The reason I'd never leave a tube unpatched is that I've had as many as four punctures in one ride on more than one occasion, and you may not get the chance to patch later if it's raining then.
The first year I got into long distance touring I was plagued by punctures, about 25-30 of them in a few months, and having lived through that I became completely unfazed by them.
It's certainly the case that I never had so many punctures after I switched to Marathons, but I was getting punctures with a lot of different tyres. In fact the same is true of the tyres themselves, at one time I was buying them every few months, but after I bought three Marathons in 2009 I didn't need another tyre until 2020.
When you are commuting, getting back on the road quickly is the most important thing. And once in the habit for commuting, I do it all the time. I do also often feel a bit squeezed for time on my after work rides on non-commute days.
Though now, using marathon+ tyres, punctures are exceptionally rare.
I've used Park self adhesive patches for some years now and they've done pretty well. However, if it's a home repair job, I use the 'traditional' method of patches & rubber solution. Some bike shops; including a certain one beginning with 'H', still stock packs of replacement patches and sometimes a sheet of the rubbery stuff so you can cut the patches to sizes that suit you.
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