea about what was where, but Route XL works really well and I believe you can do up to 10 stops at a time and its free to use. It may or may not be better than what you are using, but it hasn't failed me.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/01/2023 01:21AM by Tvolgirl.
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July 04, 2023 03:11PM
Definitely a YMMV thing, but I have developed an MO for the gas station shops where you have to get pictures of all pumps.

Typically I do not do those reports onsite as I go for bonused, remote locations, which makes for sketchy data uploads more times than not. Sitting around a gas station trying to get double-digits' worth of pump photos to upload is not a good use of my time on a route.

What works for me is to create folders on my laptop for pictures from each location, and I create a "Pumps" subfolder for each of those.

I complete the entire online form without the pump answers or pictures, and save it.

Then I work from column view in the Pumps folders to complete the reports. This allows me to scroll through the pump pix in the order I took them, and I scroll to the appropriate fields in the report to input and upload.

FWIW, I alway take at least duplicates of every photo taken onsite.

Have synthesizers, will travel...
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July 05, 2023 01:51AM
@CoolMusic wrote:

Definitely a YMMV thing, but I have developed an MO for the gas station shops where you have to get pictures of all pumps.

Typically I do not do those reports onsite as I go for bonused, remote locations, which makes for sketchy data uploads more times than not. Sitting around a gas station trying to get double-digits' worth of pump photos to upload is not a good use of my time on a route.

What works for me is to create folders on my laptop for pictures from each location, and I create a "Pumps" subfolder for each of those.

I complete the entire online form without the pump answers or pictures, and save it.

Then I work from column view in the Pumps folders to complete the reports. This allows me to scroll through the pump pix in the order I took them, and I scroll to the appropriate fields in the report to input and upload.

FWIW, I alway take at least duplicates of every photo taken onsite.


That is a very good system that you have!
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July 05, 2023 10:29AM
@Shopper797 wrote:

These are all great tips and ideas! Thank you very much. I am going to try to do it again!!

I wouldn't make a habit out of it but something that I have done before is ask the scheduler for an extension for reporting. The shops are easy; the reports are what takes time of course.
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July 05, 2023 08:55PM
I do anywhere from 4-25 per day. Depending on shop and locations. I travel all over Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Louisiana. I use Circuit route planner. Free up to 10 places but I use the paid version because I often have more than 10. I like I can put times I can visit the location and how long each stop should be. This helps me truly plan a route.
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July 08, 2023 07:20PM
Hello neighbor! I’m in north Alabama too! Congrats on your work.
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July 09, 2023 04:08AM
@KDC wrote:

Hello neighbor! I’m in north Alabama too! Congrats on your work.

What does that mean?
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