Just finished booking out my next route and thought I'd share more of my MO/thought processes.
Originally the trip was supposed to be this past Thursday/Friday, but 3 Red/White/Blues with massive bonuses fell off the board instead of rolling over, severely affecting the potential gross for the trip.
Most of the shops for this one had due dates of the 12th or 13th, so that's when I booked them, knowing I could always visit and report ahead of time.
I was able to add some more Red/White/Blues to fill out the schedule and make the trip borderline worthwhile. While I violated my policy of not doing them for base pay, I made sure the ones I took at base were only 4-pumpers. The icing on the cake was a bonused checking account opening for $250 that showed up on the tail end of the route.
Gross pay before reimbursements will be about $750. Two hotel nights @ $159, and I'll be eating on my own dime for all meals except a Drive-in Stall burger lunch one day. Even if I splurge a bit on beers and eats, I'll net over $500.
More lucrative than driving rideshare over the same time period, and way more fun. I'm heading to Jackson, WY and the Victor valley in ID, one of my favorite regions on the planet. Schedule is set so I can hit this restaurant in Victor that serves a warm cabbage salad with pecans, gorgonzola and burnt ends that is off the charts.
I use My Maps in Google to chart out my route, while using a regular Google maps page to calculate drive times to make sure my schedule will work. Sure would be cool to calculate times within the MyMap, but Google doing something correctly is decidedly not very Google-like.
I print out the first page for each location's report for taking notes. I print out the My Map and clip it to the outside of my paperwork folder for visual reference and to keep a running list of completed stops. I keep a folder within that folder to hold conditional paperwork: awards certificates, refusal sheets, authorizations for when the clerk is not in uniform, etc. Cover pages for active shops are staged in chronological order on one side of the inner folder, with completed shops going on the other side. I have mini-stapler that stays in the car for keeping receipts organized with the cover pages.
Have synthesizers, will travel...