This was a good way to start my morning. I have one more block tonight. Hoping for the same results 🤞

Getting to pet friendly animals always makes a route better.

Because I wasn’t fixing to! I know the snack boxes are light and my packages down at the bottom were heavy AF! 🤷🏻‍♀️

Flexer** (damn autocorrect)

I recently got through the onboarding for flex after like almost a year and just waiting for my background check to clear
I’m currently a stay at home mom to a 4 almost 5 year old. I’ve been constantly applying to stay at home jobs but I’m just not getting any luck. So when I finally got pushed through for flex, I was really excited

From my understanding- passengers can come with me. I would HAVE to bring my daughter with me except the days her father would be off from the hospital.

I’ve seemed some mixed answers about her having to get out of the car.
What do I do about her if I need to get out and go into one of the Amazon facilities? Can she come with me?
How long are you usually in the facility for picking up the packages?
I’m worried about leaving her in the car for a long period especially if I can’t see the car. I’d rather her just get out with me.

For houses- I know as long as I don’t have to walk far, I can leave her in the car because I’ve done this with door dashing with her, only going right up to the front door, taking a photo and getting right back in.
Any time I’ve delivered to an apartment complex, I always make her get out with me and she just walks and waits for me to take the photo. - with flex, I’ll try to make sure maybe she’s just out of the way of any ring doorbells so they don’t report me?

I’ve looked in this sub so much and can only find YEARS old answers - can somebody discuss this with me in todays world?

So I took a decent pay 2hr fresh block. It’s an hour away because of course it is but who isn’t used to that already. What appears on it magically after about 5 minutes is picking up a package at another warehouse (Amazon.com) not even a fresh warehouse to deliver it. Mind you the other warehouse is more than an hour the opposite direction. I contemplated marking every package as missing and just leaving but I’m going to at least deliver the ones I have for my original block.
What I am not going to do is another delivery Amazon thinks they can pull out my ass. Matter of fact Jeff let’s split up so we can deliver the packages faster. I’ll go home and you go fuck yourself

Anyone ever dealt with something like this before?
Or at least know if I’ll get in trouble for ignoring this.
Thanks.

My standing is taking a punching because of homes with a gate & leaving the package at the gate because there's no gate code. If you've done this gig for a bit, you know returning packages to the warehouse is a guaranteed ding.

So I call support. Tell them the situation. Rest of the conversation goes like this:

Driver: "so lemme get this straight, if I leave the package at the gate, I get a ding. Even tho that's what support tells us to do"

Support: "that's correct"

Driver: "and if I return the package to the warehouse, that's also a ding?"

Support: "that's also correct"

Driver: "so what should I do to not get a ding?"

Support: ".............. have I answered all of your questions?"

Like wtf? This stop had multiple packages, so I can't just mark them all as missing. And I'm not gonna jump these mfing gates to run half a mile down a dirty road with your 30lbs box of whatever & half a dozen bags.

What would ya'll do? Like frfr

& for more context, I did try to contact the cx because it was during day time. But for night deliveries, support always tells me to leave the package at the gate and carry on.

Has anyone ever survived being at risk? If so how long did it take to improve standings? If you don’t survive how long until you got deactivated?

About 1.5-2 months ago mid delivery my brakes went out and I had to end my block with maybe a little less than half my stops left. Last week immediately after leaving the warehouse the same exact issue happened again and I had to return every package.

From what I’ve been able to find online it seems like the break line likely wasn’t replaced correctly last time and hopefully I’ll have no issues after this. I’ve done about 10K packages this year alone so I do routes frequently and continued doing so both times with a families members car after mine broke down.

It took about a week for standings to update but they went from full bar fantastic to at risk all in one day

When I’m not working I see all blocks going up but when I’m on, is all base pay lol….
Nobody took them BTW, they went over the time

To whoever ordered 10 packages of canned goods, water bottles and what I assume was can soda while you live in an apartment on the third floor. I just want you to know I hate your guts.

Amazon, I hate you too for always giving me apartments that are never on the first floor...

But hey I worked my muscles today soooooo

I know some people will leave this at the community gate and call it a day. But I’m too new (300 deliveries) and I’m scared to get a ding. I had two deliveries for this gated community and it was 10/30 on the route. One house didn’t provide a code and the other house did. I tried the codes there were like 5 of them in the notes. None of them worked. I then proceeded to wait 10 minutes trying and looking up common gate codes. And nothing worked. After 15 minutes I decided to leave these deliveries for last. Got done with my block 30 minutes early then went back to the gated community. Saw a person outside and tried to talk to him for a gate code but he didn’t live there or have a gate code. I then tried the gate codes the app gave me and no luck. I then proceeded to try my luck of entering random gate codes and I GOT IT ON THE 4TH TRY. a minute of entering random codes. That was a big relief. Delivered and finished my block 20 minutes early. The code I got in with was #1278

Last two nights I had a 3:30am 2.5 hour blocks for $76.50. Two days in a row paid with no route

Last night I did a two hour block 9pm -11pm. Got to my cart. Two packages. Total drive 11 miles. $54

Last night made 130.50 to deliver 2 packages. So when things get tough I think about times like this. If you count yesterday too that’s $207 to deliver 2 packages and about 1.5 hours wait time

Remember life’s a rollercoaster it’s 10% of what happens and 90% of how you react.

This is my first year driving for Amazon Flex. I've only been doing it for about two months. In previous weeks it was easy to schedule blocks ahead of time, and grabbing surge blocks wasn't easy, but it was possible. Now it's mission impossible to get any kind of block, except the $16 ones out of Seattle and Bellevue.

My primary stations are the SSD in Federal Way and the .com station in Lakewood, but it's insanely hard to get anything from either of them. This week I only have three blocks scheduled. The parking lot that used to be full every hour of the day now barely has any cars in it.

Does anyone know what's going on, or what to expect next? I'd appreciate any information.

I had a 5 am window this morning I showed up at 4:55 and the gate that leads to the pickup area was closed and there was no employees or drivers hanging around. I waited a few mins and I got out and couldn’t find a soul. I drove around to the front of the station and found an employee behind a window and got their attention. They grabbed another employee who came out and tried to scan my ID but it was too late. By then it was 5:14 and the lady basically said sorry you’re too late and when I asked what I should do they had no advice but to call support. I called them and explained the situation and they said they put a ticket in for me but said it “shouldn’t” affect my standing and they may or may not pay me. Has anyone dealt with this? The block stayed on my app on the ID screen for the remainder of the block. I’m expecting an email within 24 hours but I’m a bit nervous I’m just about 8 shifts in and I’ve never had a problem at the station. Will I get deactivated?

Me personalty I am going back roads any day of the week.

Been doing it about two weeks. So far all I go to is Imeson location. Just wondering. So far I haven’t been sent to horrible neighborhoods. Plus that’s the SSD. I’ve never done a .com one. Any info to help me would be appreciated.

Is there any way to remove this ? How long they stay in my history? The one for October 2 that it shows too far , customer in instructions said don't bring it to my front door leave it in mail room, so I moved thr Pin to mail roo from his actual apartment , rest of this is stupid and gated communities I called support and asked what should I do ? They told me if I see a secure location I can drop them and theu will mark as delivered, and I got hit after that, can I do anything? I was from fantastic to fair in a matter of 3 days

Has anybody else been dealing with these emails lately? I haven’t made any returns at all, yet this is the 3rd email I get about not attempting deliveries. Support is useless, as per usual. Once again, I have not made any returns, these fake issues are not reflected on my standings but I keep getting harassed with threatening emails. Has anyone found a solution or what’s triggered these emails?!

I’ve seen a few here & there but think it would be cool to have a thread to chuckle at.

From fantastic to fair in a day

Last week I got a notification that Flex was opening up slots in my area, decided to apply. It’s been about a week since I have submitted everything, and I’m still stuck on this page. Anyone else dealing with this? Or have before? I’m in Southern California if that makes a difference. Appreciate the help🫡

Does anybody know why I only have one location showing on my instant offer map? There are several whole foods locations near me, but they don't appear on the map. The only location that appears is my local SSD.

Any suggestions or help for a new driver or anyone here in this zone? Thank you much appreciated

I think not Amazon! I took a route last night and omg it fell apart so fast! For starters it was in one of the worst parts of the city and my second stop I called the customer about where to put his groceries and this dude got mad about it and came out and verbally assaulted me about it! I put his groceries on the overgrown yard (literally couldn’t see the house) and told him to have a good night. He started cussing at me so I was like fuck this and proceeded to cuss him right back and ended that confrontation with “fuck you you pussy ass bitch”. You can’t make this stuff up and I don’t feel bad about giving back what he was dishing out y’all.

So I called support and told them about the confrontation and that whoever put that route together should be fired and that I couldn’t believe I had been sent into that area etc etc. proceeded to TRY and deliver packages to businesses with no gate codes and apartments with no codes etc. returned 2 packages and tbh Amazon can fuck off!!

Amazon Flex: I ran the numbers on two blocks and heres what I did to include real cost.

I'm new to Amazon Flex and recently completed two 2-hour blocks from the Bethpage Fresh (UNY4) station on Long Island, NY. I wanted to calculate what I actually earned after accounting for commute time, gas, vehicle wear and tear, and taxes.

One other thing I’m trying to figure out is whether I’m simply too far from the station for Flex to make sense. I’m commuting from Valley Stream to UNY4 in Bethpage (18-22miles), and this is pretty much the only station where I’m consistently seeing offers in the app.

I thought the numbers might be useful for other drivers, especially anyone deciding whether these blocks are worth taking.

My two completed blocks

Run 1

• Advertised block: 2 hours
• Base pay: $62
• Tips: $10
• Total earnings: $72
• Total home-to-home driving: 72 miles (25-35 mi en route)
• Actual time from leaving home to returning: 3 hours 18 minutes

Run 2

• Advertised block: 2 hours
• Base pay: $61
• Tips: $0
• Total earnings: $61
• Total home-to-home driving: 60 miles (25-35 mi en route)
• Actual time from leaving home to returning: 3 hours 29 minutes

Combined results:

• Gross earnings: $133
• Total driving: 132 miles
• Total time: 6 hours 47 minutes
• Gross hourly earnings using actual time: $19.61/hour
• Gross hourly earnings using block time: $33.25/hour
• Gross earnings per mile: $1.01 (actual) / $4 (block)

On paper, $61–$72 for a 2-hour block looks pretty good. But the block duration doesn't account for the commute to the station, the delivery route, and the drive home. Furthermore, these base rates are already higher than most blocks to begin with.

Actual vehicle costs

For this estimate, I'm using:

• 30 MPG fuel economy
• $4.40/gallon gasoline
• $0.25/mile reserved for maintenance, tires, repairs, and depreciation, separate from gas

The $0.25/mile reserve is my working estimate, not a measured cost for my specific car. I'm interested in what other drivers use for their own maintenance and depreciation calculations.

What about taxes?

This is where things get confusing. I'm treating my eligible delivery-route mileage separately from the commute to stay by rigorous IRS rulings. This is not tax advice.

For this analysis, I'm assuming 25 eligible business miles per block and using the 2026 IRS standard mileage rate of $0.76/mile for July–December.

That gives me:

• Eligible business mileage: 50 miles
• Estimated mileage deduction: $38
• Simplified taxable business profit: $133 − $38 = $95

The mileage deduction is not a reimbursement. It reduces taxable business income, and the actual tax savings depend on my overall tax situation. The IRS standard mileage method also generally prevents separately deducting gas and maintenance for those same business miles.

For a rough planning estimate, I'm reserving 25%–35% of that $95 taxable profit for combined taxes. That's not a personalized tax calculation, but it gives me a range.

These are estimates, not a tax-return calculation. My actual liability could be different depending on my other income, filing status, deductions, and eligible mileage.

Feasibility: What happens at the advertised $18–$25/hour?

Amazon Flex is commonly advertised as offering $18–$25 per hour. However, that rate is based on the scheduled block duration, not necessarily the entire time spent working.

If I accepted a 2-hour block paying $36–$50 and it required similar driving and time, the economics would look very different.

Assuming two such blocks with the same combined 132 miles and 6 hours 47 minutes of actual time:

The range is wide because both the payout and actual tax liability matter. These are hypothetical scenarios, not claims about the average earnings of all Flex drivers.

What would make these blocks worthwhile?

Using my current assumptions, I would need approximately $95 in guaranteed gross pay for a block requiring around 3¼–3½ hours and 60–72 miles to earn roughly $20/hour after estimated vehicle costs but before taxes.

If I ignore the commute time and only calculate the earnings on the block time (2 hr) but keep the car cost fixed for the entire route I would need approximately $66 for $15/hr and $76 for $20/hr.

Tips would be a bonus rather than something I rely on to meet that target because tips do not seem to be widely given.

I'm not saying Amazon Flex is never worthwhile. Shorter routes, better mileage, surge pricing, and finishing early can change the calculation significantly. But I think drivers should evaluate the entire trip rather than just divide the payout by the advertised block duration.

Questions for experienced Flex drivers

1. For those of you doing Flex on Long Island, how far are you typically driving to get to your pickup station?
2. How do you calculate your true hourly earnings? Do you count the drive to the station and back home?
3. What do you use as a realistic cost per mile for maintenance, tires, repairs, and depreciation?
4. For Long Island drivers, is UNY4/Bethpage Fresh consistently sending drivers far enough away that the commute becomes a major part of the job?
5. What minimum payout per block or per mile do you use before accepting an offer?

I'd appreciate feedback, especially from drivers who have tracked their actual expenses over dozens or hundreds of blocks. I'm trying to determine whether Flex is financially worthwhile after all costs, rather than just looking at the advertised hourly rate.

EDIT 1: I added just the block time hourly rate but with the actual estimated cost of maintenance per mile and gas before and after taxes for my two real trips and the fake example.

Disclaimer: The cost for me was higher because of the commute and the example at typical earnings takes into account the high milage cost. If your commute is shorter than adjust the numbers and let us know what you would actually earn after cost.

I haven’t been able to find work since Monday and i got sent home so to no routes being available in the warehouse. Nothing has popped up for the mornings since then. Routes pop up in the afternoons but they are taken with the quickness and their base pay of course. Is this week just a slow week? Or are bots worst than ever now?