# I now completely understand why flex drivers don't last long .



## ndigoboy (Mar 24, 2018)

After switching to the other side and dealing with flex drivers directly my suspicions have been confirmed - most people are not cut out for a gig like flex. People cry about packages being 7 minutes apart when they have 12 stops, they litterally use the map for bullshit talking about their stop is an hour away but when you check the routing it's estimated 5 minutes away, come in with their girlfriend in the passenger seat talking about they don't have any room, they steal shorter routes when they think you aren't watching, no id/license but wanna buy you lunch to get in the building so they can deliver... Lol, come in knowing their under the roof time UTR is 15 minutes and want to pretend to ignore you and the line of cars waiting to get in because they want to try to sort it stop by stop in the building vs. scan and drop alphabetically and the worst of them all, the ones that get same day routes earlier in the afternoon vs the flex route they were expecting/hoping to get (oh God, one guy wanted to fight over it, he stormed out the building 30mph but comically came back half hour later and took the route anyway... Lol). 

Its about time Amazon started giving preference to better drivers. We've got like 60 guys who are utterly dependable, people friendly and want to work, no problems. 30 who great but infrequent and 20 who are meh and 20 who are just terrible. I'd be all for moving those bottom 40 into reserve to make room for the others to get more blocks when work is light. less headaches. That's just my 2 cents on it.


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## Amsoil Uber Connect (Jan 14, 2015)

Tell us more...


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## cvflexer (Apr 27, 2017)

Terrible? 2cents,. WTF?


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## ndigoboy (Mar 24, 2018)

cvflexer said:


> Terrible? 2cents,. WTF?


Yes. Terrible. There are numerous metrics plugged into the flex app that create graphs and graphs of data that can be pulled up instantly. All of which have a red line somewhere. You can be deactivated for averaging more than 15 minutes from arrival code to swipe to finish pickup for example. That metric isn't automated so you'd have to go above and beyond to get hit with it.


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## Bygosh (Oct 9, 2016)

ndigoboy said:


> After switching to the other side and dealing with flex drivers directly my suspicions have been confirmed - most people are not cut out for a gig like flex. People cry about packages being 7 minutes apart when they have 12 stops, they litterally use the map for bullshit talking about their stop is an hour away but when you check the routing it's estimated 5 minutes away, come in with their girlfriend in the passenger seat talking about they don't have any room, they steal shorter routes when they think you aren't watching, no id/license but wanna buy you lunch to get in the building so they can deliver... Lol, come in knowing their under the roof time UTR is 15 minutes and want to pretend to ignore you and the line of cars waiting to get in because they want to try to sort it stop by stop in the building vs. scan and drop alphabetically and the worst of them all, the ones that get same day routes earlier in the afternoon vs the flex route they were expecting/hoping to get (oh God, one guy wanted to fight over it, he stormed out the building 30mph but comically came back half hour later and took the route anyway... Lol).
> 
> Its about time Amazon started giving preference to better drivers. We've got like 60 guys who are utterly dependable, people friendly and want to work, no problems. 30 who great but infrequent and 20 who are meh and 20 who are just terrible. I'd be all for moving those bottom 40 into reserve to make room for the others to get more blocks when work is light. less headaches. That's just my 2 cents on it.


They are kind of experimenting with this. During xmas the regular good workers got reserve blocks and offers more then 24hrs out. But since then all reserves and most 24+ blocks go to noobs or inactive.


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## Yam Digger (Sep 12, 2016)

ndigoboy said:


> After switching to the other side and dealing with flex drivers directly my suspicions have been confirmed - most people are not cut out for a gig like flex.


Amazon gets what it pays for, my friend. Offer a job that pays peanuts and you can expect mostly monkeys to show up for it.


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## Flexist (Jul 29, 2017)

The people hired for this job are hired without an interview. What do you expect?

A lot of people who stumble into this job are otherwise unemployable.

It is amazing to me that amazon had the brilliant idea to offer a service allowing these people inside people's homes while they are away. Epic disaster waiting to happen.


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## KK2929 (Feb 9, 2017)

Can someone tell me how to sign up for Amazon Flex. I tried and a notice said that there were no opportunities in my area. Los Angeles ??? I doubt it.
The sign up procedure for Flex is not that user friendly or I am not doing it correctly. 
Is it worth it ?? Is it better than Lyft/Uber ?? Would like some honest opinions.


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## Woohaa (Jan 15, 2017)

KK2929 said:


> Can someone tell me how to sign up for Amazon Flex. I tried and a notice said that there were no opportunities in my area. Los Angeles ??? I doubt it.
> The sign up procedure for Flex is not that user friendly or I am not doing it correctly.
> Is it worth it ?? Is it better than Lyft/Uber ?? Would like some honest opinions.


You just have to keep checking back to see if they're accepting new drivers. The first couple times I went to the site it was no buenos. Tried a few weeks later and it was "Welcome to the club!" You download the app, watch a few how-to vids then start picking work hour blocks. Easy peezy, quick and easy.


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## oicu812 (Aug 29, 2016)

KK2929 said:


> Can someone tell me how to sign up for Amazon Flex. I tried and a notice said that there were no opportunities in my area. Los Angeles ??? I doubt it.


Why do you doubt it? You missed it this time around about a week or two ago. When Amazon signed up enough to cover Prime Week for LA area (I think is to suppressed increased rates), why would they keep signing up new drivers? They need experienced drivers for Prime Week and not new drivers.


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## KK2929 (Feb 9, 2017)

oicu812 said:


> Why do you doubt it? You missed it this time around about a week or two ago. When Amazon signed up enough to cover Prime Week for LA area (I think is to suppressed increased rates), why would they keep signing up new drivers? They need experienced drivers for Prime Week and not new drivers.


________
Just trying to understand the dynamics of the operation, Sir. As with most new adventures, it takes time to see and understand what is needed.
Read Woohaa's post ( before yours). He " Gets it ".



Woohaa said:


> You just have to keep checking back to see if they're accepting new drivers. The first couple times I went to the site it was no buenos. Tried a few weeks later and it was "Welcome to the club!" You download the app, watch a few how-to vids then start picking work hour blocks. Easy peezy, quick and easy.


__________________

Are the deliveries within a certain area of each other or all over Los Angeles ?
Is the pay equal or greater than Ride Share?
Is parking so you can deliver a problem, especially in city?


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## Amsoil Uber Connect (Jan 14, 2015)

#2. Unlike ride share you do not get to write off service fees / commission, and booking fees. And the booking fees are $3.30 per trip, that is a huge difference come tax time. That $18 an hour quickly becomes $10-11 an hour. Just like ride share.

You will put far less miles on your car which is a plus, but that is less miles @ .54 cent your get to write off come tax time as well. YMMV. 

But go ahead, get your feet wet. Parking and Apts are the worst. I can't imagine doing them in LA.

The bean counters got it all figured out , you can't win nor ever get ahead.


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## cvflexer (Apr 27, 2017)

^ ^ ^

I think you took one too many beans yourself


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## OJL (Jun 10, 2017)

So you can write off the booking fee Uber charges and the commission they take?


Amsoil Uber Connect said:


> #2. Unlike ride share you do not get to write off service fees / commission, and booking fees. And the booking fees are $3.30 per trip, that is a huge difference come tax time. That $18 an hour quickly becomes $10-11 an hour. Just like ride share.
> 
> You will put far less miles on your car which is a plus, but that is less miles @ .54 cent your get to write off come tax time as well. YMMV.
> 
> ...


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## oicu812 (Aug 29, 2016)

OJL said:


> So you can write off the booking fee Uber charges and the commission they take?


Always.


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## jester121 (Sep 6, 2016)

Amsoil Uber Connect said:


> #2. Unlike ride share you do not get to write off service fees / commission, and booking fees. And the booking fees are $3.30 per trip, that is a huge difference come tax time. That $18 an hour quickly becomes $10-11 an hour. Just like ride share.
> 
> You will put far less miles on your car which is a plus, but that is less miles @ .54 cent your get to write off come tax time as well. YMMV.


You don't really understand how tax write offs work, do you? You make it sound like gathering up deductions is the point of these gigs... are you actually happy about Uber's booking fees and commissions? It's not a blessing, that's cash money they aren't paying you! Of course you deduct it, that's the only thing that makes it barely palatable.

Reminds me of people who celebrate their mortgage interest expense deduction without realizing they're sending $10,000 to the bank to avoid sending $2,500 to the IRS. Wake up, people.


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## Amsoil Uber Connect (Jan 14, 2015)

No Jester, not at all. My point is that Ride share has these deductions that doing Amazon does not. I don't like it any more than you do. The booking flees are a rip off to the riders as far as I'm concerned . It's just that learn to play the game within the confines of the tax laws.

Things that a tax professional will not tell you. As there job depends on it clients lack of there own personal knowledge. All the while paying them for Piece of mind that they will not end up in jail. Yet if the professional gets it wrong, guess who ends up paying any way ?

And what would you rather do, have a mortgage interest expense deduction, ? or pay it all to the slum lord that is rent ?


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## TBone (Jan 19, 2015)

I left because of no hours. 6 hours a month for 3 months in a row is not worth it. Even at $25-30 an hour. 
FWIW, I drove more in two hours with flex than most days with Uber. Flex routes here can easily reach 100+ miles in two hours.


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## oicu812 (Aug 29, 2016)

TBone said:


> I left because of no hours. 6 hours a month for 3 months in a row is not worth it. Even at $25-30 an hour.
> FWIW, I drove more in two hours with flex than most days with Uber. Flex routes here can easily reach 100+ miles in two hours.


Maybe you should do logistics instead of Prime.


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## HotUberMess (Feb 25, 2018)

Amsoil Uber Connect said:


> The bean counters got it all figured out , you can't win nor ever get ahead.


From what I've read, that is because Amazon kills everything with overanalysis and pushing and pushing expectations until the job is miserable for the workers.


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## flex567 (Jul 9, 2018)

HotUberMess said:


> From what I've read, that is because Amazon kills everything with overanalysis and pushing and pushing expectations until the job is miserable for the workers.


and they do it with artificial intelligence...worse worker manipulation than uber. in the long run this will destroy amazon.

no individual will be held accountable, they will just hop to another job at another company


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## Skepticaldriver (Mar 5, 2017)

ndigoboy said:


> After switching to the other side and dealing with flex drivers directly my suspicions have been confirmed - most people are not cut out for a gig like flex. People cry about packages being 7 minutes apart when they have 12 stops, they litterally use the map for bullshit talking about their stop is an hour away but when you check the routing it's estimated 5 minutes away, come in with their girlfriend in the passenger seat talking about they don't have any room, they steal shorter routes when they think you aren't watching, no id/license but wanna buy you lunch to get in the building so they can deliver... Lol, come in knowing their under the roof time UTR is 15 minutes and want to pretend to ignore you and the line of cars waiting to get in because they want to try to sort it stop by stop in the building vs. scan and drop alphabetically and the worst of them all, the ones that get same day routes earlier in the afternoon vs the flex route they were expecting/hoping to get (oh God, one guy wanted to fight over it, he stormed out the building 30mph but comically came back half hour later and took the route anyway... Lol).
> 
> Its about time Amazon started giving preference to better drivers. We've got like 60 guys who are utterly dependable, people friendly and want to work, no problems. 30 who great but infrequent and 20 who are meh and 20 who are just terrible. I'd be all for moving those bottom 40 into reserve to make room for the others to get more blocks when work is light. less headaches. That's just my 2 cents on it.


amazon is trash.


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## Sushibar (Oct 10, 2017)

ndigoboy said:


> After switching to the other side and dealing with flex drivers directly my suspicions have been confirmed - most people are not cut out for a gig like flex. People cry about packages being 7 minutes apart when they have 12 stops, they litterally use the map for bullshit talking about their stop is an hour away but when you check the routing it's estimated 5 minutes away, come in with their girlfriend in the passenger seat talking about they don't have any room, they steal shorter routes when they think you aren't watching, no id/license but wanna buy you lunch to get in the building so they can deliver... Lol, come in knowing their under the roof time UTR is 15 minutes and want to pretend to ignore you and the line of cars waiting to get in because they want to try to sort it stop by stop in the building vs. scan and drop alphabetically and the worst of them all, the ones that get same day routes earlier in the afternoon vs the flex route they were expecting/hoping to get (oh God, one guy wanted to fight over it, he stormed out the building 30mph but comically came back half hour later and took the route anyway... Lol).
> 
> Its about time Amazon started giving preference to better drivers. We've got like 60 guys who are utterly dependable, people friendly and want to work, no problems. 30 who great but infrequent and 20 who are meh and 20 who are just terrible. I'd be all for moving those bottom 40 into reserve to make room for the others to get more blocks when work is light. less headaches. That's just my 2 cents on it.





ndigoboy said:


> After switching to the other side and dealing with flex drivers directly my suspicions have been confirmed - most people are not cut out for a gig like flex. People cry about packages being 7 minutes apart when they have 12 stops, they litterally use the map for bullshit talking about their stop is an hour away but when you check the routing it's estimated 5 minutes away, come in with their girlfriend in the passenger seat talking about they don't have any room, they steal shorter routes when they think you aren't watching, no id/license but wanna buy you lunch to get in the building so they can deliver... Lol, come in knowing their under the roof time UTR is 15 minutes and want to pretend to ignore you and the line of cars waiting to get in because they want to try to sort it stop by stop in the building vs. scan and drop alphabetically and the worst of them all, the ones that get same day routes earlier in the afternoon vs the flex route they were expecting/hoping to get (oh God, one guy wanted to fight over it, he stormed out the building 30mph but comically came back half hour later and took the route anyway... Lol).
> 
> Its about time Amazon started giving preference to better drivers. We've got like 60 guys who are utterly dependable, people friendly and want to work, no problems. 30 who great but infrequent and 20 who are meh and 20 who are just terrible. I'd be all for moving those bottom 40 into reserve to make room for the others to get more blocks when work is light. less headaches. That's just my 2 cents on it.


I work in a prime now warehouse and there are six guys who used to be dispatchers. How closely related to flex drivers are they? For example can they read our emails to support? Or can they reactivate an account ?


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## Fuzzyelvis (Dec 7, 2014)

Amsoil Uber Connect said:


> #2. Unlike ride share you do not get to write off service fees / commission, and booking fees. And the booking fees are $3.30 per trip, that is a huge difference come tax time. That $18 an hour quickly becomes $10-11 an hour. Just like ride share.
> 
> You will put far less miles on your car which is a plus, but that is less miles @ .54 cent your get to write off come tax time as well. YMMV.
> 
> ...


Why do you say you can't write off the booking fee? Does Amazon take it and you never get it and they don't put it on your 1099 the way uber does? Then it's already "deducted."


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## Amsoil Uber Connect (Jan 14, 2015)

I'm going to let you sleep on that b4 I answer. Perhaps the answer will come in a dream.


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## ndigoboy (Mar 24, 2018)

Sushibar said:


> I work in a prime now warehouse and there are six guys who used to be dispatchers. How closely related to flex drivers are they? For example can they read our emails to support? Or can they reactivate an account


They aren't your support, they can't read your emails and they can't reactivate you. A DSTL operating as a dispatcher could hire you into their contracted company to 'reactivate' you that way. That's it.


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## Sushibar (Oct 10, 2017)

Do they keep stats on each driver?


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## Amsoil Uber Connect (Jan 14, 2015)

Worse than a Facebook data miner. They keep stats of stuff you never thought about.


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## SamuelB (Aug 29, 2018)

Bygosh said:


> They are kind of experimenting with this. During xmas the regular good workers got reserve blocks and offers more then 24hrs out. But since then all reserves and most 24+ blocks go to noobs or inactive.


So if I sort. then scan, then swipe complete, that is the time they look at. Because that is what I do. I then load after I have swiped. I'm usually out the door 15-20 minutes after check in.


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## oicu812 (Aug 29, 2016)

SamuelB said:


> I'm usually out the door 15-20 minutes after check in.


 Too slow.


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## Jo3030 (Jan 2, 2016)

Amazon lost me when they allowed automatic bots and scamming to steal blocks from the app.


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## uberer2016 (Oct 16, 2016)

Been with flex since almost beginning. Getting paid $25/hr almost everyday. Best gig ever for me. I could see myself doing this for a very long time because the wages are definitely very liveable.


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## OJL (Jun 10, 2017)

Uber/ UberEATS/ Lyft....ALL TRASH!! Too over saturated, pay is extremely low for veteran drivers and pings are few and far between. Plus you have to deal with multiple irritating humans all day as well as an stupid ratings system. You have to guesstimate how much money you will make daily/weekly because nothing is guaranteed with any of the 3. At least you know, for the most part, what you'll be making doing Flex. Uber sucks!!!


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## Flexist (Jul 29, 2017)

Also, let me add another important reason why flex drivers do not last. And this one is entirely due to amazon's ret4rdation.

To last at this job you have to be amazing at shit dodgeball. Not just good... amazing..
This is what I mean.

Every problem created in the supply chain gets compounded and passed on to the next link in the chain. Drivers are the last link in the chain. You have to be amazing at dodging the mistakes of baggers, dispatch, customers,... or you just get deactivated due to stats that reflect the mistakes of everyone before you in the chain.

Unfortunately, there is no accountability in this shitshow of a company.


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