It sounds like a great gig: Drive to the Amazon warehouse. Confirm they don’t have any routes for you. Collect money all the same.
That’s how TikToker @jodiary101 depicted it in a TikTok video that got more than 276,000 views since first going up on the platform last Tuesday. In it, the creator shows a view of a TV screen; the creator also has an iced coffee drink with a big label on it that’s clearly from a coffee establishment.
In a large on-screen caption, the creator relays, “When you’re scheduled to do Amazon Flex at 7am and they don’t have any routes for you.”
@jodiary101 ♬ original sound – Alexo Londoño
Then, in the second part of that caption, the tenor of the story changes. “Now I’m home at 7:45am with a coffee watching TV with $124 more in my bank account just for driving to the warehouse.”
According to the Amazon Flex website, “With Amazon Flex, you work only when you want to. You can plan your week by reserving blocks in advance or picking them each day based on your availability. Choose the blocks that fit your schedule, then get back to living your life.”
The site goes on to explain, “Flex pays in hourly blocks. When you schedule a block, you’ll know how long it lasts and how much you can earn—all before your block begins. So, avoid driving around looking for work and feel confident that your time on the road is well spent.” The site also asserts most drivers earn between $18 and $25 for their work.
But at least one prior Daily Dot story, published in October, had a driver making a similar claim to this creator. That person said, while at an Amazon distribution center waiting for a Flex route that day, “There’s so many people in here that I doubt there’s going to be a route for me to even do it, which is great because I get paid to go home for doing absolutely nothing.”
A number of commenters weighed in about their Flex experiences.
“Yesterday, I had two scheduled blocks and didn’t get routes in both,” one remarked. “I love doing Amazon Flex!”
A second noted, “This happened to me 3 days straight! I love my side hustle.”
Both comments got affirmation from the creator.
“This happened to me once with a $100 route,” another recalled. “Second time was a $90 and I only had to deliver 10 packages and 3 were for the same house.”
Some are still waiting, however, to be tapped by Amazon Flex to start driving (or getting rewarded for merely being willing to drive).
“I’ve been sitting on the waiting list since 1800 BC,” said one.
Another complained, “They deactivated my account and won’t restart it.”
Not everyone involved with Amazon Flex was thrilled to hear the creator’s tale. As one put it, “Yet the actual drivers we be getting 250 plus packages with easily over 100 stops.”
We’ve reached out to Amazon and @jodiary101.
