The Amazon Flex program has been able to attract the interest of gig-workers in the country, right after they have launched at the beginning of 2020 in Sydney and Melbourne. Most of the drivers who have joined the program are existing independent contractors who also work with other on-demand ride and food delivery companies such as Uber and Menulog.
Amazon Flex mostly utilized by rideshare and courier partners during slow days when rides or delivery requests decreased as well as their daily earnings. By joining the Flex program, a driver can schedule a delivery block on those slow days and could earn no less than $108 for 4 hours block or about $27 per hour.
Working as a delivery man with a definite income (that above the national minimum wage) is better than circling around the city to get a ride or wait for hours near a restaurant and expecting a ping.
Delivering packages is not new for gig-workers, especially for a delivery driver who is familiar with finding addresses and delivering food right in front of the customer’s door. However, this will be a new experience for rideshare drivers who might not comfortable with delivering, especially in apartment buildings where they have to make an extra effort to find a recipient’s door.
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The following are some tips about delivering with Amazon Flex that might be useful too for existing drivers and those who are just planning to join this program.
- Check for delivery blocks on a regular basis. Blocks are released quite often, the only method to acquire blocks is to take a look at the app frequently in the early morning before it grabbed by fellow drivers. A lot of blocks for the next week are dropped on Friday and Saturdays.
- After getting blocks, don’t be late to pick them up at the designated Amazon station. If you believe you will not be able to reach the station on time, you need to forfeit the block at least 45 minutes ahead of the start time. Arriving late can result in account suspension if you do it often.
- If the recipient’s address is a house, select “left at front door/porch”, place down the package and take a photo since it may show up when recipient track a package. The Amazon Flex Driver app will also record GPS (geotag) info along with the photo you’ve taken. It can protect you in case the package goes missing and the recipient files a complaint about it.
- If the recipient’s address is an apartment building, you should take the time to deliver to the recipient or put the package at the recipient’s door inside the building. Inside the flex driver app, there are options to call or text the recipient, make use of it to get in touch with the recipient.
- In case the package is small enough to fit in the letterbox, just do that and choose “delivered to secure post room” in the app.
- Probably the most frustrating drop locations are houses with a gate or fence, especially if there are no people inside. In this situation, just try to contact the recipient through phone call or text message, if there is no response, drop the package over the fence but close to the letterbox and text the recipient to tell them where exactly did you put the package.
- When you realize that the address information does not match, you can choose the “I am at the drop-off but my GPS isn’t working” help option. Choosing this permits you to drop off anywhere, however, you still have to go to the actual address and deliver the parcel.
- Each block will contain several bags. Usually, each bag consists of packages with drop off locations that close to each other.
- The last tip, when you pick up packages, rest assured Amazon never wants to see that packages again. Avoid returns whenever possible. Returning too many packages could lead to account suspension too.
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