# Are Higher Paying Blocks Harder or Just Darker?



## Jay Gothard (Jul 15, 2017)

My wife and I did an $85 block and it was in downtown during rush hour. 

We had to be VERY creative in finding places to park, had many heavy packages, encountered many closed businesses, locked buildings with no codes, old buildings with rickety elevators from the 1920's, long walks, etc. 

We worked at least 3x harder then we had on any $72 block for a lousy extra 15 bucks.

Was this just "luck of the draw" or does Amazon tend to save the awful blocks for after dark?


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## nighthawk398 (Jul 21, 2015)

More than likely it was the luck of the draw


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## oicu812 (Aug 29, 2016)

The new math!


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## surlywynch (Jun 22, 2017)

The only higher paying block I've received was a 8:30-10pm block that popped up when I pulled into my driveway after working another PT gig about 8:20pm last Sunday night. I didn't notice the higher pay when I accepted the block, just started the car back up and drove to the WH. (I live close by) I got there and there was a cluster of drivers trying to find their carts, they were mostly mislabeled. All the packages were labeled for 8-10pm delivery window.

My guess is the WH was late prepping carts, and some drivers never checked in, and I got the last minute offer with higher payout (it was $36 for 1.5 hr block PN) to entice me to get there last minute, to delivery packages that were already 1/2 behind schedule.


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## Cynergie (Apr 10, 2017)

Jay Gothard said:


> My wife and I did an $85 block and it was in downtown during rush hour.
> 
> We had to be VERY creative in finding places to park, had many heavy packages, encountered many closed businesses, locked buildings with no codes, old buildings with rickety elevators from the 1920's, long walks, etc.
> 
> ...


 I suspect the latter, but this could also be due to supply and demand logistics in your area.

It seems a consistent pattern that any business/residential pkgs Amazon IC drivers can't deliver in the day, roll over to flex drivers by early afternoon. Or at least that was what I saw when I worked as an IC driver at one of the WHs in Bay Area. Most of the residential pkgs were apt complex NSL/UTAs the ICs and day shift AM flex drivers failed to deliver.

This is why you should avoid doing late afternoon/early evening shifts if possible like vet drivers do. I saw a 4hr 4p-8p block go from $80 to $106 over some 40 mins while fishing several weeks ago. Lol.

Besides, Amazon KNOWS 99% commercial business close after 5pm. Unless they're in the food/entertainment industry where ppl go to burn their business day disposable incomes....

So they use you to make up their service deficit in that area. Now assuming you presorted your packages before leaving the WH: you would've realized you had deliveries which --based on the traffic patterns in your area--would likely end up being BC packages. In which case, you attempted to deliver these packages FIRST on your route, regardless of their delivery order in your itenary, right? Right?

Hate to break it to you, but that $15 "extra" bucks is a mirage. It went to gas and your 1099 taxes....


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## SmartAlex (Nov 20, 2017)

Cynergie said:


> I suspect the latter, but this could also be due to supply and demand logistics in your area.
> 
> It seems a consistent pattern that any business/residential pkgs Amazon IC drivers can't deliver in the day, roll over to flex drivers by early afternoon. Or at least that was what I saw when I worked as an IC driver at one of the WHs in Bay Area. Most of the residential pkgs were apt complex NSL/UTAs the ICs and day shift AM flex drivers failed to deliver.
> 
> ...


*Yep, learned this the hard way.*


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## Cody6666 (Apr 18, 2017)

I am getting really sick of the night shifts as well. It seems lately all the blocks I am getting during the week are downtown during rush hour. It ends up taking over a hour just to get to my first stop. Last week I got a downtown block with over 30 different apartment buildings. I told the workers there that it was bullshit and there was no way I was going to finish half of these. I ended up returning about half the packages that shift. The worst thing about these shifts is there is no where legally to park downtown. So I have to park illegally almost always. Do you think Amazon is going to pay out parking tickets for delivering the packages? I dont think so.


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## SoggyF (Jun 24, 2017)

Jay Gothard said:


> My wife and I did an $85 block and it was in downtown during rush hour.
> 
> We had to be VERY creative in finding places to park, had many heavy packages, encountered many closed businesses, locked buildings with no codes, old buildings with rickety elevators from the 1920's, long walks, etc.
> 
> ...


Luck of the draw cause I had an increased 4hr block that paid $88 with 20 packages. Sure it was to rural area with spotty cell reception but I still managed to finish a little under an hour. Hope your next one is pie.


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## Brandon Wilson (Aug 13, 2017)

Luck of the draw.


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