It’s long been speculated and called out on Flex driver social media groups that drivers are not seeing the same offers. A classic example of this is a husband and a wife who both work Amazon Flex compare their apps and one has no offers and the other has a page full. This quickly leads drivers to speculate that Amazon is treating some of them unfairly and playing favoritism to new drivers.
The reality is that all of this is likely handled by an algorithm and it’s not necessarily discriminating but the parameters may indeed affect “veteran” drivers in a negative way while being favorable to newbies or those who don’t do Flex very much. Let’s explore.
Veterans & Newbies
A veteran is someone who has been doing Flex for about a year or more and they do it often. Some of them may rely on Amazon Flex entirely for their income (full time).
A newbie is someone who’s either new to Flex or they don’t do it very often (part time / side hustle).
A veteran driver:
- Works Flex often
- Schedules lots of blocks
- May forfeit many blocks a week
According to Amazon these three parameters negatively impact the amount of offers a driver will see.
A newbie driver:
- Rarely works flex
- Schedules few blocks
- Probably hardly ever forfeits blocks
These three parameters will positively impact the amount of offers a driver will see.
Amazon’s logic here is “This way, more drivers get to deliver smiles”. While this may be true, as we’ve seen it negatively impacts those drivers with the most experience. Veteran drivers are more likely to get the job done right and newbies are more likely to make mistakes, but Amazon doesn’t seem to care about that. It seems they prefer the “quantity over quality” approach.
This news comes as no surprise to the so-called “veteran” drivers. We’ve known about this for a long while and verified it ourselves by comparing apps with other drivers who work in the same region. It’s good to finally get confirmation from Amazon. Hopefully this will lead to further transparency with drivers and the Amazon Flex program.
While they’re algorithm may not intentionally discriminate, it’s parameters do in fact play favoritism to new drivers or those who don’t work Flex often. As someone who’s been doing Flex for a long time and putting my best effort into each block it’s a little offensive. Amazon seems to care less about those who put in lots of time and dedication into the job, and rather have drivers who don’t care about flex as much.
That’s alright Amazon, veteran drivers will keep delivering those smiles. Even if we have to struggle by design to get the opportunity to do so.
Appreciate you, be safe and flex on!