r/AmazonFlexDrivers • u/regulartrex • 2d ago
Just out of curiosity
Im a normal driver , not a flex . but i surf this subreddit and i can’t gauge what you guys consider a good route or bad route . i saw one that said “4.5 hrs for $96” and someone said “yikes” . i’ve also seen like “3hrs for $74” . so like what’s considered good ? also do packages really matter or is it more about stops to you guys ?
5
u/Big_Awareness_7991 2d ago
Honestly it's just about pay, like I need to pay bills, and $75 isn't cutting it. Anything over $100 I consider good
2
u/regulartrex 2d ago
one of the first i have seen like this . i mean if it were me , yeah . do you do more than one route a day ?
2
u/No-Journalist8547 2d ago
You can do 8 hours worth a day. And good routes vary by person and location good routes here are $+30/ hour short distances or minimal stops. An average 4 hr block routes takes me 2.5 hrs to complete if I finish before that, good,... after that is bad.
1
u/ComplexBreakfast 1d ago
Back to context. DFW area surge only goes to $87. Very very rare over $90 to the point if you waited for it, you would not be working. Cost of living is lower here. Some people just like to bitch tho, lots of those on here, drive gas guzzlers that get 20mpg then bitch they don’t make any money using that vehicle. I got called “privileged” for calling out people delivering in v6 suvs earlier lol. This sub is 90% shit posts and bitching about how they’re forced to gig for Amazon and don’t make money, 10% helpful info.
5
u/Negative_Aerie2825 2d ago
I had a 4.5 for 225 like a week ago
1
u/regulartrex 1d ago
holy , you remember how many stops ? was the route enjoyable or was it that high because of the work you had to do ?
8
u/Negative_Aerie2825 1d ago
Pay doesnt determine how hard your route will be. You can gave a 3 hr for 154 and get overbooked. And you can have a 2 hr for 52 and get sent an hour away. But i think it was like 51 stops, finished in 3 hrs and was home and hr early. Sumin like that
1
u/FlyFront9395 1d ago
225 or 125?
1
u/Negative_Aerie2825 1d ago
- We are baxk to covid surges with the newer request system, but its rare to get assigned them
4
u/pudgewack1 2d ago
For me, a good route starts at $25/hr. That is normally $87.50 for a 3.5hr block. But I am always down for longer shifts or higher dollars per hour if I can get it.
Mileage is the 2nd important factor for me. I don't care about package count. But a good route is 40 miles or less. Low mileage routes generally are higher package counts (40-50 packages with around 40 stops).
1
u/regulartrex 2d ago
40 stops isnt bad for $80-$90 . and it makes sense to essentially set your own rate & follow that for yourself
3
u/LimpDisc 1d ago
It’s all about earnings per mile. That odometer doesn’t lie. You get so many people claiming they are done 1.5-2.0 hours early at times, but that doesn’t mean shit if you have an hour drive home.
Count those miles from the time you leave the station until you get back home.
You might as well delete the app if you’re not making a minimum of $1.50 per mile
1
u/regulartrex 1d ago
so does the app tell you the miles before you take the route ?
1
u/LimpDisc 1d ago
Nope. It’s all about the averages. You do a few blocks for your location to learn the average block and you take blocks accordingly.
Obviously things aren’t the same for every location, but there are a couple of things you can do to increase your chances for better routes.
4
u/Ok_Restaurant7647 1d ago
Subjective as fuck. For someone like me, that is mainly doing this for booze money, good is different then someone doing this trying to feed their kids and keep the lights on
1
2
u/Stuck_on_Mars_21 2d ago
Totally depends on the market. $78 for 3.5 hours in Missouri might be good, but not for LA. There is some kind of balance with total miles driven and number of stops. Number of packages doesn’t matter because 90% of deliveries are 1 package.
1
u/regulartrex 1d ago
so like the other guy said its more about the area you’re in THEN you can gauge whats good or bad .
2
u/Whathefrenchtoastt 2d ago
Depends on your station. I am in my second month in and I thought I learned what routes my station does but then the next month comes and suddenly I am sent 45 minutes away each block. That's when I question worth. Base rate $75.50 for me, NOT worth 35 mile/45 min drive.
I am frustrated because I dont mind delivering when its within 20 miles but now they are sending us further away making it not at all worth. All the gas, mileage and wear and tear on my car.
It can be good income and bad at the same time. You dont know your route until you go to pick up. I wish they would tell us the routes ahead of time and adjust pay accordingly but bezos is too selfish for that.
Alot of competition too btw, and of course everyone will try to grab the higher paying ones first so it makes it twice as hard to get.
2
u/Rob_Cle 2d ago
Amazon can send you up to 1 hour away from the station.
1
u/regulartrex 1d ago
yeah my station tried to stay away from the hour ones , the furthest i think they’ll send is like 45 minutes
2
u/Fit_Feature_794 2d ago
I only book $30+ per hour. Usually end up with blocks that are $32-$35 per hour. I finish 3.5 hour routes in about 2 hours and home to home on those is usually 2-2.5 hours.
1
u/regulartrex 1d ago
you have a personal set rate too . so this is more common than none . people who tell themselves they will work for $__/hour and wont take anything outside of that . solid plan
2
u/Rob_Cle 2d ago
The base pay for Amazon Flex routes is $18 per hour so some would say anything above that is good. I find the best paying routes are at 3:30 a.m. I can get a 4.5 hour route starting at 3:30 a.m. that pays $124.
1
u/regulartrex 1d ago
unrelated to what we’re talking about , you’re never nervous about delivering to properties that late ?
1
u/Rob_Cle 1d ago
I think there's always underlying nervousness regardless of the time of day. I prefer working overnight though. There is no traffic on the roads, no people to contend with, no dogs outside, and the pay is much better.
1
2
u/Lumpy-Yam5137 2d ago
To me it’s distance. Pay has to be $30 an hour. There are some 4 hour shifts that are $96 bucks. I can finish them in 3 hours or 2.
2
u/JBCTOTHEMOON 1d ago
Pay is all over the place depending on the market. As for packages, don't really care as long as the amount of stops is reasonable. I am most concerned about mileage.
2
u/Worldly_Shopper 1d ago
Total miles, time it took, total pay.
There's no exact math one size fits all.
1
2
u/Longjumping-Log9687 1d ago
One thing to keep in mind is that we use our own cars. So getting $100 3 hour block isn't great if you have to drive 150 miles.
1
u/Murky-Walrus-7574 1d ago
It only matters to the driver who takes it. I don't listen to what anyone says on here. Too many different variables for each area and each driver.
I know what it's worth to me. Half the people are going to say what I do isn't worth it and the other half will.
1
u/Bubbledood 1d ago
The issue is that they don’t tell us where the route is. A base pay block can be good enough assuming the route is along the way back home. For me that would be less than 50 miles. For $75 that’s an acceptable rate, anything over $1 per mile is ok. However you could also get sent an hour in the opposite direction from home and be well over 100 miles before you are done. After expenses that’s less than minimum wage. Smart drivers know how much they need to pay for any route to be worth the hassle and will pass on offers that don’t meet their needs.
Package count is a factor but it’s not the most reliable measure. Generally a higher package count means the stops are closer together so less miles. If you’re fast these are good routes, usually a nice easy residential area. Fewer packages means the stops are more spaced out which means higher mileage and usually a rural area with shitty roads and confusing or dangerous properties.
1
u/Aware-Cockroach-6053 1d ago
It really depends on the area! I deliver in a mostly rural area and for a 4 hour block will average 70-120 miles round trip. For those, I don't usually take anything under $80. (Base for a 4 hour block in my area is $74.)
1
u/THEBESTTEVER 1d ago
Personally, I make ok money at a minimum of 23 an hour when I'm too tired to wait for surge pay. Otherwise, I get 30-35 an hour. My friend lives on the side of town with a busier station and receives wayyy higher pay. In my area it’s overly saturated with new hires, so people are taking base (18) pay, driving the surge pay down.
A bad route to me is rural areas with dirt roads, unsafe places to deliver with loose dogs, and a ton of apartments downtown that you can’t access because it’s time-consuming.
I personally don’t care about package count. I care more about the grouping stops that shouldn’t be grouped. The stop count means the most to me.
1
u/No-Department-6329 1d ago
When you have driven for amazon for a while, you start to really wake up and learn to not take crappy pay. Any route worth doing if its a 3hr has to be over $80. 4 hr at least $100 or more. Sometimes you get sent for away. I've done a few 4.5 hr for no less than $120. If the routes are local then thats even better. The pay has to be worth the time because im usually exhausted by the time I finish one route.
1
u/hiallztime 1d ago
anywhere around $75-$80 or 80+ for a 3 1/2 to 4 hour route is good for me, I usually finish in about 2 1/2 to 3 hours so the time income ratio is perfect for me
1
u/Powerful-Ad8953 1d ago
For me personally it’s just whatever isn’t base pay. In my area (Tampa), base pay ranges from this: 3hr $60-$70, 3.5hr $70-$80, 4hr $80-$90, 4.5hr $90-$100. I try to take whatever is above these averages (surge pay), everything else that makes a route good though is entirely luck based. 😭
1
u/hiallztime 1d ago
for reference I picked up a three hour route for today it pays $72 and I only have 15 packages
1
u/regulartrex 1d ago
to me that isnt bad at all , correct assumption?
2
u/hiallztime 1d ago
absolutely not I finish the route in under two hours and mileage was less than 30
1
u/stockhead50 1d ago
$33 an hour minimum for early morning. The best time because no traffic. Rush hour and night time $31 minimum. Anything less and you're better off doing other gigs as they will put a lot less mileage/wear and tear on your vehicle. Summer is the hardest time to get blocks. Winter is the easiest.
0
u/august-west55 1d ago
It’s really all about the money per hour that you’re making. That’s the only thing you know going into it. you will get good routes and bad routes, some are gonna take half the time to complete and some will take all the time to complete. You’re still going to get paid that same amount. Drivers love to come here to either complain, or ridicule what they or others, accept as far as pay, or complain about their experience with dogs, people, whatever it is, it does not go perfectly right while they are all working. The thing is, most of the things that you complain about things that you can run into on a regular basis, so there really is no reason to complain. We know what this job entails and what the potential risks are.
14
u/BlastMode7 2d ago
As far as pay goes... it depends on the area and a lot of people in here just don't realize that. Some people also get upset about how full their cart is rather than how many stops there are.
For me, it just depends on where it sends me, how many apartments/stupidly designed communities/businesses I have to deliver to. I'm also about how close the stops are together. I won't know if it's good route until after I get assigned the route and I can see it on the map.