WORST Amazon Flex Shift! (Watch BEFORE You Drive)
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- Опубликовано: 20 май 2024
- I just drove for Amazon Flex and had the worst shift not only on Flex but on most any gig app in recent memory. What happened and how bad was it?
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🖥Video Chapters🖥
0:00 - Intro
1:25 - Arriving To The Warehouse (ID Check)
1:54 - Warehouse Staging Procedure
2:49 - Assigned Route
2:56 - Odd Warehouse Experiences
4:27 - Surprising First Delivery Location
5:24 - Problems With Amazon Routing?
6:24 - Do Flex Drivers Get “Leftover Shifts?
6:50 - Mandatory Delivery Times
7:55 - What Happens If I Deliver Late?
9:20 - Shift End Reaction (Complete Earnings Breakdown)
11:27 - Is Amazon Flex Worth It?
12:52 - Do Bad Single Runs Ruin Amazon Flex?
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QUESTION - Would you drive for Flex knowing you might get shifts like these? Let us know in the comments section of this video.
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Why is pay so low in Pittsburgh? I do a 3 hour shift yesterday at 29.00 an hour. Since I live 0.2 miles from the warehouse I don't take a block until they increase the pay, usually 15 minutes before the block.
I did Amazon flex twice in Jacksonville Florida both times they sent me 30 miles away from the warehouse 45 minutes it took to get to my first stop both shifts were four hours with 60 stops and 63 packages both times At least for me I think that they give their regular delivery drivers to easy routes and give the flex drivers the screwed up routes that empty your gas tank and take a lot longer time to complete the routes
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Hi! Delivery station warehouse worker here :) (I did 1 flex shift before I switched to warehouse and I wasn’t having it LOL). I’m one of the people who put those bags together and then build the carts that you load your car with. The only thing Amazon takes into consideration is how long your block will take. If you’re driving far away, then fewer packages. If you have a super close route, 40-50 stops. The mileage and cost of gas isn’t factored into profits; only time if that makes sense. But I can confirm that the DSP drivers and actual Amazon van drivers also get far away/crappy routes. I hear them complain about it all the time. They also have to return their undeliverable packages and when I scan them, I see they’re far away as well. So, really not sure the algorithm that decides which packages flex drivers get vs. Amazon van drivers. Just be nice to the warehouse workers because we don’t try to screw you over with far away routes. It’s just that we grab the first 3 hour cart we come across so we can get all of you in and out in the 30 minute block before the next wave comes in :) I don’t like getting cussed at for things out of my control lol
Flex drivers have to return undelivered packages, I've had to travel one hour back to warehouse to return packages before, no pay for that crap.
Toughen up and stop fearing being "cussed out". You're not 12. You're a grown woman... I hope.
@@phoudi lmao no. If you’re so “grown”, don’t act like a baby and cuss people out because you didn’t get what you wanted. Get outta here.
@@phoudi dude it's not about being soft or weak. No one deserves to be disrespected whatever job you do.
I don’t mind driving, people are just whimps, they already don’t have someone breathing down their neck, now they are complaining about what comes with the job? Stop crying, do the job or go work for another company or type of job 🤦🏻♂️
they should definitely let people know beforehand that it is a faraway route and offer more pay just for it being far away as incentive for people to actually acknowledge that they know what theyre in for and accept it
I agree, I had one package to deliver. It took about a two-hour+ drive for $80 and idk if it was worth it because of gas too
@@Christian-jq2qo then maybe you should get a a more gas sufficient car because my three hour flex routes only take about $10 in gas and yes, they used to allow people to pick their rounds and show them what they were gonna get however when people didn’t like the route, I just wouldn’t show up or they would cancel their blocks so now it’s a surprise when you come in and get one, but when you show up if you were a regular flex driver and you build a friendly relationship with the staff that works at normal shift that you work for flex example as I always take a 3:45 in the morning just for the base pay and I do have a gig apps throughout the day I could be like hey, do you mind if I get one of the bigger routes because more packages means more stuff that means they’re closer together I don’t never get a small route like that. I think the smallest I get about 25 packages.
AMAZON NEEDS TO PAY FLEX DRIVERS MORE! Amazon have the nerves to flag you late knowing the delivery runs is so spread out from each other. And also the time spent at the station getting the packages, we can’t forget the congested traffic you may be driving in.
The problem is they have kept the starting rate at $18 per hour for over 8 years now with no increases to account for inflation. Yes I know some shift have a slightly higher hourly rate, but that is their biggest problem.
Pretty sure as soon as I hit confirm all packages today I got a notification that one was already late.
& the crazy drivers that make it difficult to maneuver eh
Also there's more drivers than blocks available, so the pay will never increase as there's always drivers willing to take their current rates.
Yeah Amazon have me go 45min out to deliver and then when I finish my shift it takes me 1 house and half to get home when I done delivering. I mash through my routes fast usually finish my route in 1 hour early and they like to make my app freeze trying to delay drop off I don’t let that stop me I use another gps still deliver the package call them, let them know package was delivered and still finish early. 😊
I do believe tho that Amazon needs to pay more for farther distanced deliveries. And depending on the load too. It would also be nice if they told you at least the city in which your delivering, so you could plan accordingly
Would definitely like to see more pay for routes that are longer mileage. But of course they’re in the game of keeping costs lean so 🤷🏻♂️
@@YourDriverMike company name Veho delivering fresh food just like amazon do just that showing you delivery area before you accept the offer, pay almost same as amazon but you would have a tons of boxes lead into your car
I had a 2 hour block last night with over 20 packages and 20 plus miles to the first drop off. I did it on time but that was bananas
From running one shift with them I figured out that they give the flex drivers the worst routes to save money for their drivers. I had a horrible first shift and I probably wont do it again.
VERY TRUE. They were always sending me out on routes 60+ miles one way.
So I deliver for Amazon as my day job and you absolutely can reroute. If you click on your itinerary the click map you will see exactly where your stops are in relation to each other. Then do them in whatever order you wish. I just did my first flex block yesterday though. But like I said my day job is with a DSP so I have done hundreds of full day routes
Exactly , lol this newbie in the video doesn’t know what he talking about 😂
What is dsp
@@neimagonsalves4188 so most of the time people who deliver for Amazon are either working for a DSP, delivery service provider, or they are flex, which means they deliver in their own cars. Dsp is a third party that hires the drivers and they are the ones doing a large portion of the deliveries
Did my first one a few days ago, 4 1/2 hour block. Took me ridiculously far away from not just home but from the warehouse and through 3 cities for deliveries. Ended up driving 159 miles total, spent a little over $45 in fuel and the block only paid $76 (it was all that was avail pay wise at the time, about 9 jobs paying same for the same time) Since I wanted to try it out I took it but of course, had no idea the route until they rolled the cart out for me and I scanned the paper. Ended up taking me closer to 5 1/2 hours with 47 stops. (many of those stops having 3-4 packages) Not doing it again here unless they start pushing better payrates in my area, been waiting days and the highest I have caught glimpse of was $98 for 4 hours 30 minutes. Definitely would not cover bills not to mention wear/tear on the vehicle such as tires. (posted this on another vid) came to see if it was a 1 off or typical scenario being new to the gig.
U really gotta use the system to your advantage last min blocks typically pay more. I try to do ones super early so 2:45am-3:45am I'll get up at 2am and watch what offers pop up usually I'll get ones that are $90+ depending on the season $150+ and it ranges from 3hr-5hr . I met a lady all she picked up was $150-180 routes. Standing plays a part u get better routes if you are in the fantastic zone. In my experience 4-5hr routes are usually not to far away but they be a lot of packages. The shorter blocks be further. That's not always the case but usually it is. It can be annoying. Any time I see the survey after a block and it asks me if I feel valued as a driver I put no and put pay as the reason. Seems to have worked lately routes have increased about $10ish
Oh and a tip for the routes where you get nothing but un-numbered/sorted boxes, e.g. you see something like "UP123A" if you go to My Itinerary and scroll up until the drop down menu shows the Refresh button and a little bar code symbol. Press the barcode symbol and scan the QR code closest to the address and it'll tell you the order in which the route has you doing it in. I always use it to write my numbers to save time looking for a package. So instead of looking for a "UP123A" you can sort it as 1,2,3,4 etc..
I’ve done flex since 2017 and it’s became progressively worse. Waiting to leave is another example of how it’s deteriorating. Also, I always reroute my blocks
Amazon flex is getting rough now. They want more done for less money 😱😱
💯very poor margins on this one
Yeah they really do, i remember they said rates were high and they use to pay loads more like almost double or consistently at x1.5 so your typical $18pr hr route was $27pr hr but idunno why they went back on it, (especially since nobody wants to really do day routes because it's 100⁰+ outside) 😂 they need to make those route back to atleast $23pr hr
@@Fuji_Investments bots are why I’m only getting 2-3 blocks a week. Because I refuse to flex for less than $100. And when they go up. They’re gone immediately.
@@ReApEr043 lol I do flex in Vegas and the morning and day shift is the best. Yes hot but I just get it done as soon as I can.
It might just be my location but the largest number of most desirable blocks that I've seen have shown up between 3 and 6am
This is why I quit Flex. Believe it or not, it can be worse. Much worse. Try being sent out over an hour to extremely remote locations in the desert with dirt roads that honestly require a 4x4 to drive on.... And then picture yourself creeping up to a property with no homes around for miles, in a regular sedan, that isn't marked "Amazon",... I never felt so unsafe delivering before in my life. One home owner came out and aggressively asked "who are you?! What are you doing here?!" Some of these dirt roads were horrendous and scraped the hell out of the bottom of my car and I almost got stuck trying to get across a particularly bad patch or dirt road. I for sure did some damage. By the time I was done it was really dark, I had no reception, and my car was completely covered in dust. Never again
Thanks for sharing, I remember in rural SD I delivered to a guys farm(?) But at night pretty empty around and he was working in one of those caterpillar digging machines. He got out and wanted to talk for awhile but I had to go, just felt odd
@@YourDriverMike sadly people can be clueless, you’re doing this for extra money not for charity or their well fare
Thank you 😄 your explanation was helpful & easy to understand. Yes I feel your pain.
You can also consider a stat that will go great with your Shift Summaries for Amazon Flex blocks. Record the ACTUAL work time you do for the blocks. A Mileage app usually records your business driving time. Most of the time you can finish earlier than the block time. I go based on that when I calculate my hourly rate. Generally, Amazon pays $22 per hour. But with the real work time that I do, I make an average of $35 per hour.
As an Amazon Flex driver you're definitely getting the sloppy seconds. The DSP drivers get the nice, tight routes with minimal miles and maximum deliveries. Flex drivers get everything else including far away deliveries and packages that DSP's couldn't deliver.
Exactly right!! I drive for a DSP myself.
Wow! Now I get it. I have had to deliver to some creepy houses deep down in. rural area with an unpaved unlit private driveway.
Yeah that can happen to the DSP van drivers as well. We have to cover the entire map since everyone these days seems to order online.
Just be careful to follow instructions so you don't get deactivated, unless it's something like a dog sign or possible dog or a felony from putting a package in a mailbox.
Not worth getting bit but it happens a few times. Although now I go into yards again but I whistle and shake the fence first
I make a lot more than the DSP drivers. In our area they make 16-18.00/hr. I don't leave my house until I find a shift where I can clear 24.00 after fuel, so around 29.00/hr
@@b.dwaynearmstrong577 don’t blame you on that,you deserve it forsure!! Most flex routes Suck bad!! Because our DSP routes are easy pesy.
They should seriously work on their logistics and let people know the package count and location area, this happened to me and even though I only had 8 packages they were all almost an hour away from the wharehouse😑🤦🏻♀️. Thankfully they were all in the same vicinity.
Hey Mike,I'm in Portland and used to do Flex. I stop doing it exactly for the same reason you are talking about. Also they send you very rural areas where virtually no roads. I had to toe road places with my BMW 320. You are correct, all the best route goes to the Amazon Vans. Very disappointing to be honest.
I rarely ever go out to rural areas, Mostly Tigard and Beaverton for me. Occasionally Ill get a long one, but I average about 4 bucks a mile for the last several months.
Also wanted to add I have done a few deliveries for them they'll put you in a certain area and you deliver anywhere from 17 to 30 packages in a 3 3 1/2 hour time pay is similar but I've had drop offs that are right next door to each other 3 minutes down the road my farthest one has been 25 minutes away. Why not give them a try!!
Remember what you said you said YOU HAVE TO. You don't have to do anything unreasonable. I would just re route it and then email them and escalate it even go on social media and @them. They thrive off making people feel guilty and exploiting them with the standards rubbish.
And yes Flex drivers do get the odds and ends type of deliveries, they aim to keep the DSP drivers with as much of a grouped route as possible, i know they try to do the same for flex drivers but it's really difficult because the DSP driver has most of it already. Also if a certain area has a higher volume Flex drivers can easy a DSP driver's load by doing deliveries on their route as well. There's been many times I've seen flex drivers delivering on my DSP route too
That is the one thing I don't like, you don't know where you are delivering until you get to the warehouse.
I just want to say that you can generally know how your day is going to go in the Seattle market. I didn't have a route for my full-time delivery job so they sent me home with 4 hrs pay.
Most blocks were already taken by 7:30AM, so I took a $20/hr 3.5-hr block that ended at 2:30PM and started a $23/hr 3-hour block for 3PM at 2:45PM.
The first block I was told I should have took a 4 hour block (no choice it wasn't available) because there was a 1-stop locker drop where all 45 packages went to the locker. Instead, I had to drive far for 28 stops, 40 something mostly heavy boxes all down off driveways by a lake. These would have been hard but I did similar ones in a van so long that I just drove down their driveways cuz fk walking.
I got done pretty early with this 3.5 hr block and had to time drive 50 minutes and still wait another 30 to start the next block early. The next block was literally one package that was 9 minutes away in the next city up and once I delivered it my day was done and I was home around 3pm.
This is only the second time I had barely any packages because at a other warehouse in July they had too many drivers and gave us each 4 boxes, so I stopped at a car wash literally in between stops.
Yesterday I had an off day and did two shifts of a same-day sub warehouse for $216 and it was 150 miles by the time I came back. Luckily I have a hybrid so gas today was $37 for 7 gallons from 1/4 of a tank to give me another 550 mi range. Just know you're mostly gonna earn it but I don't regret moving out of the country to have a better pick on where and when I want to work. Don't be 5 or more minutes late or go to the wrong warehouse or cancel routes hella like me and your standing will be solid
I used to do 50/50 Amazon and Instacart. Because of the terrible $ to miles Amazon pays I only do 1 or 2 a month now. I have been to 7 different Amazon warehouses and only 1 usually has the lowest miles driven per shift.
I've done my Amazon flex for about 2 months now. Very easy with great routes in my area and always finish my routes at least an hour early. I enjoy the drives and have no issue with it.
I’ve been to two warehouses where I live. The first one I went to had the cars line up like you described , the second one we actually go in the warehouse to get our packages and then leave once we’re loaded up. I guess it depends on the warehouse.
I forfeited my shift after seeing this. Ain’t no way
I was sent to Butler/Mars from DPP1 with 46 packages. Worse roads and driveways possible with minimal maintenance. I had to quit after delivering half the route because my car was getting damaged from bottoming out, so I called emergency support and they sent me back to the station. Employees were extremely rude about the situation but I still got paid (ended up getting paid double after pleading my case to support) with no effect on my standings.
Also that routing was awful for you, no one should have to put up with that.
here in norcross in atl you go inside and pick up your basket take it to your car and once you are done scanning your packages you can head out and start delivering.
Depends on the station you go to as when you get to leave. I typically only take routes that are 30hr+ and rarely take anything above 4hrs. I don't get very many crazy routes many times I have only 20 stops for $100+ but I only work stations that send me to residential areas and pay high. You can deliver in any order you choose just go on the map screen and click the stop you want to go next I do it all the time. You only can get dinged bro if you deliver after you schedule ends not when the package is due I have been perfect standing for 5 months now.
It can take almost 40 minutes for me to get from station to my first stop depending on the route and I'm a DSP van driver. We also get called back to station around 7:15 and sit in traffic for another 45+ minutes to get back to station. Generally don't get loaded up til 10:30-11:00. 150 grouped stops, 300+ packages. If a DSP driver has to return undelivered totes they will often construct a Flex route using those the following day.
Hi Mike,
I second John Fanning's suggestion.
The warehouses I've gone, we get in line to pick up a large, heavy cart that's a little far from the parking lot, then after we are done loading our vehicle, we have to walk back to the warehouse to drop off that heavy cart, AND we have to walk up and down a long, angled ramp with the heavy cart. Half my energy went on that process alone. Also, very time consuming, even when going 15 minutes early. That process alone was approximately 25 minutes, but because they often gave me packages that weren't a part of my route, I had to take even longer to scan them, try to find someone who knows where a scanner might be, then they had to do something on their computer, then they had to do some stuff on my phone, but I had to wait in line first just to return those packages that were not a part of my route, all before leaving to finally start my shift which was usually not on time, and I was always late because of the beginning process. They don't take any of it into consideration, so my score for my performance was always affected. I was on the below average range.
I worked in the warehouse, moving those heavy carts around/up and down the ramps was the entire 8 hour job. When I first started we would take the carts to the drivers, then it devolved into the drivers getting their own carts from the staging areas
Yes we can re-route in Jxn MS. We only deliver in our metro area. If your are out of the area they mail it with USPS.
I've been doing Amazon Flex for a couple days. I do agree not knowing where your route is until you scan that cart is a paint point. It's a challenge for me because I drive an electric vehicle that I usually keep at 50 - 60 percent charge. So in order to be ready to work I have to make sure my car is at least 90%.
You can reroute it by simply going to you itinerary and pick which drop you want to hit first.
Another thing in warehouses here in NY is when they give you late packages, after you been sitting about 20 min in the warehouse, Amazon workers rush you up to load the packages. 😡😡😡
That’s on the staff, I get it it’s logistics it’s all timing
I think we all start off wanting to do the best we can, on time deliveries, fantastic rating, etc.
I learned on my first shift, full of apartments with access issues and multiple calls to support… worked over my hours to complete route, then had to fight for appropriate pay after their initial $9 comp, that they aren’t going to look out for us, we have to calculate and do what works for our bottom line.
I would not have driven the additional miles to make that delivery by 5pm. After doing so, the package was still late and you had to go out of your way, on your dime.
I’ve written emails explaining the blocks start time and mileage or any other factors that contribute to what I consider unreasonable expectation.
They have often removed justified late deliveries or other matters outside of my control.
I reroute according to my convenience and if a package needs to be returned to the warehouse, I ensure that is completed during contracted hours. Going so far as to cease deliveries with enough time to commute back to the warehouse.
I used to try to report mishaps in app, delays, etc. now I don’t try to fix or resolve their problems and am not doing favors as none are done on my behalf. So much less stressful and frustrating and I am typically home by the time my blocks end time or before.
Thanks for sharing your experience
An occasional bad shift is going to happen for any kind of delivery work so you just have to be able to deal with it
You don’t get dinged for delivering after 5pm if your shift ends at 6. It happens to us all the time at Sub Same Day. Most our packages we pick up already show up as late. No dings unless you deliver after your shift end time.
I feel your pain. I've had blocks where I've driven 100+ miles and it took an hour just to get to the first stop. I take the good with the bad because I've had a lot of good blocks as well. I usually finish my blocks early. One thing I always do is go to today's itinerary after i finish picking up to look at the due times on my deliveries. That way I can route myself to do everything on time and not zigzag all over the place. Amazon sometimes likes to have fun and put packages that are due first right in the middle of a route.
Yes Amazon has a stupid algorithm and it's ridiculous sometimes how it'll setup your route. Even as a DSP Amazon Driver you still get that, I've gotten routes where i have businesses last but are due before 3pm or 5pm and i ignore the numbers and just do my businesses first and my outliers (spread out deliveries) then do my more grouped areas and houses last since they don't have a time restraint.
Thanks David, yes I finish most all shifts 30 min or so early. Also this is my first ~100 mile shift so I’m not counting out Flex
you should only be going 25+ miles from your station though?
It varies. I'm in Houston and each station is different, in one station they have the cars lined up like u stated in others u park and simply organize the packets and leave when u r done. Another thing is in some warehouses u scan each packet before u leave in others u just gotta organize the packets because u simply have to scan just the barcode and automatically scans all packets rather than doing it one by one
Here in Arizona , I have the same situation is times the you don’t have options because they assign you the route but when you have the option stay away for those routes . Also every time the I have the option to reroute my trip I do it is no a problem
A few things.
Done Flex a few weeks now. Two different locations in the Midwest. Each are about 20 minutes from my home. I drive a 2018 Mazda 3. So an economy sedan.
With routing, I'm going off to small towns and homes out in the middle of nowhere more often than not. The furthest I've been sent out is about 40 miles away. The closest I've had was about 6 miles, heading more into the city. That's my first destination. Not the total drive. The longest I've had in one trip was about 140 miles round trip (from my house included). Which sometimes is in my favor if the area I go to is closer to my house than the warehouse.
One big issue I have is I go down dirt/gravel roads pretty regularly with Flex. Now I don't mind THAT much because I slow down to around 30MPH on them and have plastic guards in the wheel wells to prevent any denting and all, but it's still uncomfortable if you care about keeping your car pristine. And sometimes Amazon will happily route me to roads that are not passable with a normal car (think old farm roads that are muddy and you'll sink into in anything other than a tractor or wide tire pickup). This leads me to have to detour and support will NOT mark these roads as impassable for future drivers. Also I have poor reception regularly, if not outright a lack of service. This isn't so bad as long as you don't make the mistake of closing out of the Flex app or try to reload it in those areas. Otherwise it won't load back up until you have data again. So don't play around with your phone in those areas!
At one station when I pull up, they don't check IDs and will quickly lead you to what lane you pull into as soon as you're able to check in. They have much lower volume than the other location and this leaves neighbor lanes wide open that you can leave at any time when you're loaded. At the other station I'm at, they tend to have three lanes they use at a time mostly or I keep getting lucky next to an open lane. When you're loaded and there's cars in front of you, sometimes an attendant will move a cone to the side and let you out from the next lane. Sometimes not. But I've had more of an issue with that location checking people in much later than the other (you can usually check in 15 minutes before your time and start loading. There, I'm usually getting in to load right at my time or after).
Number of packages? I'm usually getting about 40. Sometimes this is really easy to fit into my car. Sometimes I have a particularly big package or two that I have to work around or throw in the trunk. I've only had one time where I couldn't fit everything because one package simply couldn't fit in any of my doors or the trunk. The staff simply removed the item and I moved on (the staff can be wildly hit or miss on being quick to help). I did have one time the route scan didn't work. This was my second time going and the guy comes back with two packages and says "today's your luck day" and it took me a half hour to get those done and go home. That was also the best paying day I've had to date ironically.
Alright. The routing. More often than not, it's best to leave it alone. But you CAN change which delivery you're on. So Amazon likes to send you to the furthest location and work your way back. And while this may bug some people, there's good reason to do that and it will make your return trip a little shorter. Does it save time? Not really since it's still the same loop. But there's specific reasons. Also Amazon might seem to be sending you on a zig zag or circling around an area. The reason is it's trying to route you doing right hand turns. Long story short, it's found that doing right hand turns is faster than left hand turns and is a technique all delivery companies use (FedEx, UPS, DHS). That said, I've had deliveries where it's trying to route me to the furthest location last when I'm closer from a sooner location and I've rerouted to grab that one. It'll look like I'm taking longer on Amazon's records, but sometimes it does like to leave you further out from your return trip on that last drop off.
Oh, how to access that route? When you start the route (or anytime really), swipe from the left to right. You should get a menu. Select "Today's itinerary." It'll list all of your deliveries. But you can select the map on the top tab and see where you're going and in what order. From here, if you want to reroute, you can select a different location in either the map or the list and head to that. Just be warned, it will continue to go down the list where you jumped to. So if you're on delivery 3 and you skip to 11, it's going to send you to 12 next. So make sure you go back to 4 and on when you're on a good way to it. Otherwise you might be far out and stuck having to go back for them. But again, I leave it alone in most cases. Sometimes I'll be passing right by another stop and I'll reroute to that, but know that when it does that, it means you're coming back down that road and it's sending you to the further stop first and grab that one when you come back.
I'm suspecting the Flex deliveries are more same day shipping and just generally picking up the slack. There's a serious shortage of drivers (truck drivers and otherwise), and demand for deliveries is only skyrocketing. So that's where Flex drivers mostly come in.
I never noticed the "deliver by" time. I've had the app say I've had deliveries that are late and to call the customer to ask if they still want it. I called twice and both customers were mystified why I was calling. Of course they want their delivery. If they didn't, they'd cancel it. With that in mind, I haven't bothered calling any others. Maybe not what we're supposed to do, but I feel I'm more annoying the customer with asking than anything.
Support. They're often pretty useless. Had a hub I delivered too (those things are both weird and neat). Two of the four packages I had, the doors didn't open, I guess because they were frozen closed (it was pretty cold that day). I finally got a third one in by trying again, but the fourth refused to be recognized and my app was saying the package was "missing." I ended up just taking it to the apartment itself because I thought it was insane to bring it back and have it go out tomorrow at best. I called support for all of this and they sounded completely lost on what to do. I also got an email a few days later reminding me to return undelivered packages (I haven't had any I haven't delivered, but three so far that software issues caused problems). If it's something like a delivery that's out of your area (all deliveries have a circle around the estimated location of the building that's about 100ft diameter or so), you can call and they'll mark it as delivered for you (sometimes the software lets you move the pin yourself). That's really something when you do rural areas like I do and the pin is marking their barn when their house is a football field's distance away. Or is simply pointing to the wrong house (which happens a bit more than it probably should).
Honestly I'm having a great time doing Flex. It's great money for me, I do my own taxes and know my writeoffs, which is a huge boon when I go long distances and to know I'm writing off half of my income when my car sips fuel (averaging about 34 miles to the gallon). But I will say it's not for everyone at all. Especially if you don't like dogs, going to pretty run down places that might seem shady or creepy (oh boy do I have stories of some weird looking places that have made my hair stand up and I'm a pretty big, confident guy), or generally not comfortable having to get out of your comfort zone sometimes.
Oh, and a huge tip for those who do dive in: organize your orders! Seriously, it'll save you tons of time and trouble. I like to scan all the boxes and lay them on the ground, grouped based on their numbers (so if I have 2675, I'll put it in a pile of 2670's. And my 2680's, etc. Sometimes one of the stations I go to has them numbered 1 though whatever, so that makes it much easier). I then scan the envelopes and bags and sort them based on the numbers I saw in these two plastic containers that I grabbed at Walmart specifically for this (they're both shallow, like used to store shoes under the bed or sometime. One is bigger than the other). After they're all scanned, I check what's delivered first (sometimes they'll be in order, sometimes in reverse. Sometimes it's batched). With that in mind, I put those first 10's in the front seat and floor the first of the plastic containers up front on the boxes on the seat facing the drivers seat so I can just grab them and go after parking and scan on the way. If I have space to fit the next 10s, I'll put those in first, then the first group so the ones on top will go first. From there, I like to put the next ones on the passenger back seats and work across until I have all my packages in. Any particularly big packages go in the trunk (and it's worth remembering what number that one is if you have one). When you do all of this, you should have all of the front emptied before having to worry about the back. And usually I'll just get to a stop that clears the front and move several boxes from the passenger side back to the passenger side front. Until it's to a point where I'm just putting the last of the batch in the front and I can reach over and grab what I need and go instead of having to play around looking for it in my car. And even better, say the delivery isn't in order. You at least have a good idea where in the car you need to look to find the package (and will also know that your next deliveries will be there too). I'm honestly amazed how many people I watch at stations who scan something and throw it in their car, then scan the next and toss that in. They must be searching so long to find anything!
I started amazon flex just 2 days ago in the UK. My second delivery shift was a nightmare. I had 32 packages and the first drop was 50 minutes away! Then a road where I was supposed to deliver several packages was closed having repairs done so I had to take an alternative route. Then I had 2 packages that needed to go into an amazon locker and I didn’t understand how to use it and I spent about 15 minutes trying to figure it out 🤣 Eventually I realised once you click check in you then scan the actual packages. I went over my time by an hour and a half! Hard learning curve that’s for sure.
That's was a tough run. I'm uk based as well. I went 1. 5 hr over on my 1st block as well. Plus my phone wasn't charging. I had 1% left when I finished 😅 It's a nightmare with roads works. They seem to be everywhere. You'll get some easier blocks for sure & with Christmas coming up better rates (hopefully). The car insurance change from 31 Oct is a bit of a headache. Might try the recommended Inshur pay as you go. Just more to think about when doing flex
Bless you. I do this in Northampton, Uk. I once went to Huntingdon and had a mammoth amout of parcels, every single one was either a farmhouse down a poor road or multi million pound houses with their own private roads (all in the dark). I thought it would never end lol. Can laugh now. Luckily i've never had one like that again. Most of the routes are acceptable but if you get a bad one it could take so much longer.
Learning curve. As you learn it gets better. Different stations pay different. Different stations have different routes. Residential vs rural. Shorter block means I can do another sometimes. A station by me pays well. Supply and Demand. When demand is high you can wait till just before start time the price goes way up. I have seen $50 per hour before. Watch the trends at different stations.
That's one of the reason what I only take very good pay out offers. Because you don't know how many miles you're gonna drive.
I know that in this job you haven't see the miles like the food delivery apps but now the gas price high is one of the thing that you need to consider.
I had my first shift for $67.50 for 2.5 hours. But….I drove 150-160ish miles from the warehouse - last stop - back to warehouse. I was not happy at all. I really wish they would let us know where we are going before hand.
I'm currently running 40 hours a week doing flex. I tent to like the spread out loads. They at least dont uasially suck like the downtown phoenix / scottsdale loads. I had a load just yesterday that gave 40 packages and each and every one of them was a pain to deliver. I literally had to climb fences, beg other people who live at these locations, and bribe doormen to get the whole list delivered. The 5 hour block had only 13 mins left before end.
I think the worst part of Phx is downtown & anywhere the Flex app routes you to a padlocked gate, behind an apt. complex, at night.
Hi, good info I’m thinking about doing Amazon flex. You helped me on how to start. Thanks
I did my first flex gig yesterday don't think I'll be doing it for a while them apartments are a time killer and leaving the building stuck in traffic for like 40 minutes whew them amazon lockers are a head ache too
I did Flex on the Gulf Coast from 2017-2019. I finally stopped when they would give us a route in the next state(s) over. Literally driving a couple hundred miles. I rerouted almost every batch to work best for me. Couldn't imagine how bad it is now...
Omg wtf in another state 😂
ive had a 3 car grid at dpp1 before. also you can go to initiatory click the stop you want next, also i wont accept anything under 88. overall amazon isnt bad, you can tell right away. if your cart is full your getting 40 stops, if you only have 18 stops your more then likely in a rural area.
I just picked up a 90$ shift for 3 hours and im scared ill get sent super far or in crowded downtown 😢 also super anxious about how to go about getting my packages
I feel the same. Also to get sent to the hood.
I felt your pain 🥴 and gave you a thumbs up
Thanks Mike for the video unfortunately it is literally impossible to run a courier business on a gamble, and that’s the position that amazon has taken for amazon flex drivers. The lack of transparency when the offer is made and the way the offer is based on (time per hour)in my mind it is something that can’t be done. Any company conducting business needs to know the all of the details prior to accepting the job. Something very similar happened to me and that was the end of flex for me. Until they change their deceptive conduct I personally will not be taking any orders based on a gamble. I’m running only a for profit business just like them period.
This is way so true!! I agree 100000 %👍
I know a PA from working for a DSP for 2 year in the Seattle area. On his half of the week he's nice enough to let me cherry pick an easy route.
But besides peak, for Flex that warehouse pays like trash so I usually go elsewhere regardless
I do same day delivery for flex and we come and go as we please. No waiting for others. We also have to go inside and then return our cart.
Amazon Flex with their changes can now monitor and assign specific routes to specific drivers .... That's the reason I quit the grocery delivery (Fresh/Prime/WholeFoods) because they kept giving me the Low tipping-far distanced & spread out routes... I was solely doing Flex and noticed all sudden after the changes same thing is happening...Giant mazed Apartments with no codes to enter or unit numbers given, sketchy neighborhoods with delivery points spread out
Very true, I notice my last 3 blocks were to the same area that don't like ☹️
They were doing that manually in the past. We would go wait inside next to the dispatchers and they would pick people they like (or hate less) for better/easier routes, and be horrible to the other people and give them routes that were ridiculous or already late etc.
I feel your pain!!! Been there... Done that...and got the T Shirt lol.
I am back in the Philly market again now thank goodness. You have to re-route it and don't go out of your way to deliver a time specific package just stay on course.
In this area we don't wait for everyone else to load and launch.
DPP7(S) is less stops, more stacked stops, and local, but I don't think they surge much but you're always done early
DPP1(C) always is completely random and alot of Valencia, Mars, Butler, New Castle which blows....especially on the back country roads and the hills and mountains 🤦♀️
Tell everyone on the 5p-9p at DPP1 Sewickley that Stephanie from Delaware says hello 👋 that I miss them but not those Routes 😄 they'll know exactly who you are talking about
As an Amazon flex driver it sucks not knowing what stations have which routes... Luckily i have an idea of where I'm going because i know what areas my DSP delivers in (i try to pay it forward to flex drivers, i wish Amazon would give flex drivers the same tips and tricks the DSP gets). So i basically have it down to what area I'll be delivering in, if i take a route from my station. And you'll never get another stations routes unless it's a main hub station. Like say station Alpha delivers in desert. And Bravo delivers in the city. They won't switch routes with each other unless they're really under staffed or overwhelmed (prime day, holidays etc.)
I feel your pain bro!
Hello. I deliver in Vegas. One warehouse allows us to leave when we are done unloading. The other warehouse makes us wait
plymouth MA , yes have to wait, although they will start letting us go once 3/4 done
I refuse to do Amazon flex again. In Louisiana, you have to wait and all leave together
I’ve had one like that. Went from one town to come back past the station and go to cites over
It really depends on the warehouse because each has very different pickup procedures. A few locations I can park remotely load up and go but there’s a select few you have to park in line and you have to wait to it’s weird 😂
I worked for the post office 7 years and had to work with parcel post, I work the midnight shift and had to empty out postcode full of packages. We had to put the packages according to the address and had to sort it out for the driver in the morning their trucks would be full of packages and they would take a little time to see what they had and go out to deliver.
It depends on time of day for the staging of vehicles. Morning they line you up like what happens with you. Afternoon and evening, they tend to have more shifts that pop up and pay a little more because they’re trying to get as much product out to customers as possible. With those kind of shifts there are less vehicles in staging so they just let you come and go as you get there.
No, I'm a DSP Driver and sometimes my stops are spread out like that. Mainly in Rural Areas not so much residential. You may have had replacement orders that have to be delivered.
Thanks QueenJay, I’m thinking one was bc it said “already assigned to another courier” but an associate said I can click “I’ll deliver this”
One of the warehouses that I go to just started making everyone load at the same time and leave at the same time. I used to get to the warehouse 15 minutes early because I didn't want to deliver late. It's an inconvenience because some people get to the warehouse right before the shift starts or right after. I do like to sort my packages, but that makes it impossible depending on the number of packages. I also had two routes where I had 4 packages and another with 5 packages, but I was so far away from the warehouse I hated it. It took me an hour to get home.
Thanks for sharing L B, very similar here I had a good 35 min drive back home
I wish i could get those. Even if i earned less. I love open road driving but the frantic apartment deliveries are not my scene. (Meaning I wish we could know ahead of time what we'll get so people could choose routes that work better for them)
click one of the stops on the map, or on the list, hit preview route and then navigate.
Im in Pittsburgh too. I had the Butler drive from Swickley. I had everything in Butler though 24 packages 4 hours
hi mike i have a question to make delivery in amazon flex i need buy de dps reflector or the company provide me one?
i've been doing it for a week and can confirm over here in Detroit we just load up what we got and then go
Wow, that's wild
its the same for DSP drivers, you have to wait until everyone is loaded up before you can leave the warehouse
Our flex income covers our fixed monthly cost. We have other Avenues or hustles if you will to supplement and really boost our income. We do get some bad runs but like you said the ability to kind of predict the money you have coming is a good insurance policy. It also gives me a schedule I have to stick to unlike the ability to sign off anytime on door dash or other platforms.
looks like il be doin flex primarily @ whole foods I gig work in a fluent whole foods area we'll see how it goes packages seem hard on your vehicle
You can select whichever stop you want. Just look for those pesky priority deliveries. You could probably get a little better mileage if you start with the closer one and go the furtherest one. Still that is crazy for a 3 hour shift. This is why I always wait for surge pay! Lol
Definitely wanted to wait but wanted to ensure I had a shift for a video. I probably should’ve done it first, then north, then back south
I agree with Christopher on that one. If the priority deliveries weren't too crazy on the route, I would've done the Pittsburg drop, & the other two on the way up on the last delivery. In the 1st 1-2hrs., all of 'em would been done, with the extra time to spare. The miles would've probably stayed the same, though.
Glad I watched this today will be my first block and I don’t have a Tesla or vehicle ran off water well not yet
Here in Orlando Fl .. we load and leave right. Away
Here in west palm beach-Miami area. They sent you as far as 1:30 hours (40 miles or 50 miles from the warehouse)
Try doing routes in Denver Colorado. Some routes need a 4x4, especially in the winter months.
I can only imagine what it's like in the rural area's of Denver.
When you move from San Diego to Pittsburgh do Amazon flex put you in the waiting list to waiting list to do Amazon Flex again?
Why didn’t you do the one that had a time limit 1st if it was close then work your way out? Or did u not see the out of order mess till after you were in route to the 1st one
Here in Denver, the package delivery amount was always under 20 per hr (about 1.5 yrs ago), more like 13-15 pr hr. The only thing that paid well was grocery delivery or Whole Foods, which were hard to come by and the wait times at the warehouse were horrible. The last time I worked was for a Whole Foods shift. When I got there, they didn't have the dispatch for me, and a person changed my time to two hours later, which I told him I was not willing to work. I just stopped driving for Flex altogether.
Thanks Cynthia, have yet to do a WF run but I’ve heard they can be good. Plus it’s close to me so maybe I’ll try those
yes! you can simply pick the other stop first and it will notify you that its possible the other packages wont make it in time and you gotta make an executive decision - Its worked out for me every time because I know the area better than the freakin algorithm
Yes you can change the order of your route and you must always watch at your maps before you start your route especially if you got small amount of stop whit great distance in between them you could have done your second stop at first and the 2 other stop in the north and the last one where ever it is
Wow... I had my first block Tuesday for 4.5 for 142.00 went to the warehouse and sent me home paid...Today 4.5 for 124.00 and boom 55 packages all local took every bit of time. Thank for video...not much training on app navigation
Flexing here in Charleston SC (DSC4)! It's the same here. We line up on the side of the fulfillment center. Then they load us onto the loading pad (4 lanes, 5 spots per lane).
What's kind of frustrating for us, it's the way they load us and let us go. So if you arrive early, you will be in lane 1. If you come later you will be in lane 4. After everyone's loaded up, you would think that they would start letting lane 1 go, then 2, then 3, and 4. Nope! For some reason they go backwards 4, 3, 2, 1. We have one station staff member that will release 1,2,3,4, the rest do it backwards.
I guess the Charleston market is... LARGE LOL. My farthest drive time was over an hour. Several of the coastal islands have big communities. So sometimes for us here you'll have to drive way out there and drive way back. And as you stated you may only get a few packages. You'll spend more time driving than actually delivering.
Yes, you can reroute. As long as you're not going to make any of your deliveries late which usually it's not, you can deliver however you want. Sometimes depending on traffic or location I'll start from the back and work forward. One route my first stop was in my own neighborhood but the last stop was way across town. So I just work backwards. And drive time to get home was literally 1 minute after I finished. And those times that you showed don't always matter. Since at 5:00 it was probably because of the apartment complex when they closed. But since it was a parcel room you probably had access to it no matter what time it was. There are some deliveries at time does matter, now with the recent update they have a little icon that shows the clock I believe. Those ones can matter. But again if you're late because of poor routing or traffic, that's beyond your control and you can just message support. And they can remove it.
Yes you can just look for info for the delivery
Here in broward florida which is above miami it is u and only u that u depend on just grave ur cart with packages load ur car amd drop off cart and u start no waiting that very strange
Here in San Diego, once you load you are ready to go.
Thank you 🙏 much for all the info.
I have been driving for over 20 years and I just signed up with Amazon Flex I can tell you that I am quitting now before I even got confirmed. To me any delivery that doesn’t pay at least $1.85 per mile is just not worth it. You’ll be killing your car and yourself too. This is not sustainable at all, worst than Uber. and all its products.
Delivery business is first and foremost about MILES than + time.
Ive never had a problem with a ding on my profile from late deliveries. Only thing that seems to effect it for me is returned packages, undeliverable.
I live in Dallas and each warehouse is different. Some of them is like your location, and some you pull up go get your cart load your car and just leave.
I can't say with 100% factual information, but I was hearing there was some network wide AWS issue yesterday, and the lines were down for a number of hours at our facility, and all the others as well. So, I am wondering if that had something to do with what you dealt with. When the system goes down, EVERYTHING stops, and it will cause issues downstream with getting deliveries out on time.
I feel your pain lately all I been getting is low packages low pay and high miles
One of the warehouses i go you go in get the cart when it is ready and take it out to your car load up and leave
Here in Santa Fe and Espanola we leave when we are done as an individual. Thank goodness.
I do Flex in Ohio and we have to stand in line to get our carts but we get and push our carts to our cars ourselves and as soon as we load our vehicles we can GO we don't have to wait 👍😊
You don’t necessarily have to drop off by the drop off time. I’ve had shifts were I start at 5:15 and lots of my deliveries say Deliver by 5pm. I’ve delivered many packages that says it like this. And I don’t have any dings on my account and I have excellent status
Good to know, I don’t see a ding after this shift so I’ll keep this in mind, still wary bc it says deliver by