One Amazon driver doesn’t think it’s worth it to drive for Amazon Flex. There are seemingly two ways for Amazon to deliver packages directly to customers: Amazon Flex and Amazon DSP (Delivery Service Partner).
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 Amazon is partnered with. Amazon DSP drivers can work full-time or part-time, are eligible for benefits, and 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, but 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.
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 shipped, there’s another reason why they rolled out Flex.
“It’s cheap,” Alana Semuels wrote.
@moni.moni.01 Replying to @Animage ♬ original sound – Monique
And TikToker Monique (@moni.moni.01) agreed. As an Amazon DSP driver, Monique said, “Nine times out of 10,” the delivery experience and hours are the same whether you’re doing Flex or DSP.
Which one is better?
“I don’t want to drive my own vehicle. I don’t want to up my mileage nor my gas. Like, no,” Monique said in her TikTok. “…I might as well use Amazon’s stuff they can offer, which is a whole car, uniform, everything.”
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.
People in the TikTok comment section mostly agreed with Monique.
“Seeing the mileage go up in your car is pain,” a top comment read.
“Definitely not worth the wear and tear and miles on the car,” a person said.
“I wouldnt want to up my mileage waste my gas. My insurance will go up, maintenance to the vehicle are going to be more,” another agreed.
The Daily Dot reached out to Monique for comment via Instagram direct message and to Amazon via email.
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