I realize that Maritz has not sent out the green gas station email invites yet, but I wanted to see if anyone else has had this problem in the past.

I used to receive invitations to about 6 routes of these shops. If I passed on a specific route one time or made a counter offer that was never accepted, I quit receiving the invitations to that particular route in all future rounds. These are all route that I have successfully completed in previous quarters, so I have a long-standing history with Maritz.

Now, I am down to receiving 2-3 invitations per quarter.

So, I called Maritz up, and spoke to a scheduler and then a supervisor, as I wanted to try and get some of those routes back for this first quarter of 2015. Neither had a clue about why this happened, nor did they have the ability to look at the email invitations for this project. They couldn't even explain why I quit receiving the invite to the shops in my city or who receives them and why.

It's just frustrating to lose out on the opportunity to pick up future work because a counter offer was not accepted (or even responded to) in the past, especially when you are considered a reliable shopper in their system.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/20/2015 12:41PM by vabvol.

The invites for these routes actually went out today, or at least they did in my area.

I only received two invites, for routes I've been accepting since some time early last year. I assumed the other ones weren't being offered because another shopper was maybe lucky enough to snag them as an ongoing route, but I don't know. If you're correct, that I won't see offers after I declined them, then I'll be sure to always grab these two routes as soon as I see them. The bonuses are beautiful and I wouldn't want to miss out

Yep, I received my 2 invite today and quickly snatched them up. Based upon the email, it looks like we may have the opportunity to take other routes in one week if the other shoppers don't pick them up.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/20/2015 11:10PM by vabvol.

@vabvol wrote:

Based upon the email, it looks like we may have the opportunity to take other routes in one week if the other shoppers don't pick them up.

You're absolutely right. I'm so quick to scroll to the bottom and click the "Link" that I didn't bother to actually read the email.

Vabvol- Here's the text from the email, FYI:
"While the email(s) you receive today will only include routes you completed, in about a week, we will send out notifications for all other remaining routes."

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/21/2015 12:21AM by Tlt14.

Well, now we know how it works. Let's hope there are a few leftovers next week.

I'll second that!

I successfully completed one route 4 times, I think, without an issue...and then just stopped getting the invite for it or any route. I do get calls when they are trying to get the last stations filled, so I don't know what the deal is.

My sense on these is that they are offering routes first to shoppers who successfully completed them last time along with nearby routes to those same shoppers that were not successfully completed last time by other shoppers.
Those routes that aren't picked up this week will then be sent out to everyone who has successfully completed any routes, then to other shoppers.

I have never unsuccessfully completed my routes...never an issue, but one day...":::poof:::no more route.

Okay ... I got two email invites for Green shops today. I've never completed a Green shop before, but I have been doing the others (do we call them the Black and the Blue?) and perhaps that's why I was included. I read through the email as well as the linked info and then I came here to the Forum to look for more info because essentially I've been offered a route (with no Bonus) that is made up of 4 locations that are spread 20-40 miles apart for a total about 170 miles if I did them all in one loop from home. I was running all this through my head, realizing that the gas reimbursement probably just covers the cost of running this route, and the 3-1/2 hours of driving time would probably eat up the $1 snack I'd buy at each store, so the pay is, in fact, the only pay (which is fine - just evaluating in my mind).

The trouble is, I have no idea how involved the job itself is. Is this a 30-minute audit like the ones I'm doing now? Or would I likely be spending an hour or more at each location? If the audits are tricky, it might not be a good idea to do my first Green ones far from home. (How strange that I would even have to since there are dozens of them within a 10-mile radius of my house!)

Anyway, this Green Gas Station thing is a new phenomenom. What I'm reading above is if I want to do them, ever, I'd better jump on the invitation. Then, in the future I'll likely be invited again (but possibly only to the ones I've done before?)

But I still don't have any guidelines so it's hard to say if I'd be interested in completing these 4 for that price or not. I would do them at their distance to "get my foot in the door" - but not if I'm only going to secure these 4 locations in the future. They are all over the place and a mix of daytime and nighttime shops - a real mess of a route, really.

In my area the green people only have one station left. They got bought out by yellow people here.

Interesting!! I will be watching for that. In most cases, the yellow gas price is a tad higher; I'd hate to see them take over :/

Got an invite for a green gas route yesterday. Never done a route for them before. Made a counteroffer; havent heard anything. The offer I got wasn't that profitable.. but I'd do it to get a reputation rolling with them.

Are green the only ones that they schedule in block routes?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/12/2015 07:12PM by AlexG.

They schedule both the Kelly green and the blue-green gas stations in routes in my area. Neither of them have more than a handful of stations though. I rarely get offered a "route" of more than 2 and usually it's just 1.

@ccbutterfly -
I remember my first green took well over an hour. They now take me 22-30 minutes, depending on location condition.
You'll just be getting over the learning curve as you finish your small route.
Keep in mind that you'll have a full month and a half to get these four shops done, so there's no reason to drive that many miles for just these four. Add other shops and make it several routes.
If you get these four done for them, you'll be on their list for lucrative flake clean up at the end of each quarter, and will probably get more route offers at the start of each quarter.

I got offered three routes. Since I can't check their site on my phone, I didn't even try to see them until today. Two are gone. The one that was left had a station that was 180 miles away from me. The others were roughly 18 miles away. I removed that one and countered with a much higher fee. I did one gas station audit for them and it was one of the worse times I've ever had shopping/auditing. It took me over two hours onsite and another two on the report and trying to load all the pictures. All for $14.50. It wasn't a green station, but it was in horrible condition. I'm not touching these without a really high payment.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/13/2015 03:33PM by MelNel525.

I've never even heard of a route email! Is that not done in California, or am I just not high enough up on the totem pole yet?

I got emails for 10 routes. Some were gone by the time I checked. Took two routes but the route I had all last year was already gone. Too bad..I liked that one.

I snagged the one route I wanted but I had emails for 5 more. I didn't take the one I completed successfully last time, because it's winter and I'm a wuss like that. But anyway, I've been offered a lot more so I don't understand why. A scheduler told me there are 4 gas station shoppers in my area. I checked last night and all the other routes are still sitting there. Being negotiated possibly, because the fees were too low. (IMO).

Interestingly, at the end of last year I took a bunch right off the board without waiting for them to be bundled. This month they bundled each and every station I completed then, and offered it to me as a route. I appreciate that, I really do, but I'm going to wait for the flake bonuses. However, if you want to get them to offer you routes, just taking some off the board seems to do the trick.