To be clear, mine were the red/blue nighttime lighting audits. I haven't found these to pay slowly. It's been about 5-7 days for me, which is what they stated in the guidelines. There were a few that were shorter. Overall, I like these shops and feel like the pay is pretty good. Individually, no, but as a route when you can do 2-3 shops an hour if they're close enough, I think it's pretty good pay. Even if we're talking one shop an hour, I've had worse paying jobs, certainly. As a one-off shop -- I'm likely not leaving my house to do it. As a route that I can make $100-$140 in a night, absolutely.
But, I do NOT go to bad areas. I also take my dogs with me, and leave the windows open far enough that they could potentially get out, which they might attempt if they thought I was in danger. They would certainly sound like Cujo if someone came remotely close to the car. There's probably like 30 on the other side of DC that I won't go do. First, it's further than I want to drive, but I'd consider it if they were areas I'd be willing to venture into. And, those ones *in* DC -- oh hell no. First the driving around DC is insane, and slow, even at night. Second, I'm not doing any type of "nighttime" shop in DC unless it's the casino shop.