Are you looking for a side hustle? If you have a car and blocks of free time in your schedule, then being an Amazon Flex driver may be the gig for you. Amazon Flex is like Uber or Lyft, but instead of picking up and dropping off strangers, you will be delivering packages. This is an ideal alternative if you like driving, but you do not like interacting with chatty or drunken passengers.
With Amazon Flex, the e-commerce giant is allowing independent contractors in the United States to deliver their customer’s purchases for an hourly fee. If this sounds interesting and you are already asking yourself, “Should I do Amazon Flex?” Keep reading.
In this article I will answer questions like “How good is Amazon Flex?” and “How much does amazon pay to deliver packages?” I will also discuss Amazon Flex reviews and Amazon Flex tricks so you can decide whether Amazon Flex is a good side job for you.
Overview
What is Amazon Flex?
Amazon Flex is a platform where independent contractors can sign up to deliver customer orders for the retail giant. This program is Amazon’s way to supplement their current contractors – UPS, FedEx, and the U.S. Postal Service – with freelance drivers in exchange for hourly Amazon Flex pay.
Amazon Flex driver jobs involve transporting goods for Prime Now, Amazon Fresh, and Amazon.com. If you sign up, you could be asked to deliver groceries, clothes, even meals. According to their website, Amazon Flex salary will depend on your location, how long your complete deliveries, tips, and other factors.
How does Amazon Flex work?
To become an Amazon Flex delivery driver, you need to register. Fortunately, this is easy and can be done using your smartphone or computer. These are the requirements:
- At least 21 years or older
- Valid driver’s license
- Ownership of at least a mid-size sedan or larger
- Car registration and insurance
- Smartphone running on at least iOS 11 or Android 6
Simply go to the Amazon Flex website (https://flex.amazon.com/), answer the eligibility questions, download the app, and fill out the forms. You also need to pass a background check through a series of questions about your identity on the app. After passing that, you can start scheduling your first Amazon Flex delivery!
To get started with your Amazon Flex hourly side hustle, you will get offers which you can choose to accept. These offers are time blocks, usually a 3-hour block, where you commit to deliver the packages to a certain location.
Once you accept this time block, you will be given the location to an Amazon warehouse where you will check in, pick up the packages, and receive the delivery locations. The Amazon Flex app has a GPS which you can follow for the deliveries. For every package, you will need to take a picture as proof of successful delivery.
Amazon Flex Locations
If you want to know “Where is Amazon Flex available,” they are currently operating in over 50 cities in the United States. Here are the cities that are actively recruiting Amazon Flex drivers:
Alabama
Huntsville
Montgomery
Ozark & Daleville
Troy
Arkansas
Little Rock
Arizona
Tucson
California
Fresno
Greater Los Angeles area
Palm Desert
Palmdale & Lancaster
Sacramento
San Diego
San Francisco Bay Area
Stockton
Colorado
Colorado Springs
Denver
Fort Collins
Delaware
Wilmington
Florida
Destin
Fort Myers
Gainesville
Jacksonville
Lakeland – Winterhaven
Miami – West Palm Beach
Orlando
Port St. Lucie & Vero Beach
Sarasota & Venice
Tallahassee
Tampa-St. Pete
Georgia
Atlanta
Idaho
Boise
Indiana
Evansville
Fort Wayne
South Bend
Iowa
Iowa City
Kansas
Wichita
Louisiana
Baton Rouge
Maryland
Baltimore
Massachusetts
Boston
Springfield
Michigan
Detroit
Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo
Mississippi
George County
Hattiesburg
Jackson
Nevada
Las Vegas
Reno
New Mexico
Albuquerque
New York
Poughkeepsie-Middletown
North Carolina
Charlotte
Greensboro
Raleigh
Wilmington
Oklahoma
Oklahoma City
Oregon
Portland
Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton
South Carolina
Charleston
Columbia
Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville
Tennessee
Chattanooga
Knoxville
Memphis
Nashville
Texas
Austin
Dallas- Ft. Worth
El Paso
Houston Huntsville
San Antonio
Utah
Provo-Orem
Salt Lake City
Virginia
Richmond
Virginia Beach
Washington
Bellingham
Greater Seattle Area
Kitsap County
Wisconsin
Appleton
Racine & Kenosha County
You can also Google “Amazon Flex locations near me” or go to their website to check whether they are hiring drivers in your area. In some big cities, there could be an Amazon Flex waiting list. These cities could mean more competition; hence less time block offers. Perhaps reading Amazon Flex reviews Dallas or Amazon Flex reviews Houston will give you an idea about their experiences with Amazon Flex on these big cities.
Outside of the United States, Amazon Flex operates in other countries, including Amazon Flex Canada, Germany, Spain, Amazon Flex UK, India, Japan, and Amazon Flex Singapore.
How much money can you make as an Amazon flex driver?
What you probably want to know is: Do Amazon Flex drivers make good money? And how much does Amazon Flex pay per block? Amazon flex pays $18-25 an hour. For example, for a 3-hour time block offer from Amazon, you could earn between $54 to $75. $54 is the minimum pay you will receive, but your Amazon Flex earning potential could be higher considering you also get to receive 100% of the tips.
As for payment, Amazon Flex drivers are paid twice weekly on Tuesdays and Fridays. Deliveries made for Prime Now or Amazon Restaurants are paid via direct deposit after your tips are processed in 1-2 days after the delivery. As an independent contractor, you will need to account for taxes and file quarterly taxes if needed.
Is Amazon Flex profitable? Amazon truck drivers typically make more money since their vehicle have higher capacity, but there are positive Amazon Flex delivery driver reviews from sedan owners indicating they are satisfied working for amazon delivery and working for amazon fulfilment centre. For most cities, Amazon Flex benefits include commercial insurance or Amazon Flex insurance. However, you will have to shoulder other expenses like gas, tolls, mileage, etc.
Amazon Flex Reddit reviews: Pros and cons
Amazon Flex reviews on Reddit are generally positive, especially when it comes to earnings compared to other app-based services for independent contractors. Redditor Uberwasser, who is no stranger to the gig economy, shares that you can actually make decent money.
Aside from being an easy and “mostly low stress” side hustle, he appreciated the up-front and clear payment terms, much less per hour mileage on the car, and potential to make solid hourly wage. He is averaging $28 per hour. His minimum was 18/hour for a 4-hour block with 55 packages and his biggest take was 45/hour for a 3.5-hour block for 15 packages.
His biggest issue was the time blocks which is often released frequently and at random. Two other Redditors agreed that the random drops make it hard to secure time blocks. This is why CapnShinerAZ does not recommend this as a full-time job, writing: “Flex… [is] not stable enough” as a “primary source of income.”
As for the Amazon Flex app itself, while Uberwasser finds it user-friendly and well designed, other Flex drivers complain about glitches. A recent Amazon Flex reviews 2020 from SEO5_18, for instance, recounted an instance about not getting checked in. The GPS can also be unreliable or inaccurate. Other users recommend calling instead of emailing for faster resolution, but user victoriat215 was not so lucky as she ended up missing the block after getting kicked out of the system.
Other reviews
Amazon Flex got a 3.5 and 3.6 rating on Glassdoor and Indeed, respectively. Here are the pros and cons highlighted by users:
PROS
- Majority of flex drivers like the work-life balance and flexibility it offers because you can accept a time block “around your own schedule.”
- Over 100 reviews on Glassdoor cites “good pay, good hours, opportunity.”
- A Seattle Amazon Flex driver shared that you could make good money especially during peak seasons.
CONS
- Flex drivers do not like the inaccurate time-blocks. One driver from Portland recounted accepting a 3.5 block for 40 packages and he managed to deliver only 16 packages. In all, his net take for that block was barely $10/hour.
- A downside noted was the “wear and tear on the car.”
- Some people mentioned “bad routes” which could lead you to “a ditch.”
- A UK Flex driver also shared that it can be hard work involving heavy lifting. He also lamented the fact that he was let go without explanation.
Conclusion: Is Amazon Flex worth it?
Majority of Amazon Flex reviews reveal that it is a worthwhile side hustle, but it is not very stable. The biggest concern is the inconsistent drop for available time blocks and the random assignments of packages and locations.
Unlucky drivers can get assigned to farther locations and spend more than the allotted time block, hence less hourly take. While drivers can forfeit time-blocks 45 minutes before it starts, declining offers at the last minute will negatively affect your rating.
That said, here are some Amazon Flex tips and strategies to help you get the most of this side hustle:
- Gas up! Fill up your tank to anticipate longer drives, so you will not have to make stops and spend more time on deliveries.
Did you know you can save money on gas (and groceries) if you use these apps:
- GetUpside – Highly recommended! Click the link to download the app, and get an extra $0.15/gal cash back on gas on your first fill-up
- Ibotta – Get discounts at the grocery store! If you like couponing, this app is a must-have. Follow the link and you can get a $10 welcome bonus.
- Dosh
- GasBuddy
- Since the GPS on Amazon Flex app is known to get buggy, use Google Maps as a backup. Alternatively, check out Beans Maps for Apartments – an app specially designed for delivery drivers. It shows what building a certain apartment is in, as well as other details about the apartment complex! (a super useful tool for all delivery drivers)
- Claim time blocks during peak times or anticipate when time blocks start to claim forfeited blocks.
- Make sure your car is empty to maximize space for the packages.
- Finally, opt to deliver Prime Now and Amazon Fresh so you can get tips on top of the hourly pay.
If you want other alternative ways to make extra cash check out this review.