# No blocks being dropped in multiple cities.



## driveforhours (Jun 12, 2016)

Anyone know any truth as to what the heck is going in. Miami, Baltimore, and now Philly are not dropping blocks. Miami seems to have closed flex completely, and Philly (DPH1) is only releasing overflow evening blocks.

This is for Logistics


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## Shangsta (Aug 15, 2016)

Amazon has onboarded drivers like crazy to avoid the Christmas catastrophe from a year ago where they couldnt get deliveries to people on time.

So lets say your warehouse has 200 drivers and typically they drop 50 blocks a day. Your chance of getting a block is pretty high, with all the onboarding however we now have 400 or 500 people fighting for those same 50 blocks.

By the end of the month instead of 400 or 500 people fighting for 50 blocks, it will be that many people fighting for 200.

Those were all random numbers but you get my point.


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## Poolepit (May 17, 2016)

driveforhours said:


> Anyone know any truth as to what the heck is going in. Miami, Baltimore, and now Philly are not dropping blocks. Miami seems to have closed flex completely, and Philly (DPH1) is only releasing overflow evening blocks.
> 
> This is for Logistics


Was this just for the 10pm drop last night or has this been the case for a while?


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## driveforhours (Jun 12, 2016)

All true, however its confirmed that they are only releasing a few and have been giving all the routes to the white vans. 
when we do show up for a scheduled block, there is maybe, 3 flex drivers there. 
This started 4 days ago.

None of us know exactly what is up except "changes are being made"



Shangsta said:


> Amazon has onboarded drivers like crazy to avoid the Christmas catastrophe from a year ago where they couldnt get deliveries to people on time.
> 
> So lets say your warehouse has 200 drivers and typically they drop 50 blocks a day. Your chance of getting a block is pretty high, with all the onboarding however we now have 400 or 500 people fighting for those same 50 blocks.
> 
> ...


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## soypana (Jun 21, 2016)

Springfield Virginia has been like this for a week.. They only are releasing 3-hour blocks for 5:30 pm. Hopefully it will pick up soon.


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## driveforhours (Jun 12, 2016)

soypana said:


> Springfield Virginia has been like this for a week.. They are only releasing 3-hour blocks for 5:30 pm. Hopefully it will pick up soon.


yeah, we're getting only 4:30 and 5 now. and only a few are dropped. The white vans are there in the afternoon loading as well now.

I've worked 6 days a week for the last 5 months. 4 days ago the sh** hit the fan.


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## sofla11 (Aug 21, 2014)

I was told Doral logistics is closing and will be moving everything to Miami Gardens. But it seems like Miami Gardens people are not getting blocks either so I'm not sure if that's accurate. I do know there are no more flex drivers on Doral's logistics side.


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## soypana (Jun 21, 2016)

Finally they released some AM blocks tonight.. I managed to picked one


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## UTX1 (Dec 7, 2015)

driveforhours said:


> yeah, we're getting only 4:30 and 5 now. and only a few are dropped. The white vans are there in the afternoon loading as well now.
> 
> I've worked 6 days a week for the last 5 months. 4 days ago the sh** hit the fan.


This is EXACTLY what some drivers have failed to prepare for. The "what happens IF" scenario.

I know that some have at least thought this out a little bit and maybe some have put 
a little aside, just in case. Speaking to the subject of the 40+ hour/wk drivers,
AKA the uncapped drivers, we know it could just go "pop" and then it'd be like,
"who turned out the lights ?" You just never know when. I try to expect it regularly
and since it doesn't happen, I'm pleasantly surprised everyday instead of sadly disappointed.

The station I work at has about 300 route/day with a little over 20K avg daily volume.
about 2500 pieces of same day are processed within that figure. It takes 2 waves to burn through it all.
First all the morning routes: 9, 930, 10, 1030, crew takes break at 11, 1130, 12 and sometimes 1230 and 1.
Then, wave 2 starts at 430, then 5, 530, 6, and sometimes 630 and every now and then 7.
The latest routes (6, 630, 7) are often 2 or 3 hour blocks, but sometimes they are released as 4hr block.
All of this is just for AMZL Flex. Contractors in the white vans are doing their thing on top of this.

So, with this much going on it would be so easy to think the music will never end.
Add to that the upcoming peak season right around the corner and some might only see $$.
Just when we think nothing could go wrong, that is precisely the time when the dookey hits the windmill. 
I know this is fragile and that's how I'm playing it. In the meanwhile, I just keep plugging along.....


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## driveforhours (Jun 12, 2016)

UTX1 said:


> This is EXACTLY what some drivers have failed to prepare for. The "what happens IF" scenario.
> 
> The station I work at has about 300 route/day with a little over 20K avg daily volume.
> about 2500 pieces of same day are processed within that figure. It takes 2 waves to burn through it all.
> ...


That's exactly how we run. So 10:30 and 11 you could either get a full route, or "clean-up" (what's been left behind) and then the 4:30 and on are same day's and re-attempts.

But the vans, the vans are getting them.

Also, in Sept , Philly opened a second location (KOP/DPH2) and they took half our delivery area.

Some of us got nervous about ours shutting down, but we never saw this one coming. It was literally overnight.


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## UTX1 (Dec 7, 2015)

driveforhours said:


> Some of us got nervous about ours shutting down, but we never saw this one coming. It was literally overnight.


Good news is...as long as you know and believe that you'll make it though
then you will make it, one way or the other. Whether it's with this gig, or one of
a dozen other opportunities out there, keep going, stay strong and don't give up. 

...just my 2 cents


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## J.F.R. (Jun 10, 2016)

driveforhours said:


> Some of us got nervous about ours shutting down, but we never saw this one coming. It was literally overnight.


This job was never meant as a full-time gig and only additional income, in that extra time between jobs everyone needs to be looking for something more stable.

Even doing this part time Amazon Flex has let me down several times, even only creating a budget of at least $300-$400 a week as a bare minimum there's been weeks I was only able to work one block...... In the meantime I've been job hunting, applying and doing several other things on the side.

Having a "stable" job (or at least more stable) is definitely what we all need to achieve. This job is to unpredictable and having to provide for your family is something I simply cannot rely on, outside of just "extra" income on the days I can. Luckily and thank life I'm working now towards something concrete and it just feels so much better........

Peace


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## driveforhours (Jun 12, 2016)

Income aside, this was a damn fine gig. I know there are complainers but honestly, some are just not cut out for it. Some are 
I loved this gig. 

It's also made me a human map for 4 counties.


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## Bygosh (Oct 9, 2016)

UTX1 said:


> The station I work at has about 300 route/day


Damn, we are lucky to hit 50. And those 50 are the crap ones that the white van owner doesn't want.


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## Philt (Jun 21, 2016)

The white van drivers are overflow from a jersey warehouse that was reassigned to philly 4 days ago. There's not enough volume at the moment to support that many drivers, let alone flex. We are lucky to get any routes at all right now in philly.


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## driveforhours (Jun 12, 2016)

Philt said:


> The white van drivers are overflow from a jersey warehouse that was reassigned to philly 4 days ago. There's not enough volume at the moment to support that many drivers, let alone flex. We are lucky to get any routes at all right now in philly.


Are you lying, is this a lie LOL, it honestly makes sense though.

because this was all sudden and has nothing to do with being fast at grabbing blocks. They had also told us that they have decreased the amount of shipments coming in a few weeks ago and have let go all staff that was from Integrity Staffing and have to hold back freight until it's staffed again.


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## driveforhours (Jun 12, 2016)

Philt said:


> The white van drivers are overflow from a jersey warehouse that was reassigned to philly 4 days ago. There's not enough volume at the moment to support that many drivers, let alone flex. We are lucky to get any routes at all right now in philly.


Also, "Hi" I've probably seen you there..


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## Philt (Jun 21, 2016)

Haha hi! Yes, you've probably seen me at the warehouse before.

From what I understand is that the van drivers were dumped into our warehouse. The blue vests and managers aren't happy about it because it made our chaotic warehouse even messier.

What I don't understand is why the decrease in volume for AMZL carriers. Amazon deliveries to my home address used to be handled by flex and white vans back in the summer when blocks were abundant but now they are being delivered by the post office instead. That might have something to do with the decrease in blocks nationwide.


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## driveforhours (Jun 12, 2016)

Space IS indeed a problem there. I like when they yell to move cars, it's like "where exactly would you like me to move it to. Shall I levitate it over the building?"
Then again, that's when there were more than 3 drivers there...

As for the post office delivery, you must order Prime and it must say" sold and shipped from amazon.com" for it to be Flex, if it says Fulfilled by amazon, it will be UPS or USPS. Also that silly rumor that Flex only delivers items under 50.00. But I had a laptop delivered by a flex driver that I know in our warehouse so who knows.



Philt said:


> Haha hi! Yes, you've probably seen me at the warehouse before.
> 
> From what I understand is that the van drivers were dumped into our warehouse. The blue vests and managers aren't happy about it because it made our chaotic warehouse even messier.
> 
> What I don't understand is why the decrease in volume for AMZL carriers. Amazon deliveries to my home address used to be handled by flex and white vans back in the summer when blocks were abundant but now they are being delivered by the post office instead. That might have something to do with the decrease in blocks nationwide.


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## Philt (Jun 21, 2016)

driveforhours said:


> Space IS indeed a problem there. I like when they yell to move cars, it's like "where exactly would you like me to move it to. Shall I levitate it over the building?"
> Then again, that's when there were more than 3 drivers there...
> 
> As for the post office delivery, you must order Prime and it must say" sold and shipped from amazon.com" for it to be Flex, if it says Fulfilled by amazon, it will be UPS or USPS


7 out of 14 orders since Oct 9th were sold and shipped by Amazon thru the prime service. All 14 orders were delivered by the post office and UPS. Compared to previous months, almost all deliveries were made by flex to my address. A switch definitely flipped somewhere for a change like that.


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## Poolepit (May 17, 2016)

Nothing again at 10pm drop for me.


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## Shangsta (Aug 15, 2016)

Philt said:


> used to be handled by flex and white vans back in the summer when blocks were abundant but now they are being delivered by the post office instead. That might have something to do with the decrease in blocks nationwide.


PHILT is right your carrier depends on who your order is fulfilled by. Most third party orders on amazon are fulfilled by UPS and USPS.

Amazon does not deliver everything ordered on amazon.


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## driveforhours (Jun 12, 2016)

Shangsta said:


> PHILT is right your carrier depends on who your order is fulfilled by. Most third party orders on amazon are fulfilled by UPS and USPS.
> 
> Amazon does not deliver everything ordered on amazon.


 Right, that's what I was saying. Flex only delivers it if says Sold by: Amazon.com LLC. It can still be Prime shipping, but not delivered by AMZL


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## CatchyMusicLover (Sep 18, 2015)

I checked tonight without needing to grab one since I have another gig tommorow. There were blocks every half hour from 7Am to 9AM. This was gone within seconds.

(Of course, I suppose since tommorow is Sunday AND clock shift day it may not be 100% 'normal' but just saying).

I do wonder if as the time toward the 'rush' goes on if it's really going to be more blocks....or more stops per block (which doesn't necessarily take much longer, If you add a bunch 'in between', an extra 10 stops might take 15 minutes more)


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## Bygosh (Oct 9, 2016)

USPS is horrible too. They are the only carrier that leaves my stuff wide open in the front to get stolen, rained or snowed on. Everyone else is smart enough to put it under the covered porch in the back.


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## driveforhours (Jun 12, 2016)

When I deliver in Center City, I will see boxes left there, right there on the damn sidewalk. In other areas like NE Philly I even bring up recycling bins to use them the block view from the street.
My center city and university city routes usually have me going back to the FC with 20 undeliverables...



Bygosh said:


> USPS is horrible too. They are the only carrier that leaves my stuff wide open in the front to get stolen, rained or snowed on. Everyone else is smart enough to put it under the covered porch in the back.


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## Poolepit (May 17, 2016)

Was able to snag a 12:00 2 hour and a 4:00 6 hour around 6am this morning.


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## KILLERST (Sep 24, 2016)

soypana said:


> Springfield Virginia has been like this for a week.. They only are releasing 3-hour blocks for 5:30 pm. Hopefully it will pick up soon.


I was able to pick up a 11:30AM and a 5:30PM block for today at Springfield warehouse. There was none the past 2 days. However, I did saw push notification at least 2 times but never could accept the blocks fast enough or check the phone fast enough to accept them.


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