Already had a Phillips 66 darkness loop booked for tonight, but popped into you-know-who's job board just now and discovered a new wave of Customer Firsts.

Snagged 26 of them, all in the same vicinity of the loop I already have set up.

I'll be using the app at 6 of the 7 P66's, buying 10¢ of gas at each stop. The last one I will not do when the store is open. It's a garage with hardly anything to buy inside, and I can rarely if ever pay with the app at the pump, which is crucial to my P66 strategy. I'll be doing 2 Chevrons at the farthest end of the loop tonight, with one more on the way towards that last P66. Should have plenty of room in my tank for the full $10 there, unless their pumps won't take credit cards. That would suck, though I would relish seriously dinging a location I don't care for.

The plan was always to drive Uber until the sun started going down before heading towards my first P66. They have a feature where you can set a destination and filter rides on the way to it. I just reached a new achievement level with them which gives me 3 destination filters per day and I can now choose which areas I want to drive in as well (have to switch off the other feature to use it).

So, with the other 23 Chevrons to knock out through next Tuesday, the plan is to filter rides up that way on Friday, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday, then switch to staying in the region once I'm there, taking on Chevrons as I'm in the vicinity while I'm impersonating a taxi cab. Averages 6+ gallons per day in gas purchases, which should be needed assuming I stay busy with Uber riders.

I've never put together a list of shops without developing a logistically-sound route. Should be interesting to see if this random approach winds up working smoothly.

Coolmusic,

I can't understand how you can Uber to ashop and make it profitable. I checked an Uber to a doctors 11miles in Upstate Ny and it was $60 round trip.

Cool's driving the Uber, not riding it.

And the plan ended up not being viable.

The area selection feature in the Uber app only lasts 2 hours, so not conducive to picking up riders and stopping for gas station shops.

I ended up knocking out a chunk of Customer Firsts, then used the 2-hour area window to pick up a few riders until the sun went down, then I headed for my darkness P66's.

Still counts as a win!

I'm not familiar with how Uber works since I don't use the service, but what if you get a pick up that needs to go a distance away from your planned route, or another state or something that would take a few hours to get to? Can you refuse to take them? Do you know ahead of time where the party needs to go? Just curious how it works. TIA

@MsJudi wrote:

I'm not familiar with how Uber works since I don't use the service, but what if you get a pick up that needs to go a distance away from your planned route, or another state or something that would take a few hours to get to? Can you refuse to take them? Do you know ahead of time where the party needs to go? Just curious how it works. TIA

Based on my experience before I stop doing u Uber, you would know the approx area of the destination, and yes you can refuse offers that sent to you

I ordered a lot of Uber Eats, and I think over time, the delivery drivers added notes about my location to make it easier and convenient for delivery. I don't know know for sure, but I think I received positive feedback, if that is an option for delivery drivers to be able to rate customers.

In the past, I only did one Uber ride. But recently have been doing some more rides lately. So far, my rating has been perfect. But does that play any factor, whether a driver would accept my ride request?

What is Customer Firsts?

@tstewart3 wrote:

What is Customer Firsts?

"Customer First" is the name of the Chevron program that involves a mystery shop (with a conditional reveal) rather than the Image audit program.

@MsJudi wrote:

I'm not familiar with how Uber works since I don't use the service, but what if you get a pick up that needs to go a distance away from your planned route, or another state or something that would take a few hours to get to? Can you refuse to take them? Do you know ahead of time where the party needs to go? Just curious how it works. TIA

Once a driver is above the basic achievement tier you can see the ride details: how long to pick the rider up, where the rider is going, and how long to get there. You can refuse, but you have to be judicious about it as the achievement tiers require you maintain an 85% acceptance rate.

In this instance that is exactly what happened. Was in town and picked up a ride with a decent fare to the boonies that was within the zone I had chosen. It meant I would not make it to a couple of Chevrons in town before the 10PM cutoff, but I picked up a Chevron in the area where I dropped off the rider.

I did end up winging it yesterday. Had to shut down early because I was running out of room in my gas tank, but was able to hit a couple of Chevrons I passed by on the way home as room in the tank opened up.

I suppose you would be limited to how much gas you could buy as you can't exactly carry a full gas can in the trunk / back when you have Uber customers. Do you bring an empty one for the ride back ?

I've yet to go the gas can route.

I'm waiting for the current round of Phillips 66 darknesses to flip to the next date window, along with some Customer Firsts.

Currently there's an Exxon w/Lighting sitting on Magic! along with about a half dozen Shells, which are up to $20, which I will do as long as it's not more than 8 pumps.

That will wind up making for a nice 4-day, 3-night loop.

I may just pick up a gas can for grins at one of the Phillips stop if I can find one at a decent price.

They are expensive, even the disfunctional plastic ones. Check the Lowes price then add 50% more or so for a gas station price. If Ubering, check the rules, you might not be allowed to have riders and gas cans in the same car. Plus, they will always smell. The cans, not the passengers, maybe. If going the jerry can route, beware of of cheaper ones, they have horrible reviews on Amazon.