Sorry for the late response haha.

I'm not sure how other pharmacies do it, but I typically work 8-16 hours at the store where I was originally hired. Back when I was floating there were 3 other full time technicians already working at that store for 5 years+, so obviously they got first dibs on hours at our store which was fine. I did want more hours though, so if any techs canceled at another store or went on vacation, I would cover their shift. I actually didn't start floating until after I got licensed and was self-sufficient, since pharmacists don't want newbie floaters that don't know what they're doing -- they want fast technicians that can get the job done without bugging them. My pay was actually higher when I floated since everyday I went to a store I would get the distance in miles between both stores in $, so I would typically choose stores within ~1-5 miles of my house and about 15~20 miles from my home store.

Also, when I floated the pharmacists and other technicians often answered phone calls and basically handled most of the work that involved patient contact. Not because I didn't know how, but because most patients just prefer familiarity. Mostly I would just do data entry, dispensing, and post fill audits.

The only downside to floating is there's a lot of last minute scheduling and little stability.