Is Driving For Amazon Flex Worth It? (Full Shift Feedback, Problems, Pay & More)

Scheduling An Amazon Flex Shift (Intro) okay so today it is a little bit after 4 p.m here and in less than an hour i have a shift driving on amazon flex here in pittsburgh pennsylvania and the thing is i have not driven on flex in about a year i was back in san diego california at the time so let's discuss number one if you're doing a flex shift i mean what is it how to prep for it and then you're gonna join me throughout this shift and ultimately at the end of the video would answer the question is driving for amazon flex worth it so How To Prepare For Your Shift number one prep as you can see here i mean dress for the weather that's number one this is different than food delivery so if i was driving on food delivery you know like decent nice shorts a t-shirt and decent shoes right so i mean for me at least on flex that's a little bit different i mean we have the tank top it is 81 degrees and sunny which isn't a bad thing here in pittsburgh today uh and we got some nikes on we changed i mean definitely wear some footwear with good support because we're going to be delivering packages and envelopes so if you're not familiar with what flex is you're an independent contractor and again you're delivering amazon packages and envelopes to customers now this shift is three hours from my experience i first did flex about i'd say starting in 2018 again back in san diego so generally there are three hour shifts at a minimum and i'm expecting around 30 to 60 packages for that shift time now the pay How Much Does Amazon Flex Pay? ranges from fifteen dollars at a minimum to like twenty three dollars plus if there's bonus pay so this three hour shift i believe it's fifty four dollars it's eighteen dollars an hour today so the next prep before we Preparing Your Vehicle actually head to the distribution center is to make room in your vehicle so clear the trunk i typically do the trunk and the rear passenger seats and you may also want to load them into your vehicle with the label up and i would also put the envelopes in a separate area so you can leaf through that you can go through the packages and again makes it easy when all the labels Distribution Center Commuting & Unknown Shift Areas are facing up so what we're going to do here we're going to leave here in a second you're going to join me on this entire shift is we will have to drive first to that amazon distribution center so think about that it's about i think 25 minutes away from here in pittsburgh central so you got to drive there and then scan your packages to get your route so here's the thing with flex is i'm going to be delivering those packages and envelopes but i have no idea where in pittsburgh it was the same in san diego it's going to be the same thing in your marketplace no idea where i'm going to deliver to until i scan those packages so what's gonna happen we're gonna check in we're gonna show our id they're gonna verify with the right driver and we do have a shift scheduled at that time and then they're going to direct us to that rack of packages then using your amazon flex app you're going to scan a qr code and then you're assigned that rack of packages and also will be shown your delivery routes and again that's the first time you're going to discover your routes now if you don't like it unfortunately you cannot change it that's one caveat with flex so for instance i had a downtown san diego route one time obviously it's more dense parking's more tricky there so you can't go to an amazon employee because there are amazon employees that you can't say hey i don't want to deliver downtown and i've heard let me know in the comments if you've heard this or if you've had experience with this is if you do request a different route especially too many times you may be deactivated from the flex platform so we got to get going here let's drive to that distribution center i'm going to find out i'm a little curious a little nervous of where i'm going to be delivering to this is my first shift here in pittsburgh and really again almost a year since that last one in san diego how many packages i'm going to have and today's shift at 18 an hour watch at the end of the video we need to discuss after all this today is it worth it all right first impressions welcome to the shift here firstly and i apologize for the noise i know but we're in route to our delivery destination how many packages did i get where am i delivering and again what are my first impressions so Distribution Center First Impressions first thing i noticed was unlike almost a year ago when i did this they didn't check my id i thought that was interesting now the flex app will show a check-in process to the distribution center so i'll show it right here it says you know grab your check-in for your three-hour route something also something else that they What To Expect At The Distribution Center also did a little bit differently is they had all of us pull in first they had a procedure four ways on the front two windows down in your vehicle and basically they lined us in like a grid pattern and then rolled the cages of packages to the vehicle based on the delivery route so an associate came up and said are you a four-hour route i said no i'm a three-hour round so he said okay the car next to me was a three and a half hour someone else was a four hour route so corresponding to the amount of packages obviously depending on how long your route is but again mine was a three hour route they wheeled the packages to me How Many Packages & Stops I Was Assigned and i got 31 i believe packages for 21 stops so obviously there's you know multiple dropouts there for a few locations so check out the delivery area here it's actually not that bad it of course is headed back into the city which i like i mean i have no it's the first time i'm doing this here in pittsburgh but i'm glad they didn't pull me you know even further away from downtown so there is that commute in well i should say out to that distribution center now i'm going back into the main city central here it's not a downtown route which i like and again 21 stops for a three-hour route i think that's gonna go by pretty quickly Scanning In Your Packages so i'll show you here here's what the skating process looks like one thing i did notice the scanner on the phone i'm using an iphone was very sensitive on the flex app so there's a certain barcode that you got to scan it'll tell you obviously when you hit the wrong barcode but if i put that sensor anywhere near any type of barcode or qr code it seemed to jump on it really quickly it's really sensitive so just want to make note of that but other than that let me check in with you a little bit later i'm going to drive to my first delivery destination then i'll check back in with you throughout the shift to let you know how it's going all right so guess what we Finishing A Shift Early are completely done and again i know the vertical video normally i would do a complete nice studio filming setup but i want to give you the realest the rawest first hand experience so guess what we are done but guess what time it is it is exactly 00 p.m now remember when was the shift scheduled until it was scheduled until 8 00 pm it was supposed to be 5 p.m until 8 00 p.m so why am i done an hour early what happens and was there any problems on this shift so number one the reason i'm done an hour early is a it just depends on how many packages they give you so remember when you get to that warehouse the distribution center in this case they rolled the package carts to us based on how long we were driving The Benefits Of Grouped Stops so i'll put a screenshot here i think i had 31 packages but i only had 21 stocks so obviously what happens there is i have several stops with multiple packages i had stops with two and even three packages now as a driver you're gonna love that because obviously you don't have to stop as many times that's kind of the big pain point with flex is you're gonna have more stops than food delivery because obviously you're just dropping off all these packages What Happens If You Finish Early? so number two what happens we got a beautiful uh sunset here in pittsburgh i wish i could show you i gotta get some gopros in here so i can give you some more feedback it looks great though you'll know in pittsburgh we don't have a lot of good weather so i'm loving it right now but okay what happens if you finish early it can be 30 minutes 15 minutes an hour or more early you get paid for the entire scheduled shift so this was a three hour shift for 54. i will get paid that entire amount doesn't matter if you finish early and Can You Have A Shift With Zero Packages? very very rarely as this guy drifts over to my my lane don't hit me very rarely you can get to the distribution center and have zero packages and it'll say on the app sometimes they'll have they'll have no packages they just over schedule drivers i've never had that happen but if that happens to happen you will get paid because you did schedule your time right you committed to that time so amazon flex will pay you in those rare circumstances how was the shift and was Completing A Shift there any problems so again i had 21 packages i delivered in the troy hill area of pittsburgh i wasn't too familiar with the area honestly um so the actual deliveries themselves they were very seamless now what they're going to do for you as a flex driver is the same thing that they're doing for their employed amazon drivers they're going to optimize your routes to minimize turnarounds they honestly never want their drivers to turn around right they always want you to be driving forward to the next route i mean obviously when you're an employee you have the the van it's even tougher in tight areas in pittsburgh if you're familiar with pittsburgh we have very narrow roads and windy roads in fact the flex app showed me a dead end and i was sweating i'm like come on a dead end it wasn't cobblestone but i think another one was and again there's cars parked in the right side and i'm like dude i'm gonna have to i have to back up this entire one-way street there's no it's so narrow there's no way for me to turn around especially when there's cars parked thankfully the flex app was wrong and google maps was right google maps had me continue there it did actually continue around thankfully but uh flex said it wasn't that anyway um i did have some tight maneuvering so keep that in mind if you're delivering a truck a van a larger vehicle i did have a few areas where again the cars are parked you know there's it's a one-way it's a tight road so you know think about that for your own marketplace now problem number two because there were multiple problems generally the actual deliveries themselves again were pretty seamless so Completing A Delivery (Walkthrough) actually let's go over a drop off this is what a drop-off is going to look like so the flex app is very good it gives you all the information as far as address customer name and you'll see here it also says what type of package to look for is it an envelope is it a custom box which is usually some kind of you know it's not a brown box that looks a little bit different is it a small box is it a medium a large box or again i think i don't know if i already said it but is it an envelope i mean you you grab the package the corresponding package you scan the same barcode as you did when you scan it in it'll say it's good to go you'll see here it says continue with one package two package three packages whatever it is on that assignment and then you'll make your delivery now it'll ask you where are you dropping off this package the front door did you hand it off directly a receptionist or concierge is it's i mean you couldn't find the front door but there's another safe area maybe you know behind a side fence of the person's yard if it happens to be open right you don't want to just go into some areas if you can't safely deliver of course uh that's another safe area that's what it says on the app and someone someone's beeping at me for no reason here come on people but it's very straightforward now What If You Can’t Deliver A Package? problem that i had here what happens if you cannot deliver a package so when i started my shift it gave me some notes which is new i didn't see that last year and it said hey here's how many stops here's how many packages and then it also said here are some special notes you're going to want to consider number one there's multiple package deliveries as far as what we talked about multiple packages for a single stop easy enough number two it said you have a commercial building which is obviously you know you know what that is it's a business a commercial building obviously so that is where i had the problem and i knew i was going to have a problem so let's look at that delivery how it went so i was gonna make the delivery to this uh it was an office building right it was a suite in the office building and the delivery notes because there may be custom delivery notes said delivered to the suite number suite numbers are clearly marked delivered during business hours entire building is nine to five again it says entire buildings nine to five delivered during business hours so what what is that gonna tell you if you're like me let me know double in the comments i don't know but you know i've worked in an office building if it's nine to five it's not at five the thing closes maybe cleaning stuff will go in but especially if it's a larger building with multiple suites you know employees need to scan in or enter a code that's exactly what happened on this delivery i could not get into the office building so what do you do can you deliver it in a safe place because remember that's one of the categories that you can mark when you make a delivery no if you're delivering to an office park office building high-rise you cannot i hope this is obvious but you cannot leave it at the front door i mean this was a more secluded area of pittsburgh still that is not a safe place i mean i'm sorry it's not you can't leave it right there on the road right at the main office of the office building if the doors are closed so what have now i saw cleaning staff and i saw their stuff you know if someone let me in you can go ahead and make the delivery but i would not waste a ton of time trying to flag someone down it's up to you so if you can't make that delivery you got to follow the steps to say this is undeliverable and you'll see here Classifying An Undeliverable Package there's a couple reasons why access issues access issues with a security code i couldn't you know maybe it was a private residence and they have a gate and they didn't give you the access code you cannot deliver it outside the residential gate that's another thing to be aware of so again if the access code is not in the notes then it says well you can call or text the customer so you can do that as well now i chose not to that is up to you but given that it was after business hours their specific note said deliver during the business hours it doesn't really make sense to call them at like whatever it was you know 6 p.m or something like that if it was a residential delivery then yeah i would call or text them and say hey i'm at your gate what is your access code i've had that happen before so you may be wondering i've been driving this entire time where are you going you know you're just talking to us on the on the ride home no i'm not so what you actually have to do i'm at a red light here it is there it is and i'm again i'm at a red light right now but Returning An Undeliverable Package you have to return that undeliverable package to the warehouse that has always been one of my that has always been one of my gripes with amazon flex if it is undeliverable you have to drive back to that warehouse and give it to them there will be staff there generally until 10 pm at night again you know check your own marketplace just to double check that or ask someone when you go but at 7 pm now they'll definitely still be there so unfortunately i was delivering kind of close to home and now i got to drive 25 minutes to the warehouse that could be a deal breaker for you and i understand if it is that is part of amazon flex Overall Verdict so let me give you my verdict i mean i guess this entire video is a vertical video thank you for putting up with that um but again i want to give you the realist feedback here so i finished in two hours i get paid 54. if i had delivered all of my packages with no problem that would have been perfect it would have been a great dollars per hour um the miles were not that far granted if i didn't have to drive and obviously i'm driving back right now that's adding more miles then i got to drive back home now let me tell you this the percent of times where i've had to do this return a package to the warehouse i've only done this one other time again i've only had one other shift or i've had to return a package because it was undeliverable now keep in mind i'm not doing you know 100 plus shifts i've done a decent amount of shifts but i haven't done like a ton a ton so take that for what it's worth um your experience may vary certainly depends on where you're delivering i mean obviously there's a lot of things that could happen there with undeliverable packages all right dropped How Do Returns Work At The Distribution Center? off that return uh how does that work yeah go in the same way now there was a kind of a side pull-off area i was following a van in front of me said amazon express lane went through that it was pulled right up and associate was just standing there waiting for everybody i had the package handed off and she asked you know what was the reason for the return i said business was closed uh it was a you know office park office building whatever and you know i couldn't get in access issues that's all you have to do took the package recorded it in her app and then said you know we're good to go so that was pretty easy Is Driving Amazon Flex Worth It? uh let me get you a verdict of my thoughts of doing amazon flex first time in over a year and ultimately isn't worth it and again you're awesome for hanging through the vertical video here but i really do want to give you the raw feedback versus you know i get home i get all set up i want to give you top of mind feedback here so remember the minimum pay for this is 15 an hour now i personally have never seen that low it's always been 18 it was 18 in san diego it's 18 here in pittsburgh but their app technically says that now obviously you'll see the pay ahead of time you can decide to accept or decline that now one positive with flex is it is predictable pay if you're driving ride share food delivery any of these other apps there is no guaranteed pay you know you're just kind of at the whim of how busy it is etc right with the requests so it's guaranteed again if you excuse me if you finish early you do get the whole pay so that's a plus a negative that i've always thought about with flex is just a labor intensity so number one again you're going to be stopping more than other apps number two it is more labor intensive i mean you're not again you're not gonna carry 30 to 40 pound packages i mean the ones i had today were a pound to maybe 15 pounds i'll say i had some heavier ones but they were maybe 20 pounds you know but they weren't 40 but my biggest ones but there is that there is a loading into your vehicle there's the bending the twisting if you have any mobility issues you will be carrying these boxes up some stairs i did have one pretty steep uh home that i delivered to so keep that in mind i mean you'll have the same kind of thing with food delivery you know you're going to be delivering to homes and apartments so you know take that for what it's worth so yeah the pay is predictable 18 an hour personally here's my kind of ultimate verdict you Amazon Flex vs Other Gig Apps may and chances are you will be able to make more money on different gig apps than amazon flex unless there's some pretty decent bonuses like 21 to 23 dollars an hour and you can probably do less work you're not gonna have to deliver uh what did i do you know 31 packages today i've done 40 plus if you do longer shifts obviously you'll get 50 60 plus packages uh so there's that um Would I Drive For Amazon Flex Again? what i do it again i mean i i would not go to flex as uh my top of line option no let me let me fix it here a little bit no i i would choose any food delivery app personally here in pittsburgh again you know you gotta look at your own marketplace but for the workload for well frankly the hassle of driving out there 25 minutes versus driving eight minutes to a busy zone in you know where i live you know more towards the city center for food delivery i can go online versus again driving 25 minutes out to that distribution center there's always the big risk of having a return like i did today again me personally i haven't had that a lot but that is absolutely something that can and will come up and frankly it will the more shifts that you do and you have to return it if they're closed you're responsible for driving to the warehouse the next morning that they're open so i'm sure you got a ton more questions on amazon flex if you want to see more shifts i'm down i want to make good content for you uh maybe see if it's a little bit easier if we have a shift with no returns let me know down below in the comments if you want to see other chefs i will answer your questions down there as well i do appreciate you watching and again dealing with the rare vertical video but i want to give you real feedback here if you did get value in this video definitely drop me a like and you can also click or tap screen now for a recent video as well as a video recommended for you and i'll see in the next one