The genesis for this upcoming adventure was 3 remote video apartment shops that were each bonused to $300. Could've knocked them out in a day, but I then checked into the purveyor of most gas station shops to find a whole slate of Phillips 66 jobs that recently posted, all in darkness.

With the sun setting earlier these days it's possible to knock out more of these, and with the flexible reimbursements, the trick would be to see how many I could do while the stores were open, allowing me to use the Fuel Forward app for as many minuscule gas purchases as possible before they cut off my app transactions (no more than 8 in a 24-hour period).

After a bit of researching store closing times, and playing in Google Maps, I put together a doable route. And there's the possibility of adding some more stops via the Magic App, and the possibility of a Chevron Customer First with a huge bonus if it rolls over to next week. The fact that perhaps my fave BBQ joint in the Mountain West would be part of the proceedings helped seal the deal.

Here's the plan: after teaching class next Thursday I'll start driving Uber, with the destination filter set for Park City, UT where I have a $90 Rolex shop. From there, I'll either Uber some more, picking up a remote lighting audit in the Magic App if it's still available on my way to Logan, UT for the night. If the Customer First rolls over, I'll head that way instead.

Friday morning will be the apartment visits, followed by a visit to a fave Logan brewpub for lunch, then back to my hotel for a nap.

I'll head for the BBQ joint around 6:45 before hitting my 13 gas stations once the sun is down. First six will involve store evaluations, then my no-store locations are pretty spread out so I can make the most of the reimbursement for gas only. Hopefully I'll have room in the tank for a $10 purchase at each, as I am all about maxing the cashflow.

Since iCal works in 15-minute increments without having to do a bunch of clicking and typing, my calendar is set to allow for some headroom for delays and whatnot, and it currently has me back to my hotel around 6:15 Saturday morning so I can grab a few hours sleep before checking out and heading home. Hopeully I'll be back much earlier to snooze and I can get started on reports before I have to check out.

As per my strategy, I picked the latest possible date to allow for plenty of time to get reports done post-route if the schedule doesn't allow for onsite reporting, which this one doesn't. In this case, it's Sunday the 6th, and my deadline for the apartments is also set for Sunday so I have plenty of time to deal with the videos and the less-than-stellar EPMS reporting experience.

As for the numbers: provided I can get a full $10 of gas in at each of the non-store Phillips 66 visits, I'm looking at gross shop revenues of around $1275, assuming I'm not able to add some stops.

My hotel for 2 nights came to $202, paid via PayPal with 6 months interest-free financing, and there will be food and beer consumed, so we have at least $1000 net for 3 days of MS work. The gas station portion will generate around $280 gross for 11 hours working/driving at most. Well worth it in my book as it's both more lucrative and more enjoyable than driving rideshare all the time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2024 03:47PM by CoolMusic.

My favorite part of this is the planned nap.

minuscule

@KokoBWare wrote:

minuscule

That's not even a word...

@CoolMusic wrote:

@KokoBWare wrote:

minuscule

That's not even a word...

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/minuscule

You would think it would be spelled as it’s pronounced starting with ‘mini’ rather than ‘min U, which even auto-correct rejects, but unfortunately the latter is considered the formal, correct spelling. From two min English .com:

The difference between Minuscule and Miniscule lies in their correct usage and spelling. Minuscule, derived from the Latin word ‘minuscule’ meaning ‘rather small’, is the correct term when referring to something very small or tiny in English. For example, “The ring had a minuscule diamond.”

On the other hand, Miniscule is a common misspelling. Although widely used, it’s considered incorrect in formal writing. So, to avoid errors, always use Minuscule when describing something small. For instance, “She made a minuscule error on the test.”

Cool, the 66 have to be submitted by midnight EASTERN the day of the shop (not deadline day). You never get blowback about that from MSC?

Kudos to you! This sounds like a great plan!

@sestrahelena wrote:

Cool, the 66 have to be submitted by midnight EASTERN the day of the shop (not deadline day). You never get blowback about that from MSC?

Nope.

For most P66 routes I have the time to file my report onsite before moving on to the next one.

But when I don't, reports are accepted without issue as long as they are in by the deadline date.

As for minuscule-ness, from my perspective, it's nowhere close.

If I didn't have shops to do I'd be driving rideshare to generate income.

The swing between maybe making around $25/hour (usually less) and paying for my own gas and at least that much hourly with someone else paying for the gas is huge.

It sounds substantial to me, and like you had fun planning this. Don't you love when a route comes together and works out well?

@CoolMusic wrote:

@sestrahelena wrote:

Cool, the 66 have to be submitted by midnight EASTERN the day of the shop (not deadline day). You never get blowback about that from MSC?

Nope.

For most P66 routes I have the time to file my report onsite before moving on to the next one.

But when I don't, reports are accepted without issue as long as they are in by the deadline date.

Well, I don't think I'll take that chance but it's going to be a tight time-line. I would probably end up with an editor who has actually read the guidelines and reject them all.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2024 07:28PM by sestrahelena.

@CoolMusic wrote:

And there's the possibility of adding some more stops via the Magic App. . .

\

When people here refer to the "magic app," are they taking about Presto?

Yes.

@shopnyc wrote:

@CoolMusic wrote:

And there's the possibility of adding some more stops via the Magic App. . .

\

When people here refer to the "magic app," are they taking about Presto?

@CoolMusic wrote:

But when I don't, reports are accepted without issue as long as they are in by the deadline date.

I should point out I rarely, if ever, wait until the deadline date.

Reports are filed first thing the following morning when I am out on such a route.

But I always select the last possible date available when assigning shops.