With steep competition from Amazon deliveries, it seems other carriers are stepping up their game with how and who they hire.
This comes at the same time that Amazon workers across New York City, California, Atlanta, and Illinois strike over the trillion-dollar company’s refusal to engage in bargaining for a labor contract, Vox reported.
The strike comes at one of the most profitable and delivery-heavy times of the year. The majority of the workers on strike are delivery drivers asking for better pay and work conditions
Meanwhile, competitors are onboarding a new type of delivery worker.
What are flex drivers?
In a viral video with more than 400,000 views, Amazon worker @2kreactzz notes that FedEx took a page out of his employer’s playbook. It’s started its own flex delivery program.
With Amazon, there are two ways Amazon delivers: Amazon DSP (Delivery Service Partner) and Amazon Flex.
Amazon DSPs are the drivers you likely recognize who deliver in Amazon-branded vans in uniform. These drivers technically work for the local third-party delivery businesses with which Amazon is partnered. Amazon DSP drivers can work full-time or part-time, are eligible for benefits. They are given an Amazon-branded vehicle with gas and insurance provided.
As the name implies, Amazon Flex is more flexible. Drivers choose their work hours (usually working in two- to four-hour blocks) and deliver packages from their own cars (and do not get reimbursed for mileage, parking, or tolls). They also wear their own clothes instead of a uniform. It’s closer to a gig job, like driving for Uber and Lyft or delivering food.
Most Amazon Flex drivers earn $18 to $25 an hour. However, actual earnings vary based on factors like location and how long it takes to complete deliveries.
Amazon DSP drivers make about the same, with current job listings ranging from $18 to $23.75 based on location.
FedEx states that these drivers can earn up to $50 an hour and get paid weekly. It’s unclear how much its flex drivers earn on average.
An Atlantic writer speculated that while, yes, Amazon is so big that FedEx, UPS, and USPS alone can’t handle the sheer volume of packages they need to be shipped, there’s another reason why they rolled out Flex.
“It’s cheap,” Alana Semuels wrote.
FedEx in the flex business
In the viral TikTok, @2kreactzz, who was filming from his Amazon delivery van, spotted a competitor delivering a package.
But there was something off about them. While they were in full uniform, instead of getting into one of the large, white vans with the logo on it, the person stepped into a regular regular sedan.
“Man, FedEx. Y’all are really copying Amazon. Y’all got flex drivers, too,” @2kreactzz said.
It’s unclear which company launched their flex program first, but FedEx’s dates back to at least 2022, based on its Facebook marketing.
Plus, the concept in itself of delivery drivers using their own vehicles isn’t new. Even before apps like Uber and DoorDash made it possible to use your vehicle to earn money, food delivery drivers existed, and they used their own cars too.
Flex concerns
After expenses, some Amazon Flex workers don’t even make the minimum wage amount for their city, the Atlantic reported. And while the hours are flexible, shift availability is unpredictable. One fellow driver clicked the refresh button so many times he got locked out of his account for a week, Semuels reported.
When she delivered for Flex, Semuels said she earned about $70, but $20 of those accounted for mileage expenses (that doesn’t include self-employed taxes or the $110 parking ticket she barely avoided).
When driving a personal vehicle, drivers struggle to find legal parking spots, especially in busy cities. Many incur tickets for the sake of being able to make their deliveries on time. If they were in a proper delivery truck with commercial license plates, they’d have additional parking options or get any ticket paid for by the delivery company instead of out of pocket.
If a Flex driver gets in a car accident or injured on the job, the expenses would have to be covered out of pocket, and they wouldn’t be eligible for worker’s compensation or paid medical time off.
Commenters react
“It only matters who pays more lol,” a top comment read.
“I am a ups seasonal driver using my own car lol i get paid 38$ per hr plus mileage,” a person shared.
“Its a PVD driver, personal vehicle delivery. Usually for peak season. Pay is terrible tho, $1-$2 per stop,” another added.
“I do it for ups hahaha. They pay so good,” a commenter wrote.
The Daily Dot reached out to @2kreactzz via TikTok direct message and comment and to FedEx and Amazon via email.
@2kreactzz Im dead bro 😭😭😭fyp #amazon #fedex ♬ Empty Out Your Pockets – Juice WRLD
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
