Why is a retracting mast preferable to a freestanding rig with, e.g. a roller furling main or a nonsuch style wishbone boom? Is there a physics reason or is this a pragmatic trade-off to fit under bridges and stay out of the way during loading?
I'm fairly certain that it's illegal to pay someone for less than two hours of work [1 and 2] in California, so the practice of just doing a couple rides on your way home from dropping the kids off or hitting up peak rush hour for the bonus rate would be illegal.