This article is in response to Glassdoor reviewer from San Diego, CA titled “Don’t do it”. Where 12 people voted it useful. We disagree with the reviewer here on his listed cons for Amazon Flex. Let’s get into it.
The Reviewer’s Pros:
The reviewer was real enough to list a single pro for Amazon Flex. Saying “No dress code and choose your own hours”. Which is correct. As independent contractors we get to choose our own hours. However there is a slight catch. If you really want to work, you end up taking whatever is available. But there’s no obligation to work on any given day.
The Reviewers Cons:
Here’s where the Glassdoor reviewer gets disingenuous stating “If you go over your block of time you aren’t compensated”. What they fail to mention is that going over the block time is incredibly rare. Often times drivers report completing their blocks early, especially experienced drivers.
Then the reviewer proceeds to exaggerate instances where one would go over their block time. “Things out of your control like people not giving access codes to apartments and having to call support 100 times takes up your block and then you don’t get paid for it”.
While these instances do happen, they typically do not result in going over the scheduled block time. Yes it’s frustrating when customers fail to leave instructions when there’s a locked gate. That’s simply a part of the job. Calling support 100 times is clearly an exaggeration by the reviewer. I go months of delivering without ever needing to call support. In some cases it’s necessary and they typically know what to do and don’t waste time.
The Reviewers Advice to Management:
In the advice to management the reviewer states “Pay people for the amount of time they worked. If the packages aren’t delivered in the specific block there is no incentive to finish delivering the packages.”
This statement simply is not true. Amazon does in-fact compensate Flex drivers for when they go over the block time. Granted, it’s not as simple as it should be. Often driver’s will need to make the request multiple times. Yes it’s a hassle, but they do compensate.
As for the second part “there is no incentive to finish delivering the packages”, is comical. First if you deliver at a steady pace you end up finishing early. Second if a driver continuously fails to attempt all deliveries they may eventually be terminated for it. Lastly, delivering packages is the job. That should be incentive enough. It’s what you’ve agreed to do by accepting the block.
We hope this clears things up for potential Amazon Flex drivers. Our advice, take the reviews about Flex with a grain of salt. Try it out yourself and see how it goes. Amazon Flex has a lot of interesting characters that say outlandish things. Many of the negative reviews are simply false, with a hint of truth.
Get started at: https://flex.amazon.com/faqs/
