# Over a month with no blocks. How do you even do this?



## JuanMoreTime (Jan 25, 2015)

I've had the app installed for over a month, and I have yet to get my first delivery block. Are there really no openings at all in LA or Orange County? If there's absolutely no work whatsoever, why did they even make the app available? How are we supposed to do this? I check every day, and there's never any work available. What am I missing?


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## cvflexer (Apr 27, 2017)

You have to check ALL day long, not just every day.


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## JuanMoreTime (Jan 25, 2015)

cvflexer said:


> You have to check ALL day long, not just every day.


Well that's just ridiculous. Why would they ask us to fill out our availability then? What a stupid way to run things.
How is anyone supposed to make a living if we're all sitting at home pressing the refresh button?
Especially since the app can't seem to remember that I've already signed in every time I open it.


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## cvflexer (Apr 27, 2017)

Last time I checked Amazon is a business not a charity or government entitlement.


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## Basmati (Sep 14, 2014)

JuanMoreTime said:


> I've had the app installed for over a month, and I have yet to get my first delivery block. Are there really no openings at all in LA or Orange County? If there's absolutely no work whatsoever, why did they even make the app available? How are we supposed to do this? I check every day, and there's never any work available. What am I missing?


You need to install a bot program and have it run continuously to automatically grab blocks when they drop.


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## JuanMoreTime (Jan 25, 2015)

cvflexer said:


> Last time I checked Amazon is a business not a charity or government entitlement.


Well, thanks for that completely unrelated non-sequitur.


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## cvflexer (Apr 27, 2017)

And run the risk of getting deactivated. Not worth it. I have been doing this since it started and have yet to see anybody with a bot and still around.


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## JuanMoreTime (Jan 25, 2015)

Basmati said:


> You need to install a bot program and have it run continuously to automatically grab blocks when they drop.


So basically you have to hack the system in order to do any honest work at all. Well played, Amazon. Well played. So much for being a tech company.


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## cvflexer (Apr 27, 2017)

JuanMoreTime said:


> Well, thanks for that completely unrelated non-sequitur.


Not unrelated. You want a business to cater to your needs. If you actually read the terms and conditions you would have realized what this gig is. It is just a gig to make extra money and it is an Amazon experiment.


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## Basmati (Sep 14, 2014)

cvflexer said:


> And run the risk of getting deactivated. Not worth it. I have been doing this since it started and have yet to see anybody with a bot and still around.


You will NOT get deactivated for using a bot. Everybody in Miami Prime Now uses one and all the leadership knows.


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## JuanMoreTime (Jan 25, 2015)

cvflexer said:


> Not unrelated. You want a business to cater to your needs. If you actually read the terms and conditions you would have realized what this gig is. It is just a gig to make extra money and it is an Amazon experiment.


The way that it is explained is entirely contrary to the way it apparently actually functions. It is indeed a gig to make extra money, but the way that Amazon portrays it leads one to believe that they can schedule time to work, and have a reasonable expectation of possibly actually making a delivery rather than holding their phone and repeatedly tapping refresh for 24 hours per day, 7 days a week without ever having the opportunity to even see the inside of the warehouse.


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## Basmati (Sep 14, 2014)

cvflexer said:


> Not unrelated. You want a business to cater to your needs. If you actually read the terms and conditions you would have realized what this gig is. It is just a gig to make extra money and it is an Amazon experiment.


This gig makes me around $1000 a week.


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## JuanMoreTime (Jan 25, 2015)

cvflexer said:


> Not unrelated. You want a business to cater to your needs. If you actually read the terms and conditions you would have realized what this gig is. It is just a gig to make extra money and it is an Amazon experiment.


I am offering my time and labor in exchange for payment. All I ask is for the opportunity to offer said time in exchange for said payment. It is portrayed as being similar to Uber, but for packages instead of people. Instead what is happening is I am continually hounding them to let me give them my time, rather than being asked to perform labor. It's the polar opposite of Uber, in that we are constantly making the requests in vain.


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## cvflexer (Apr 27, 2017)

Basmati said:


> This gig makes me around $1000 a week.


 . a


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## Basmati (Sep 14, 2014)

JuanMoreTime said:


> I am offering my time and labor in exchange for payment. All I ask is for the opportunity to offer said time in exchange for said payment. It is portrayed as being similar to Uber, but for packages instead of people. Instead what is happening is I am continually hounding them to let me give them my time, rather than being asked to perform labor. It's the polar opposite of Uber, in that we are constantly making the requests in vain.


That is why a large portion of Flex drivers use a bot. That way the shifts are picked up with no effort on their part.


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## Bygosh (Oct 9, 2016)

Yeah it's not all like they make it sound which is why there is a lot of turnover, just like every gig. You have to put in a lot of time just to get blocks and even then it's $14-20/ after expenses (not including time spent looking for blocks.)


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## Rodz (May 6, 2017)

So what does she bot do? Mimic your taping on screen? Do you leave it unattended? What if it pick a block you can't work?


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## Movaldriver (Feb 20, 2017)

Basmati said:


> This gig makes me around $1000 a week.


Same here and I don't cheat


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## Prius13 (Mar 29, 2017)

JuanMoreTime said:


> Well that's just ridiculous. Why would they ask us to fill out our availability then? What a stupid way to run things.
> How is anyone supposed to make a living if we're all sitting at home pressing the refresh button?
> Especially since the app can't seem to remember that I've already signed in every time I open it.


My thoughts exactly.


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## Basmati (Sep 14, 2014)

Rodz said:


> So what does she bot do? Mimic your taping on screen? Do you leave it unattended? What if it pick a block you can't work?


Bot mimics your taps. If you pick up a block you can't work than you just drop it. No big deal.



Movaldriver said:


> Same here and I don't cheat


Glad that you don't have to "cheat" yet. Unfortunately many markets are impossible to get blocks without using bots. I share what I know about them so it evens the field.


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## Movaldriver (Feb 20, 2017)

Warehouse people might not care but if Amazon detects it you're out. That is what I was told but who knows. Some markets have more competition than others. Personally I couldn't do it but that's just me. Not my business what others do but the days I am constantly beat out by half a second I figure it's bots and that pisses me off. Luckily I'm staying busy so far.


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## UberPasco (Oct 18, 2015)

Movaldriver said:


> Warehouse people might not care but if Amazon detects it you're out. That is what I was told but who knows. Some markets have more competition than others. Personally I couldn't do it but that's just me. Not my business what others do but the days I am constantly beat out by half a second I figure it's bots and that pisses me off. Luckily I'm staying busy so far.


What you were told is incorrect. It is against Amazon policy to use rooted phones. It is against Amazon policy (and possibly Federal law) to hack the app. It is not against any policy to use a tapping program. HOWEVER, if the program you use causes you to violate other terms (missed blocks, late forfeits, app crashes, etc), you will be deactivated.


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## WMUber (Mar 22, 2016)

I feel your pain. As a part-timer, I schedule an availability that matches the 14 hours I wish to work. (And I work those hours when I get a reserved block.)

But here is the real issue, we are Independent Contractors not employees.

If we were employees, the Amazon Warehouse would treat us similar to a restaurant managing waiters and bar tenders. The warehouse manager would collect the times we wished to work, use a seniority weight for a tie-breaker, and assign our shifts. The warehouse will employ enough staff to cover the shifts with a couple extras to handle last minute absenteeism. A flexible manager will allow employees to swap shifts when last minute employee emergencies happen.

But at Amazon, we are Independent Contractors. We can decline a block with only 45 minutes of notice. Your local warehouse may need 20 drivers per 2-hour block. In order to make sure there is a big enough pool to get drivers, chances are Amazon has at a minimum 3-times as many drivers onboarded than needed. Now throw in the fact that most drivers do not schedule their true availability. Most drivers simply say they are available Monday through Sunday from 6:00 am to midnight. Many of these drivers then simply decline the blocks when they get a time (or restaurant instead of warehouse) that they cannot/will not work. You then factor in demand for drivers due to order flow, and you get a situation where one third of the driver need is fulfilled by daily block drops.

To add more complexity, once a block drop pattern is learned by most drivers, Amazon or the local warehouse change the drop pattern. (My suspicion is that once too many drivers know the pattern, their system cannot handle the 100 drivers trying to grab that one block.)


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## TBone (Jan 19, 2015)

JuanMoreTime said:


> I am offering my time and labor in exchange for payment. All I ask is for the opportunity to offer said time in exchange for said payment. It is portrayed as being similar to Uber, but for packages instead of people. Instead what is happening is I am continually hounding them to let me give them my time, rather than being asked to perform labor. It's the polar opposite of Uber, in that we are constantly making the requests in vain.


This is exactly why I quit. You either have to show up at the warehouse and suck up to the manager or use a bot to get hours. 
If you take the time to fish for shifts manually all your doing is lowering your hourly rate. I went at 50+ hours without seeing a shift at all over the course of a month and decided it wasn't worth it.


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## tooc (Apr 4, 2017)

I swipe literally a few minutes a day and am able to pick up a shift a day; I try for a minute or so on the hour each hour from 4-6 and it's been consistent for a several months now. I'm Prime now though... logistics may be different.


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## Cody6666 (Apr 18, 2017)

You just have to figure out what time your warehouse releases the blocks then you can get a shift a day easy. My warehouse releases them the same time everyday within a hour. You just have to pay attention to the app that hour to get the block for the day. I can get 7 blocks a week right now or more if I wanted to.


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## Prius13 (Mar 29, 2017)

Cody6666 said:


> You just have to figure out what time your warehouse releases the blocks then you can get a shift a day easy. My warehouse releases them the same time everyday within a hour. You just have to pay attention to the app that hour to get the block for the day. I can get 7 blocks a week right now or more if I wanted to.


What warehouse are you tied to?


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## Cody6666 (Apr 18, 2017)

I do flex deliveries in Eagan Minnesota!


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## Shangsta (Aug 15, 2016)

Cody6666 said:


> You just have to figure out what time your warehouse releases the blocks then you can get a shift a day easy. My warehouse releases them the same time everyday within a hour. You just have to pay attention to the app that hour to get the block for the day. I can get 7 blocks a week right now or more if I wanted to.


It's not quite this simple. Not every warehouse releases them at the same time every day. You also have to consider if someone drops a block the only way to grab it via swiping.

I have been fortunate to never need to swipe. You can get a block almost all day at my warehouse except when it's really sunny out lol.


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## jester121 (Sep 6, 2016)

Shangsta said:


> You can get a block almost all day at my warehouse except when it's really sunny out lol.


That's because you live inside a rain cloud.


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## crimson.snwbnny (Nov 24, 2016)

JuanMoreTime said:


> I've had the app installed for over a month, and I have yet to get my first delivery block. Are there really no openings at all in LA or Orange County? If there's absolutely no work whatsoever, why did they even make the app available? How are we supposed to do this? I check every day, and there's never any work available. What am I missing?


the same thing happened to me in san antonio. One day i decided to email support, to make sure im listed as available. they said yes.. coincidence? or not few days later i received an email for a special offer just for me. went into the app and accepted it. after working that first block i got more special offer emails or found spots open in the app. i got a 4 hour block monday tuesday and today.


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## soupergloo (Jul 24, 2015)

You need to figure out the patterns of the warehouse managers dropping blocks. Also, Seattle drops blocks 24-hours in advance on the hour every day out here.

It also helps if you know other drivers at your warehouse that you can swap blocks with.

I use the switch control feature on iPhone to grab blocks, which is similar to what a bot would do without having to install a bot.

UCA1 is very competitive, and our warehouse is open to 3 others in the bay area and i'm able to max out at 40/week with the above suggestions.


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## Dankcook (May 13, 2017)

soupergloo said:


> You need to figure out the patterns of the warehouse managers dropping blocks. Also, Seattle drops blocks 24-hours in advance on the hour every day out here.
> 
> It also helps if you know other drivers at your warehouse that you can swap blocks with.
> 
> ...


Can you explain what your recipe consists of for your switch control? I wasn't able to find a way to loop it. I always had to tap my screen to start the recipe.


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## Prius13 (Mar 29, 2017)

soupergloo said:


> You need to figure out the patterns of the warehouse managers dropping blocks. Also, Seattle drops blocks 24-hours in advance on the hour every day out here.
> 
> It also helps if you know other drivers at your warehouse that you can swap blocks with.
> 
> ...


Is there similar switch control for Droid without having to install a bot?


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## Basmati (Sep 14, 2014)

Prius13 said:


> Is there similar switch control for Droid without having to install a bot?


No.



Dankcook said:


> Can you explain what your recipe consists of for your switch control? I wasn't able to find a way to loop it. I always had to tap my screen to start the recipe.


You can't loop it indefinitely with switch control. That is the only difference between it and a bot. However, if you do a record of the 2 taps sequence about 8 times, than you can get it to repeat for about 30 minutes by rapidly tapping your screen for 10 minutes.


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## soupergloo (Jul 24, 2015)

Dankcook said:


> Can you explain what your recipe consists of for your switch control? I wasn't able to find a way to loop it. I always had to tap my screen to start the recipe.


i'm sorry, I have no idea, someone set it up for me.


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## Basmati (Sep 14, 2014)

I'll write a thread explaining how to set up and use switch control later tonight, or tomorrow.


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## Randompanzy (Dec 18, 2015)

Basmati said:


> I'll write a thread explaining how to set up and use switch control later tonight, or tomorrow.


Don't spoon feed people. If someone can't figure out how to set up your bot with the instructions you laid out already then they don't need to use it.

Truthfully I think it's dumb we are posting on a public forum how to use bots to make it harder for regular people but that's just my two cents


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