# Amazon Flex Uniforms



## FIdel Cashflow (Feb 23, 2018)

Think the Amazon Flex program is about to have a big shakeup in the near future. I have been seeing delivery promotional material with drivers wearing Prime uniforms (Prime polo shirt and hat)

Has anyone heard anything In their area?

We got that survey a few months ago asking how many hours we wanted to work etcetc....Wonder if they will hire people on full time or what.....hmmm


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## oicu812 (Aug 29, 2016)

Flex drivers wearing the Amazon uniform are current/former van drivers that have caught on that driving for any DSP sucks for the amount of pay.


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## ndigoboy (Mar 24, 2018)

oicu812 said:


> Flex drivers wearing the Amazon uniform are current/former van drivers that have caught on that driving for any DSP sucks for the amount of pay.


This.


FIdel Cashflow said:


> Think the Amazon Flex program is about to have a big shakeup in the near future. I have been seeing delivery promotional material with drivers wearing Prime uniforms (Prime polo shirt and hat)
> 
> Has anyone heard anything In their area?
> 
> We got that survey a few months ago asking how many hours we wanted to work etcetc....Wonder if they will hire people on full time or what.....hmmm


 it's an interesting proposal. UPS has been floating the idea of hydrid drivers in the current contract negotiations which would be similar. Basically they will have you out doing a 4 hour route with your own car and then you do a second shift inside the building or do another route depending on the needs.


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## Bygosh (Oct 9, 2016)

ndigoboy said:


> This.
> it's an interesting proposal. UPS has been floating the idea of hydrid drivers in the current contract negotiations which would be similar. Basically they will have you out doing a 4 hour route with your own car and then you do a second shift inside the building or do another route depending on the needs.


That would be awesome. Or even part time UPS Driver. Nobody wants to slug out 50-60 hours of delivering packages every week.


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## ndigoboy (Mar 24, 2018)

Bygosh said:


> That would be awesome. Or even part time UPS Driver. Nobody wants to slug out 50-60 hours of delivering packages every week.


They are also trying to classify the position under the full time building article vs. the package delivery article which isn't awesome. Right now that would start you off at $15 until year 4 when you reach top pay at $32 vs. starting at $24.20 and a top pay of $37. There is talk of a $5 pay adjustment coming so the FT article might get updated to a $20 start point. We will see in July.


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## FIdel Cashflow (Feb 23, 2018)

Oh ok. This makes sense. No wonder those prime uniforms looked similar to ups with just the Prime logo.


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## Woohaa (Jan 15, 2017)

I prefer my Beatles T-shirt & blue jeans.


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## Bleep Bloop (Feb 17, 2018)

oicu812 said:


> Flex drivers wearing the Amazon uniform are current/former van drivers that have caught on that driving for any DSP sucks for the amount of pay.


I don't think this is right. I was a White Van driver back in October and me and 50 other guys all got laid off for Flex. I was making $15 an hour then plus insurance, sick days the normal stuff. Now I do flex and make like $14.20 when considering gas and maintenance. I live 22 miles from the station, so it would be more if I was closer but what I make doesn't include all the time I spend tapping so...


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## oicu812 (Aug 29, 2016)

Bleep Bloop said:


> I don't think this is right. I was a White Van driver back in October and me and 50 other guys all got laid off for Flex. I was making $15 an hour then plus insurance, sick days the normal stuff. Now I do flex and make like $14.20 when considering gas and maintenance. I live 22 miles from the station, so it would be more if I was closer but what I make doesn't include all the time I spend tapping so...


You can't write off your mileage when you're driving van whereas you can with Flex. For the amount of packages delivered, it's definitely not worth it working for a DSP. Not all van drivers have insurance since not all DSPs have 50+ employees. Once they hit the 50 threshold, they have to provide health insurance coverage.


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## Cynergie (Apr 10, 2017)

FIdel Cashflow said:


> Think the Amazon Flex program is about to have a big shakeup in the near future. I have been seeing delivery promotional material with drivers wearing Prime uniforms (Prime polo shirt and hat)
> 
> Has anyone heard anything In their area?
> 
> We got that survey a few months ago asking how many hours we wanted to work etcetc....Wonder if they will hire people on full time or what.....hmmm


Was this for the White Van drivers? I can't see Amazon taking on that magnitude of overhead cost for its Flex drivers. Unless of course, they force a mandate where they lock the app until Flex drivers buy their own uniforms.....



oicu812 said:


> Flex drivers wearing the Amazon uniform are current/former van drivers that have caught on that driving for any DSP sucks for the amount of pay.


False information. I made $22/hr+ with bonuses based on performance metrics when I worked for a DSP in south SF. To be fair, the pay really varies based on the reputation the white van DSP has with Amazon. The better DSPs will pay higher and have the ability to discriminate when hiring to recruit/train and retain the better WH drivers. The poorer/inefficient DSPs are the ones that pay $14/hr (ghetto end if you're in the Bay Area anywhere), with poor to non existent benefits. They're the ones with the highest number of concessions, driver related accidents, and driver turnover. Their poor management and decision making from the top cause these poorly run DSPs to implode on themselves. Assuming Amazon doesn't fire them first for the millions in daily business losses from customer complaints, UTA/NSL/BC and lost/stolen packages.


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## oicu812 (Aug 29, 2016)

Cynergie said:


> False information. I made $22/hr+ with bonuses based on performance metrics when I worked for a DSP in south SF. To be fair, the pay really varies based on the reputation the white van DSP has with Amazon. The better DSPs will pay higher and have the ability to discriminate when hiring to recruit/train and retain the better WH drivers. The poorer/inefficient DSPs are the ones that pay $14/hr (ghetto end if you're in the Bay Area anywhere), with poor to non existent benefits. They're the ones with the highest number of concessions, driver related accidents, and driver turnover. Their poor management and decision making from the top cause these poorly run DSPs to implode on themselves. Assuming Amazon doesn't fire them first for the millions in daily business losses from customer complaints, UTA/NSL/BC and lost/stolen packages.


It may be false for the SF market but here in Socal, it is true. The pay in socal sucks no matter what DSP you work for. Flex probably average over $18/hr in SF. PrimeNow drivers definitely will make more (if they max out their hours) than for any DSP in the SF area.


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## Cynergie (Apr 10, 2017)

What do you mean by the SF area? The Bay Area or the City of SF? And by SoCal I'm assuming you mean LA and surrounding areas like San Bernadino etc? If so, then yes, the logistics will be uniquely different based on population and traffic flow patterns. But the base pay for Flex/Prime should be the same (dry packages not food etc) at $18/hr. I've seen this jump as high as $28/hr at the highest peak demand times. The same should apply to southern CA since you haven't left the state.

But like I said, I made $22/hr. The newbies all made $16/hr. But quickly moved up based on merit and performance. I opted to do the FT 10 hr shift (with 2 hr OT) each day. Then go do Uber afterwards if I felt up to it and/or surge made it worthwhile driving. The DSP I worked for was based out of DSF5 in South SF. They where the only WH Amazon assigned the entire City of SF (with it's 1M+ customers) plus immediate surrounding areas (like Daly City, Pacific Heights etc) to. That meant millions of packages a day in business for all the van contractors based out of that WH, regardless of how inefficiently they were being run. Which also meant a constant demand for Flex/Prime drivers because whatever packages the white vans couldn't deliver were being rolled to Flex. I never had any issues finger tapping doing Flex/Prime out of there.

TBH, all the white van contractors from DSF5 had significantly low turnover relative to contractors in the East Bay like Richmond WH. I met former employees from the Richmond WH who used to work at a white van contractor that had gone under. All of them preferred working DSF5, because work was steady and the white van pay/OT incentives were far superior.


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## oicu812 (Aug 29, 2016)

I was referring to my market, southern california. Since it's different in your market, why aren't you still making that $22+/hr for a DSP?


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## Cynergie (Apr 10, 2017)

Because I now have a FT job as a 1st yr grad student. Did this and rideshare last summer while waiting for fall semester to start. FT/PT white van schedule conflict with classes & u other school obligations. So doing Flex/prime and to very limited extent Uber if schedule permits. Great money while it lasted though.


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## uberstuper (Jan 2, 2016)

FIdel Cashflow said:


> Think the Amazon Flex program is about to have a big shakeup in the near future. I have been seeing delivery promotional material with drivers wearing Prime uniforms (Prime polo shirt and hat)
> 
> Has anyone heard anything In their area?
> 
> We got that survey a few months ago asking how many hours we wanted to work etcetc....Wonder if they will hire people on full time or what.....hmmm


Ohhhhh big shake up? How will I be able to sleep tonight


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