Supply and Demand

Slugging is just like any product: it relies on supply and demand. There is a tangible shift in power from days when there is a long line of cars and you're one of few people looking for a ride, to days when you're in a long line of people waiting and there's not many cars available. 

When you walk up and there's a long line of people and not many cars, you're way more susceptible to taking a ride that will drop you off eight blocks away. When you're one of fewer people in line and there's a lot of cars, you can be more picky, so that you get a car that takes you exactly where you want to go. 

On days when there's more cars than people, or the cars are going places that the people in line have turned down, you'll see some drivers calling out their windows to see where people are going. They'll often change their mind and tell you that they'll take you to your location because they've been waiting a while. They may reach their head out and just say, "Hey, where....ARE you going?" 

Desperation reaches both sides of slugging. Often you'll see slugs in line, suddenly sigh and walk towards one of the cars in line that they previously turned down if they've waited too long or think they'll be late for work. I try to hold out until it's really been too long, before I accept something outside of my 4-block range. Because I know that with my luck, if I accept a ride from a car going farther away than I'd normally accept because I'm tired of waiting, 2 seconds later a car going to my exact location will show up. I prefer to wait. 

S knows all about this theory of mine, and one day she ran into me on the way to work when I was coming from a bit farther away. She just started laughing and said, "I see you accepted a ride over here, huh?" Yes, I'm lazy. But the theory usually works in my favor.