# All hidden information I managed to get out of the App so far.



## DiabloOvermind (Jan 17, 2020)

Hi fellow delivery partners,

I've been driving for flex since the 09/12/2019, and like most of you, I had tons of unanswered questions, and as we all know, support is probably nothing else than a computer generating scripted answers based on key words in your inquiry, signing using a random Indian name.

Jokes apart, here are all the Q's and A's I've managed to get out of my short but intense experience with Flex. I am still driving and keep trying to understand how the rules work. I hope they will be of help.

/!\ Please note I am from the UK, however, at least some rules, or their logic (with different numbers) will apply in the US /!\​

QuestionAnswerSource and reliabilityQ1 -How many hours can I work a week?Amazon does not count your hours worked on a calendar week, but rather hours worked on rolling last 7 days. Maximum seems to be 24hrs on rolling 7 days, however, it -will- go up in case of busy period like December, from Black Friday to the 31/12.Reliability 9/10 - Never officially confirmed, and will never be, however, based on feedback from other delivery partners in the exact same zone (but with less hours worked than me), I was unable to see blocks after I hit the rolling 7 days threshold, whatever it was at the time. Push notifications from Amazon informing me of blocs available, or even blocs available at increased rate also tended me to go to this conclusion.Q2 -How many hours can I work a month?Amazon does not count your hours worked on a calendar month, but rather hours worked on rolling last 30 days. The maximum seems to be 96hrs. I am unable to confirm if it would go up during busy period, as when I hit this threshold, it was beginning of January, hence the busy period was over.Reliability 9/10 - For exactly the sames reasons stated above on question 1. I have reached the 96hrs threshold on the 03/01 and never got a single block until Thursday the 10th (which I caught the previous Friday). Could not see blocks, even when notified by Amazon blocks were available.Q3 - How many hours can I work a day?No idea. Unfortunately, because of the competition here in Newcastle Upon Tyne, it's hard to grab any block, and I also have a full time job which doesn't allow me to take whatever blocks I want, so I never worked more than 7 hours in a single day with Amazon. N/AQ4 - Can I work every day with Amazon Flex?No. It seems the app won't let you see any block whatsoever on Sundays, if you already worked 6 days that week.Reliability - 10/10. My data shows I never worked on Sundays, apart from the 29/12/19 (I had a day of the Wednesday this week) and the 12/01/20 (this was shortly after I hit the rolling 30 days threshold, I could not work the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this same week. Every other week I've worked every day and could never see the shadow of a block on Sundays (same day blocks).Q5 - If I do overtime on a premium rate block, will I get my overtime on the premium rate, or standard rate?This never happened to me yet, however, an experienced flex driver told me it would be on the standard rate.Reliability 5/10 - I would trust him, however I need to see these things by my own eyes to truly believe in them. Other flex drivers could say anything to keep their secrets for themselves, which I absolutely understand. This one is on you to chose to trust or not.Q6 - If I arrive between the start of my block and the allowed extra 5 minutes, will I be counted as "late" by the app, and therefore gunned down in the metrics?It will not appear in your weekly stats. However, it seems the metrics we are sent on a weekly basis are only the tip of the iceberg, so I wouldn't be 100% sure this really has NO impact on your rating.Reliability - 10/10. Did it a few times, this never showed in my metrics, but again, be careful, we don't know what amazon tracks behind our backs. This could include suspicious breaks, diversions from recommended GPS path, etc...Q7 - I came for my block, however there were no packages to deliver this time. Can I go home?The official guidance from a warehouse supervisor I got was "wait until there is exactly 29 minutes left on your block and only then you can go home". This follows the same logic as when you have a 2hrs block and only 1 delivery, you're done in 20mn and the app suddenly beeps and tell you to return to the pick up location to scan more packages and go deliver them. This cannot happen past 29mn left on your block.Reliability - 9/10. The only bit of shadow on the question here is: is the app allowed to allocate a route to you past this "29mn left on your block" threshold? It happened to me a few times to do a quick 1 drop delivery and be called back to the pick up location, but it never happened to me yet that the app gives me a route at the last minute on a block I had no deliveries at the very start. And because the app still shows the route to take to go to the pick up location, or the "Wait here until you get packages" instructions even after you're 29mn from the end of the block, I cannot fully confirm this will not happen.Q8 - I followed ALL instructions and delivered all my packages on time so far, but the app tells me I am late! What is going on?The app is your boss. And not the kind you can discuss with. It will make mistakes sometimes, or you may accept a block without knowing somebody else forfeited an earlier block after it started, etc... but if the app says you're late, whether you're right or wrong, it does not matter. You are late, and it will show in your metrics. Your only solution is to both phone and E-Mail support, explaining everything in details. But even this does not seem to make a difference some/most of the time.Reliability - 10/10. It's still worth to explain what happened to support, but you're MUCH more likely to have the situation roll in your advantage if you can prove all happened because of an app fault, bug or glitch. Anything else, like the app giving you all deliveries to do from let's say, 4pm to midnight, but suddenly, 1 package near the end shows it has to be delivered by 6pm, and it's already 6.15pm, forget about it. You are late and it's your fault. Suck it up, report it and move on.Q9 - Is it true that if I work up to a certain amount of hours or packages, I will fall into a "senior" category and will see less blocks, if any, while all newbies rack the easy money?I cannot say at the minute, the most popular threshold I've seen/heard (only on US forums, mind you), says 500 packages delivered. When I arrive there, I will come back and give you guys more feedback. However, this seems to be violating a number of laws and acts, on grounds of discrimination. You cannot give less work to a more senior employee doing the same job as a more junior one. Amazon may still do it against the law, but it would make exactly 0 sense. Might make profit, though, so who knows.Reliability N/A - I personally believe this is all BS, and people who don't have an idea of what is going on came up with this to explain their misfortune and blame it all on the big bad corporation monster because they wouldn't throw them breadcrumbs. I have no factual evidence to present to support anything for or against this claim, but all I will tell you is this: before you claim you're being a victim, check your own numbers related to Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4, and come back then.Q10 - I came for my block, there was no deliveries for me so I went home. I did not get paid for this block. What happened?You -NEED- to click on "I've arrived" AND "Check In" for the system to count you as "present" in a block. Failing to do either will not only mean you won't get paid, but also will have you as whatever equivalent of AWOL they have on their system, and this will have a huge impact on your metrics and ratings.Reliability 10/10 - This is just the way the app works. Quick story: On my 2nd block ever, I arrived 7 minutes after the start of my block (so basically, too late to even check in) and the app allowed me to check in, however it never got any further. I got back home, E-Mailed support and got paid £36 for the block.Q11 - What is the best time to see and catch blocks?Here in Newcastle Upon Tyne (Note I do not say "here in UK", I am 100% confident rules are different for ALL sites with Amazon flex), the best moment to get blocks is on Fridays, where most of the blocks for the upcoming week are released. However, we never know when it will happen. During the day? Night? Evening? it always changes. Happened at 1h30am one day, and 21h00 the week after. Amazon purposedly keeps quiet about these rules, and shuffles them also on purpose to make sure nobody cracks the code and exploits it.Reliability - 10/10. It's even advertised by E-Mail by Amazon. More ghetto way of sniping blocks is 2hrs before their start (people will get a notification if its their blocks, and realise they actually cannot do them, so they get forfeited and may appear in the app instantly, though they don't always). Also 50-45mn before the start, when people do a last minute forfeit, usually to try and get a friend to catch the block.Q12 - Can I swap blocks with another delivery partner?No. You best chance is to forfeit the block and hope your friend will be quick enough to catch it. If you do decide to go for this option, please ensure you forfeit the block as late as possible, as if you forfeit it the day before, or even a couple hours before, it will most likely not pop back up immediately.Reliability - 10/10. Tested all possibilities (forfeit during the night, forfeit 1 day before, forfeit 2 hours before, forfeit 47 minutes before, only the latter worked to see the block immediately. Failed to catch it, though.)Q13 - I caught a block about 45mn before it started and went to forfeit it, but the app is telling me this may impact my ratings?There are 2 rules for forfeiting blocks: Forfeit it 45 minutes before it starts, or if you catch it 45 or less before it starts, you have 5mn to forfeit it. The problem with these rules is that they don't overlap. If you get a block 46mn before it starts and don't forfeit it before the next minute, you will get penalised, as the app will consider you accepted the block more than 45mn before its start, so the "5mn rule" doesnt apply. You need to forfeit it immediately or get penalised. Please note if you forfeit a LOT of blocks, as long as it's within the rules, you won't have any backlash.Reliability - 10/10. Happened to me once.

Right, I guess that's pretty much it for now, It's Friday and it's getting late, I cannot just sit here and write more, blocks will be coming anytime now, and I have a block in 1h45. I'll finish this article later, especially if it gets attention.

Don't hesitate to contact me if you have further questions, or simply reply to this post.

Happy flexing!

Anthony D.


----------



## nighthawk398 (Jul 21, 2015)

wow you should be a data analyst and not use your skills on this stuff lol


----------



## DiabloOvermind (Jan 17, 2020)

Hi again fellow drivers, here is a bit more from yesterday for you:


QuestionAnswerSource and reliabilityQ14a - Whenever I see a block, I just can't catch it, it always says "Sorry, this block has been taken". Why? (noob edition)Plain and simple: you are too slow. There are dozens, if not hundreds of delivery partners, all trying to catch blocks as you do, and most of them are way faster than you. My advice: do not even stop to look at what the block is, tap on it and swipe to accept immediately, decide later if you're going to do it or not. You should even consider finding a way to
1- tap refresh
2- tap the location on your screen where blocks appear when available
3 - swipe to accept

all 3 of them in sequence,pretty fast but not too fast so the app can't register your taps.

This will help you a lot to catch blocks. Keep your focus on the app, or find a way to do this without looking (less efficient but much more flexible).Reliability 10/10. Ask anybody honest enough to answer. They will tell you similar answers.Q14b - Whenever I see a block, I just can't catch it, it always says "Sorry, this block has been taken". Why? (journeyman edition)Extra tips for people that already master the tip above: Make sure you stop tapping on top of your screen when you swipe to accept. tapping, or any contact between a finger and the screen, anywhere else, will stop your swiping dead in its track, meaning you will lose the block. That's why you need to pay attention when you "auto swipe".

Also, do not "auto swipe" too fast.It may reduce the time between refreshes, but it increases drastically the chances you ll tap on the screen during a "swipe to accept".Find the ideal speed that works for you and stick to it.

Finally: your swipe should be quite large. If you "auto swipe" with your thumb, for example, bottom of the screen, and your thumb barely crosses 2cm of the swipe button, you may not swipe large enough for it to count. Make a conscious effort to swipe large.Reliability - My own experience. I'm still tuning to this, however, there is no better sensation than seeing a block appear, immediately stop tapping and make a large, fast and clean swipe, and see this juicy, fantastic, green "you accepted the block" appear, without its "you went too fast" counterpart "Sorry, this block has been taken". (they sometime both pop at once if you're too fast but somehow still get the block)Q14c - Whenever I see a block, I just can't catch it, it always says "Sorry, this block has been taken". Why? (expert edition)Last tip, for those of you who are always perfectly on point with your swipe, or use cheating devices/apps (insert "pathetic_duck.jpg"). You or your bot may be absolutely perfect, but you still cannot get every block you see. Why? Because blocks can come at ANY point whatsoever, in milliseconds, if not less. There is something between 0.3 to 0.7secs (pulling those numbers out of my ass, but any experienced delivery partner will know what I'm talking about) waiting time between the moment you tap refresh, and the moment you see the results of your refresh. A block may appear at any point during this time, and since there are tons of other delivery partners in your area that are also refreshing, their refresh will likely hit before yours, so they will see the block before you, and by the time you see the block, somebody else will likely already be swiping it, making it impossible for you to get it.

TLR: there is an element of luck in catching blocks that you will never have an influence on. Reliability 10/10 - Test it by yourself, if you have delivery partner friends, have an "evening frantic refreshing session" and compare when you see blocks. I guarantee you you won't see them exactly at the same time. Even 0.1s difference if massive.Q15 - I have finished my block early, but now the app is prompting me to go back to the pick up location for "more delivering opportunities". I want to go home. What should I do?This is a complex one. I am still testing it, and the number of factors I want to test are enough that I will need anything between 9 to 20+ testing sessions, and I can only test this when I finish a block very early AND am the way to the delivery station is also more or less the way home. Here is what I am testing:

I want to know WHEN the app gives you more deliveries to do whenever you finish a block early.Of course, it depends, sometimes nobody will make an order, so nothing will pop up, but I would like to know if there is a consistent way of -not- getting assigned anymore deliveries if you finish a block early, while not raising any suspicions from the app or amazon.

So far, here is what I did: Finished a block 1h early, the app rings and prompts me to "acknowledge and begin" to go back to the station. I ignore it and leave it like that, open the GPS and go home. The app will ring every 10s or so to remind you to "acknowledge and begin", and will continue doing so even after there is less than 29mn left on your block (when you shouldn't get any more extra deliveries).I let the app ring until 28mn left on my blockk, and tested closing the app. It stopped ringing. I re-opened the app, and it straight up showed me the path to the pick up location, as if I did tap "acknowledge and begin".That's all I have for now.Reliability - 10/10. All tested and approved. One of my friend says "if you're done early, just force close the app before even tapping "acknowledge and begin" and you'll be good. I cannot ensure this guarantees you won't have any more deliveries, or that Amazon won't notice and shoot you down for it. Do it at your own risk, and if you do, I would also deactivate the "allow app to work in the background" option in your phone, as an extra precaution. Any extra feedback on this will be appreciated.

Thank you all for your time, I will post more whenever I have more interesting information.
In the meantime, don't hesitate to ask ANY question here, I will answer to the best of my knowledge.

Happy delivering!

Anthony D.


----------



## UberPasco (Oct 18, 2015)

Answer to Q15: Amazon technically 'owns' you for the length of the block. The app will say you are done if you make your last delivery within 30 min of your end time. In 4 years, I have never received an assignment with less than 45 min left. If I am unable to return to the pickup by 45 min left, I am done. Sometimes I hit 'acknowledge", sometimes I don't, it doesn't matter. Only exception has been a couple of times working Prime Now a year or 2 ago that I was a few minutes away and I returned and hit 'I've arrived' and was manually assigned a 1 hr emergency that was able to be done within the timeframe. I don't think they have that ability anymore.


----------



## DiabloOvermind (Jan 17, 2020)

UberPasco said:


> Answer to Q15: Amazon technically 'owns' you for the length of the block. The app will say you are done if you make your last delivery within 30 min of your end time. In 4 years, I have never received an assignment with less than 45 min left. If I am unable to return to the pickup by 45 min left, I am done. Sometimes I hit 'acknowledge", sometimes I don't, it doesn't matter. Only exception has been a couple of times working Prime Now a year or 2 ago that I was a few minutes away and I returned and hit 'I've arrived' and was manually assigned a 1 hr emergency that was able to be done within the timeframe. I don't think they have that ability anymore.


Hi UberPasco,

Thanks for your input.
The blocks I am referring to are indeed Prime now/same day delivery blocks, typically 2hrs or 1hr. You usually know when it's a prime now delivery because the name of your route is "priority".

It happened a few times to me I was assigned more deliveries, with the closest one being 31 minutes before the end of my block. And in this particular occasion, I came to the depot, called support to notify them if I did do this delivery, it was going to put me on overtime, to which they said the usual "that's fine, just call us at the end of your last delivery", but then I looked back at the app and the job was gone (there was about 5mn left on my block).

The app probably understood it was pointless to give me this job, so it gave it to somebody else I guess. But then why did it give it to me in the first place, I don't know.

I understand how the process work, but what I would like to understand is exactly how the app decides, and when does the app decides, to give you more deliveries, and if there is any way around it. This is for information only, I do not intend to exploit anything, I am just passionate about understanding stuff.

Cheers!

Anthony D.


----------



## John McYeet (Feb 10, 2019)

From what I’ve noticed in doing this for awhile is that if you have any packages that need to go back to the station from your block, the app will ask you to go back to the station for “more opportunities”. Really I think they just want you to return the packages. Ive just gone home after this and have had no issues.

Also interesting fact I’ve experienced is that if you pick up a second shift for the day you can start whenever you want. You don’t have to wait for the specified time to start.

And also I’ve worked flex for 3 weeks straight with no issues before. So I’m not sure if that’s true that you’re not allowed to how ever many shifts you want. Maybe shifts per day but not shifts per week.


----------



## DiabloOvermind (Jan 17, 2020)

John McYeet said:


> From what I've noticed in doing this for awhile is that if you have any packages that need to go back to the station from your block, the app will ask you to go back to the station for "more opportunities". Really I think they just want you to return the packages. Ive just gone home after this and have had no issues.
> 
> Also interesting fact I've experienced is that if you pick up a second shift for the day you can start whenever you want. You don't have to wait for the specified time to start.
> 
> And also I've worked flex for 3 weeks straight with no issues before. So I'm not sure if that's true that you're not allowed to how ever many shifts you want. Maybe shifts per day but not shifts per week.


Hi John McYeet,

Yes, of course, if you have undelivered packages, you will be asked to go back to the station and put the packages back there. But this is a different situation than when you have delivered everything and there is more than 29 minutes left on your block. Also note, not delivering packages, for whatever reason, will negatively influence your metrics, even if it is the case of the customer not wanting the parcel. It happened to me once (in a logistics block) and my metrics showed that not only I "did not delivery the package", but also "I did not attempt to deliver the package". This was despite calling support to explain why the package cannot be delivered, and selecting the option "unable to deliver - Customer does not want the package". The app really is unforgiving.

Again, the point here is I am trying to understand what makes the app giving you more packages to deliver after you've finished all your deliveries in a block, but have more than 29mn left on your block.

"Also interesting fact I've experienced is that if you pick up a second shift for the day you can start whenever you want. You don't have to wait for the specified time to start." - What do you mean, a "second shift"? Do you mean a second round of deliveries in the same block, or do you mean your second block of the day? Either way, this seem very odd to me. Could you also specify what type of block that would be? (prime now, wholefoods or logistics?)

"And also I've worked flex for 3 weeks straight with no issues before. So I'm not sure if that's true that you're not allowed to how ever many shifts you want. Maybe shifts per day but not shifts per week." - Feel free to provide data to back this up  IF I ever do more than 7h in a day, I will report it here. But I am certain there is a soft cap on how many hours you can do a day. Though, if this cap is 8 hours as I suspect, it will be really hard to reach here in Newcastle Upon Tyne, as we don't even have logistics blocks anymore after December, since white vans are enough to take care of all logistics parcels. We only have wholefoods and Prime now at the minute, and a block is never more than 2h, meaning to work 8h, you need 4 blocks, or more if some blocks are less than 2h.

Cheers!

Anthony D.


----------



## John McYeet (Feb 10, 2019)

"Also interesting fact I’ve experienced is that if you pick up a second shift for the day you can start whenever you want. You don’t have to wait for the specified time to start." - What do you mean, a "second shift"? Do you mean a second round of deliveries in the same block, or do you mean your second block of the day? Either way, this seem very odd to me. Could you also specify what type of block that would be? (prime now, wholefoods or logistics?)

A second logistic shift meaning if I do a shift from 2-5pm and then after that shift do a two or three hour shift from 6-9pm or 7-9pm, the app will let me check in for that 6-9 or 7-9pm shift whenever I want. I don’t have to wait until fifteen minutes before the shift to check in.


----------



## cvflexer (Apr 27, 2017)

In the USA, the app does not decide anything. There is a dispatch team that handles delivery routes.

If you want more deliveries, just deliver ASAP and don't call support. Figure it out.


----------

