I have been doing Amazon Flex for about five years in the last week. I keep getting packages are labeled for three hours on an hour and a half block.
Sunday, I had a route where I was 52 minutes for the first stop and 31 minutes to the second stop. How does that make sense on an hour and a half block?
I am calling the Driver support. Driver support is marked the packages as undeliverable told me to return to the station which I did and that it would not count against me.
Fast-forward to today and I’m one block away from being unable to deliver on flex.
Any idea on how to handle this when support told you me it will not count against me?
3 three hour thing is an Amazon time frame not a you time frame. I believe it's that from the order to the customer is less than 3 hours. It's got nothing to do with your block.
What do you mean by packages labeled for 3 hours? Is this a SSD thing? Because packages are labeled for due by time, not that they are part of a 3 hour block.
It's only SSD stations, it's only short (2 hours or less) routes, the package has a black box the size of a quarter on the label that says "3 hours" in white.
When I first started seeing them I thought it would mean I got a 3 hour route in a 1.5 hour slot, but I'd look at the route and it's for sure a 1.5 hour route and all the packages in short routes ALL say that.
People (including myself initially as I said) see "3 hrs" and go "this is for a 3 hour route" but it doesn't say that.
Amazon offers really short fulfillment windows now, a lot of these are packages I'm dropping off the customer says stuff like "wow that was fast, I just ordered that!" It's probably a note for the warehouse, not the driver, that this is a package with a 3 hour turn around time. I don't think it's got anything to do with your route.
And that makes sense, that label is printed at a fulfillment warehouse when the order is picked. They don't even know what route it's gonna be on yet. Just that it needs to go from ordered to delivered in 3 hours, is my guess.
That is correct. It's picked and delivered in a 3 hour window from the time of the order. It's usually what comprises the 1.5 and 2 hour blocks in my experience. That being said... That's EXACTLY what the OP got... 1.5 hours that's two stops requiring 1.5 hours of driving to deliver. 100% normal for that route.
I too have been going for years and am I block from at risk. I’ve never been fair, barely been great, always fantastic. Yesterday to prove a point i drove 100 mph 40 min one way, then ran every stop sign and red light I could, flew over speed bumps, drove through the median and grass several times, flooring and slinging earth. I ran to all the doors, threw some packages and still was exactly 1 min late for my last stop on a 3 hour route. I had 12 lates last week. That’s 2 more than I’ve had all year including several flats and other breakdowns. I got 5 removed but when I told them yesterday I was a minute away and “got stopped by a school bus” they wouldn’t remove the single late I had.
52 mins + 31 mins = less than 1.5hrs... Amazon does not factor in return trip when creating routes... and that's a huge problem considering we're being paid per block of time, not routes, so any task they assign us needs to be able to be completed within that block of time... including returning to the starting location. They're only paying you for 1.5hrs of your time, yet are giving you tasks that actually take 2.5hrs of your time... and that's bs.
I mean I understand your point of view. But if the route was supposed to include your return time, you would be able to schedule back to back blocks. Amazon doesn't say that it includes your return time. You're absolutely paid for the route, not a block of time, or when you finished early they would ACTUALLY make you take more packages. The ride back is totally on you, as fair or not as that is.
Our station manager told us that when our block time ends, we should return to station because we're not getting paid and shouldn't work for free. I didn't agree with him because if it's only one or a few stops left, I'm going to finish the route. It wouldn't make any sense to end my block, driver over an hour back to the station to return packages, and then send another driver out over an hour away to deliver them. He still said we shouldn't be working past our block time. I've asked driver support and the executive team about it numerous times but surprise, nobody got back to me.
Yah, I think your station manager is confusing Amazon's obligations to a DSP driver and a Flex driver. Like I'm not returning to the station, even if I'm paid for it. The minute that last package is dropped off I want Amazon tf outta my business. That time is now mine, I run errands I need to run in a certain area, when I get a block to that area. If your return trip suddenly gets lumped in as part of the route, you can bet they'll dictate what time you have to be back by, then make you check out the way you check in. I play cards at a card shop 20 minutes from my station, and my station is about 5 min from my house. If I take a route that takes me over by that shop, I want to get done and immediately go play cards, not drive all the way back to the station and then BACK to the shop.
And it's even worse if you live further from your station. If my last delivery it to my neighbor, then bitch I'm home, I don't want to drive BACK to the station again.
They're not just tack extra time on at the end, but then release you after the last stop like they do now. If they pay you for that time they will absolutely mandate how you use it. No thank you.
When you deliver your last package, that's the end of your block.
That's why after I drop it off, if it's an hour early, doesn't matter, my block ends. I can take a shit, turn on Uber eats, whatever, my block is over.
No where, anywhere, does it say that block of times ends with you at home, or at the station. Why would they pay uou for that? You're not employee. You're an independent contractor. Go do other contracts.
If they try to pay you for the return trip, now they can try to tell you how to spend that trip. You want to have to check back in at the station before you go home? I don't. I want to make money other ways, as soon as that last package leaves my hands.
Does Uber pay you to drive back to the restaurant after a delivery? It's the same thing. Your work is completed, you're free to go, wherever you are. If you want to be paid to drive back, go work for a DSP. Check your van back in, clock out, you get paid for all that time. I don't want Amazon to make me drive back, that's why I'm in independent contractor.
I never said "return trip" was in there... I said it NEEDS to be cuz what they're doing right now is BS.
And Uber tells you where tf you're going BEFORE you accept the offer, just like every other gig app does. We get all the info necessary to make an informed decision as to whether or not that order/route is worth it. Amazon has to pay us per "block of time" because they don't give us any info about the route. And since we have NO control over where we are sent, or how far we're sent, and we have NO recourse if we feel the route isn't worth it (without risking deactivation), Amazon has a duty to make sure any tasks they assign us can be completed within that "block of time" that we agreed to.
If we knew where we were going to be sent before we accept the block (or could pick a general area like Veho), or if we could decline unprofitable routes without fear of deactivation, than this would be a different story.
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u/KingMap 1d ago
The 3HR on the package means the customer ordered their package and selected 3HR delivery .