[2024-12-18] how i got banned from being an Amazon Flex Driver [njc1Gh6_hpo]

Yesterday I got some emails from Amazon

Flex basically saying that first of all I

was temporarily suspended and then

followed by saying that I am now

permanently deactivated from the Amazon

Flex program.

So as some of you may know, I made some

YouTube videos of me and my mum delivering

Amazon parcels.

There were 2 types of Amazon deliveries.

There were the Morrison groceries

deliveries and the Amazon normal Amazon

parcel deliveries.

And first of all, I got a warning about

because I was filming the parcels that

were in front of me, they got inside of

the camera shot and and you could see the

customer information like their names and

addresses from the shipping label did

sometimes randomly appear in the camera

shots and I didn't blur it out.

And I thought, okay, that kind of makes

sense.

It's a confidential breach of customer

information.

And they did warn me saying that it's

against the rules to be able to post this

on social media.

And they said I had to remove the content

from my social media or else I would not

be able to continue doing Amazon Flex,

which implies that if I remove the

content, I would be able to continue doing

Amazon Flex.

So I removed the content thinking

everything's going to be fine, I'll get

account reactivated, and then I just won't

film myself doing deliveries anymore.

But then later I get another email saying

my account has now been permanently

deactivated because they have investigated

my account and they suspect that an

individual has been delivering parcels on

my behalf, which is obviously my mum.

A couple of the videos, I let my mum take

some of the Morrison grocery bags up to

the front door of the customer's house

whilst I filmed the footage for my vlog.

And usually we wouldn't do that.

Usually we would go up to the front door

of the house together, which I'm not I'm

not sure if that's against the rules as

well, but apparently according to the

rules, it is a severe violation to allow

another individual to deliver the parcels

on your behalf.

And I didn't really think this would get

me banned.

I didn't think simply having my mum take

the grocery bags to the customer's house

with me standing behind her would be a

violation of the rules.

And obviously I knew that you couldn't

just give your phone and give your account

to some friend or some random person you

met off the internet who paid you money so

they could earn on Flex when they wouldn't

really be able to because maybe they'd

have a criminal record wouldn't be able to

pass a background check or they're not

eligible to work in the UK.

So Amazon's very strict about having your

background check done and making sure

you're clean to be able to deliver.

And that makes sense.

And obviously I would never give my

account to some random person on the

internet to deliver for me whilst they

paid me, 'cause that would just be really

shady.

But for goodness sake, it's my mother who

came along with me, who's just helping me

carry the parcels to the front door.

I didn't think this would get me

deactivated.

It's such a stupid reason.

So usually when we did the normal Amazon

deliveries where you just have the boxes

and the parcels, I would do that all

myself.

My mum would never get out of the car.

She would just help me sort the parcels

and then I would take the parcels to the

customer's house.

But the Morrison deliveries, the

supermarket grocery deliveries, were a bit

different because there were a lot of big

heavy grocery bags full of heavy objects

like bottles of milk and vegetables.

And yeah, I could take the Morrison bags

by myself 3 at a time or 2 at a time to

the customer's door, but that would take a

long time.

So me and my mum would do this thing where

we would just load up the Morrison

shopping bags into this big brown bag, and

then she would help me take the big brown

bag together.

We would lift it and carry it to the

customer's front door.

And we just did that because it made sense

and it made the job faster and easier to

do.

Sometimes there'd be a road closure, so

I'd have to park far away and then we have

to walk all the way to the house, or we'd

have to deliver up a block of flats and

climb up some stairs because there's no

elevator.

And it just makes it easier if you load

all the Morrison bags into a big brown bag

and then we carry it together and we all

do it— we do it all in one go instead of

2x2 and 3x3, which would have to keep

going up and down, up and down, up and

down.

I just think it's really stupid and it

makes no sense that it's a breach of the

rules and you can get banned simply for

having someone there helping you carry the

parcels to the customer's door.

And obviously I'm there because in the

video, who else is filming?

Who's holding the camera?

Obviously it's me and I'm with my mum.

I'm assisting her delivering.

She's not out there delivering the parcels

on her own whilst I sit in the car or I

sit at home.

It's not like I gave her my phone and I

gave her my account and she's doing it all

by herself.

I'm filming the video, so it's obvious

that I'm there too.

So I sent another email to Amazon Flex

appealing the decision for my account to

get deactivated, and they said they're

going to investigate and they're going to

review my case and they'll get back to me.

But I don't really feel very hopeful

because I guess technically I have

violated the rules by having my mum

deliver for me, and you can't really argue

against that because it's plain and

obvious in the video what she's doing.

I don't know if they can like bend the

rules a little bit.

Maybe if they understand that it's just my

mum delivering and I'm there with her,

she's not delivering the parcels all by

herself without my assistance or without

my presence, maybe they could change their

mind and reactivate my account.

But I'm not really feeling too hopeful.

And you might be thinking, why didn't you

just keep it a secret?

Why did you film yourself delivering

parcels?

And yeah, in hindsight it's easy to say

that you shouldn't have done it, but at

the time I had no idea that having my mum

deliver parcels would get me banned.

Obviously if I knew that, I wouldn't have

done it.

And I've seen loads people on YouTube make

videos doing Uber Eats or Amazon Flex or

Deliveroo, and they film the customers and

they film the parcels and they do all

that.

But I haven't really seen anyone film

their mum delivering for them, so maybe

it's a very unique problem that I'm having

right now.

So I didn't think there's any problem with

making a video of delivering Amazon Flex

parcels, and I had no idea that would end

up getting me banned.

And to be honest, I don't really know how

to feel about it right now.

I feel bit like I have mixed emotions.

On one hand, I am a bit annoyed and a bit

upset that I got banned because the money

was really good and the job was fairly

simple most of the time.

You just show up, pick up the parcels,

deliver them, go home.

And it was quite an easy way to make

decent money.

And I really did start to get addicted to

getting the money and earning that kind of

money.

But on the other hand, I feel kind of

relieved because I really did not enjoy

doing this job.

It was really most of the time it was

really a miserable job to have to do.

You get sent to the worst horrible places

in your area.

I've had to go to all these kind of places

like Chatham, Ginningham, Rochester,

Sittingbourne, central parts of Maidstone,

which are just horrible, horrible places

full of not very nice people.

And it just really kind of destroyed my

soul and my happiness having to constantly

go to these places that I would never

normally go.

And usually I would avoid going to those

places because they're just The worst

places in Kent.

The past 4 months I've just been obsessed

with doing Amazon Flex.

It's been my entire life.

Every single day I've done at least 1 or

mostly 2 blocks a day doing double shifts,

going there in the afternoon and then

coming home and going back in the evenings

to do a second block because the money was

so good.

Even though I didn't really want to do it

anymore and I kind of wanted to cut down

on the amount of blocks I was doing, I

couldn't say no because every time a block

showed up with a really good base rate or

a really good boosted rate, I just would

not have the self-control to be able to

refuse it.

And I'll just accept it and then force

myself to get in the car and go and do a

delivery because the money— I really

wanted the money because I have a lot of

debt right now.

And sometimes I feel like the job can be a

bit of a gamble, bit risky, bit dangerous,

possibly, especially if you're not a very

experienced driver or you're new to

driving like I am.

I've only been driving for about a few

months and I have been pulled over by the

police because I was very stressed, under

a lot of pressure driving in this place

that I'm not really used to, and the roads

road system was very complicated, and I

made this silly decision to suddenly

change lanes from a lane that you're not

supposed to change lanes in.

And apparently I didn't indicate, which I

don't remember, and I did it right in

front of a police car.

And they pulled me over, put on the

flashing lights, pulled me over, gave me a

warning, and said they're going to report

me and I'm going to get a fine and

possibly points to my license.

So I feel like every time you get into the

car to go and do a delivery block, I feel

like you're kind of gambling with fate.

You're kind of rolling the dice because

you're driving so many hours every day.

Eventually it's bound to happen where you

get into some kind of accident or

something serious happens.

Every time I would accept a block and go

to the Amazon warehouse to pick up my

parcels, I would just be full of anxiety

and I'd just be really nervous about where

they're going to send me because they

won't tell you where you're getting sent.

You don't get to choose the route, it's

randomly given to you.

You might get sent to a nice place like

Bexford or Westmorling, but there's a very

high possibility that you get sent to

somewhere not very nice because

unfortunately I live in Kent, and although

Kent has its nice parts, there's a lot of

not very nice parts in Kent, especially

around the Medway area, and you do get

sent to those places a lot, and it's just

not really a good time.

So I guess for now I just have to be

patient and wait for their response.

Maybe they'll change their mind and

reactivate my account.

I would like to have my account back, to

be honest, because like I said, the money

is pretty good, and most of the time it's

not too bad delivering.

It's just sometimes you get bad luck and

get sent to a horrible place.

But if they do decide to keep me

permanently banned, then I guess I have no

choice.

I have to move on and do something else.

Maybe I'll just do Uber Eats full-time or

try and sign up to a different delivery

company like Every or Parcel Force, DPD,

Yodel.

There's plenty of other delivery options

out there.

Now I've got 4 months of experience, I

might have a better chance of signing up

to one of these other jobs.

But to be honest, I just don't really like

delivery driving.

It's a very stressful job having to be on

the roads stuck in traffic or trying to

find places to park when it's a really

crowded, packed-up street.

And It's not really the kind of job I want

to do full-time anyway.