How Much Does Amazon Flex Pay Per Block?
If you’re looking for the ideal side hustle, the potential earnings can be important when deciding whether to pursue it or explore other possibilities.
However great the idea of driving for Amazon might be, you must take advantage of your time if you wish to reach your financial targets.
How Much Does Amazon Flex Pay Per Block?
And what do you have to budget to keep your job in the game?
Let`s find out.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- What is Amazon Flex?
- Where can you work as an Amazon Flex?
- What I need to become Amazon Flex Driver?
- Amazon Flex Payment Structure
- How Much Does Amazon Flex Pay Per Block?
- How Are Amazon Flex Drivers Paid?
- Find out some Delivery shift details
- Pro Tips To Maximize Your Earnings
- How Amazon Flex and Other Driving Gigs Compare?
What is Amazon Flex?
Amazon Flex is a courier service provided by the e-commerce giant – Amazon. Amazon Flex drivers deliver purchases for Amazon.com, Amazon Fresh, and Prime Now.
You can work an hour delivering food, groceries, or even gifts.
Requirements for Amazon Flex Driver
- At least 21 years old or older
- Valid driver’s license and automobile insurance
- Must own a mid-size sedan or bigger car or truck
- Must own Smartphone
- Must pass a background assessment
More of this we will discuss later.
Delivery Types for Amazon Flex
- Prime: A standard Amazon parcel delivery. Although Amazon delivers many of these deliveries through USPS and UPS, the use of contractors lets the company improve delivery times and even offers delivery on Sundays.
- Prime Now: Available in selected areas, it is a service that lets Amazon Prime customers receive two hours of delivery for daily household necessities and select Amazon products.
- Amazon Locker: Drivers take items at Amazon Lockers, similar to P.O. boxes that Amazon uses to offer different pickup locations for customers.
- Merchant pickups: Instead of taking the package from the Amazon Station, the driver can pick it up from a merchant. This is how Amazon offers services like Amazon Fresh and delivery from small local companies and additional brick-and-mortar Amazon partners.
- Restaurant: These are food orders made by restaurants as an element of Amazon Restaurants’ service.
As part of the Amazon Flex drivers, you will deliver each kind of service. Fortunately, you can set your delivery schedules based on the delivery blocks pre-selected using an Amazon Flex app.
Where can you work as an Amazon Flex?
As an Amazon driver, you have the opportunity to work across the country. This provides many opportunities.
But what you need to know is that Amazon isn’t always looking for drivers. If you enter the site and the city in which you live is not announced as an active search for drivers, do not despair. You can add yourself to the waiting list, and when an opportunity arises, you will be notified.
For this purpose, you can visit the Amazon Flex site.
What I need to become Amazon Flex Driver?
For whichever Amazon service you want to drive, each one of them has almost the same basic requirements (with a few deviations):
- Car: To take advantage of Amazon.com delivery, you’ll require at least a four-door sedan. The bigger the vehicle, the better. Minivans and SUVs can carry more packages, saving you more money. In the case of Prime Now and Amazon Fresh, any reliable vehicle is adequate. Whatever the car or delivery method, you must have the registration and insurance details and always carry your license.
- Smartphone: iPhone 5S or newer with iOS 11 or higher will work, as will the Android 6 or above with GPS and cameras for scanning bar codes. The majority of tasks will require you to use an app called Amazon Flex app.
- Background checks: Once you begin using the app, you’ll be required to answer various questions about your identity to aid the process. The checks into your driving record and criminal records can require between two and five business days to complete.
Amazon gives you business insurance when you’re on the job but will not cover your expenses for the cost of tolls, mileage parking, or other expenses!
This coverage is not available to drivers who reside in New York, and who may require additional insurance to meet the law of the state!
Amazon Flex Payment Structure
Amazon Flex drivers are paid the same amount for each shift – also known as delivery blocks which they accept and then complete.
Most blocks are between 2 to 6 hours, starting from the moment of your arrival at the pick-up point until the time you deliver the final package.
When you sign up for a deliverable block, you’ll be able to see your guaranteed income and an estimate of the time required to complete the delivery.
This means you can estimate how much you’ll earn each hour before committing.
If all your parcels are delivered successfully (or returned to a station for delivery), you’ll soon get the same amount of money that was given in exchange for each delivery.
This means that Amazon Flex’s payment system is much more transparent than ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft. With them, you earn a minimum 20% commission on rides with undefined trip amounts.
If you participate in Prime Now deliveries, you’ll also have the opportunity to receive tips from customers and your guaranteed income. Delivery partners get all tips provided by customers.
The mileage reimbursement isn’t included in the payment structure for Amazon Flex delivery blocks. When calculating your trip earnings, be aware of Amazon Flex delivery blocks.
How Much Does Amazon Flex Pay Per Block?
So, how much is the amazon delivery driver hourly pay?
The starting pay rate of Amazon Flex drivers is $18/hour (higher in some markets).
From there, the hourly wage can reach $25 per hour because of factors that can increase the difficulty of the delivery.
Potential causes include increased demand, inclement weather, or the rush of holiday shoppers.
You can also make more money by taking immediate offers whenever you have an extra hour in your working day.
The actual earnings will depend on your location, tips, time to finish your deliveries, and other aspects.
If you’re shipping to Prime Now, you’ll also be able to get tips.
Customers aren’t required to provide tips. However, you can boost the likelihood of getting tips by offering timely, professional customer service.
You’ll be able to find the hourly rate of any schedule block before you pick it, meaning there’s no doubt regarding the amount you’ll earn for a given shift.
That said, the amount you earn per month or week will depend on how many shifts you are willing to do and the number of shifts Amazon Flex offers.
For the sake of ensuring that your job is not a part-time job, Amazon caps the maximum amount of hours you can work in the following manner:
- Per day – 7 hours
- Weekly hours – 29 hours
- Per 30 days – 116 hours
This is because you are an independent self-employed contractor being the Amazon Flex driver.
You are not an Amazon employee. If Amazon was to offer drivers 40-hour work weeks, this would open them to lawsuits demanding Amazon delivery drivers be considered employees (and granted the benefits associated with being an employee).
Amazon does not want this, so they’ve put these caps in place (and the titles of phrases for driver jobs with care).
Be aware, however, that caps are removed during busy periods, like the winter holiday season.
How Are Amazon Flex Drivers Paid?
Drivers receive payment twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays.
If you were a driver to Amazon Restaurants or Prime Now, you’d be paid once the tips have been processed, which typically takes one to two days following the delivery. You will receive your payments via direct deposit.
Since your work for Amazon Flex makes you an independent contractor, you’ll be accountable for withholding funds for your taxes. It is also possible to file quarterly tax returns.
Find out some Delivery shift details
The Amazon Flex app will send an alert an hour before the block begins. When you open the app, you can see the pickup area for your goods, the address to which you’ll deliver them, and the total extent of your work.
Once you are at the pickup point, you sign in, and the block time begins. The process of packing your car is one of your tasks. You are accountable for scanning your QR or bar code on everything you own before taking them off.
If you deliver for Amazon Fresh, you may require a truck on hand because certain packages can weigh up to 50 pounds or more.
The amount of packages you’ll have to handle will vary. If you have a big enough vehicle, you can transport up to 70 packages.
The app will generate a route for you to follow. When you’re familiar with the roads around the city, it could be best for you to make your own decisions in navigating.
Log into your application when you reach an address to deliver the package. Ensure you’re at the correct address, and verify whether the recipient has provided additional instructions.
Scan the package’s barcode to verify that you’ve completed the delivery.
Repeat the process on each piece of merchandise.
Sometimes, you might be unable to deliver all of your items within your set timeframe. Send all your packages as fast as possible, and inform Amazon Flex support about the reason for the delay. You will not be compensated for the additional time required to deliver the rest of the packages.
The packages you aren’t able to deliver must return to their pickup place.
Pro Tips To Maximize Your Earnings
These suggestions can help you earn more as an Amazon Flex driver:
- Make sure you check the schedule often for any new delivery blocks. The possibility of cancellations is there, and you might get the last chance.
- Make sure you are ready for the holiday season. December and November are the peak delivery times, and you’ll be able to earn more money than you can during other times of the year.
- Find block times with more activity that pays higher. You may have to work later or earlier, but it’s worth it.
- Make sure you are considerate and polite in your deliveries, and you might get extra tips. Little things like dropping mints in a food order bag left at the restaurant’s pickup or neatly putting grocery shopping orders on your customer’s doorstep could bring you additional money.
- Make sure your phone is charged up so that a depleted battery won’t cut your delivery time short.
- Be organized when loading delivery items into your vehicle to make the delivery process as quick and efficient as feasible.
How Amazon Flex and Other Driving Gigs Compare?
Amazon Flex Vs. DoorDash
Both companies provide the option of scheduling ahead. Amazon Flex gives more information about what to expect before deciding.
But, DoorDash has more locations and could be as profitable as Amazon Flex.
Amazon Flex vs. Instacart
If you’re not interested in having to ship packages to Amazon, Instacart focuses on grocery delivery. As per Glassdoor, Instacart delivery drivers’ average payment is $15 an hour, plus $1 per hour in tips.
Amazon Flex might still be the best option for markets with low demand for Instacart delivery because it promises the driver from $18 to $25 an hour, plus tips.
You pick orders or packages through Amazon Flex and spend most of your time delivering.
Instacart Drivers typically buy the food items they will deliver. You must decide how long you’d like to dedicate to driving a cart and dropping off orders.
Questions you may have
Does Amazon flex pay for gas?
Unfortunately, Amazon Flex does not cover gas costs.
The same goes for your car maintenance, insurance, and any associated fees from the job.
Does Amazon flex pay daily?
Amazon Flex pays twice a week – Thursday and Friday.
How much can I make with Amazon flex in a week?
Depends on how hours you will have covered for the week. The hourly pay is between $18 to $25. The tips are not included.