[2024-11-22] Why i HATE working as an Amazon Flex Driver [GkR8qmnhMWg]

So as some of you may know, I've been

working as an Amazon Flex delivery driver

for about 3 months now.

So basically it's just delivering Amazon

parcels in your own car.

And I've come to the conclusion that I

kind of hate doing this job.

And we're gonna talk about the good parts

and the bad parts and a few experiences

that happened to me recently that really

tipped me over the edge into hating doing

this job.

So the main thing I like about the job is

the freedom and the flexibility you have

when it comes to choosing when you want to

work and how you want to work.

As someone who's pretty antisocial and

doesn't really like chit-chatting with

random strangers or coworkers, it is nice

to be able to work by yourself and not

have to waste time socializing with

coworkers and not being nagged at by a

manager or having like a boss or manager

watching everything you're doing and then

moaning at you.

So it is nice to have the freedom to work

as your own boss.

That's the main thing that attracted me to

wanting to do this job in the first place.

And also the pay is not bad.

So on average, you get about £16 to £18

per hour.

And if you're lucky and you get a boosted

rate, you can earn over £20 an hour.

The problem is you're limited to only

doing 24 hours a week on Amazon Flex

because they want to keep you as a

part-time worker.

If they let you do over 24 hours a week,

then they will have to consider you as a

full-time employee, and then they'd have

to give you benefits like sick pay,

holiday pay, and other things like that.

And they don't want to do that because

that would cost them more money than just

having you as a part-time worker.

So even if you do blocks every single day

and you try your hardest to work as much

as possible, really, the most you can make

per week is around £400 to £450 a week.

Now, if you get lucky and you get boosted

rates, maybe you can make nearly £500 a

week, but it's kind of hard to get boosted

rates because they get grabbed and

snatched up so quickly.

There's so much competition on the app, so

many drivers trying to get the same blocks

as you are, and there's also people using

bots.

They root their Android phones, they

download some kind of stupid app like an

auto clicker, and as soon as blocks pop

up, they automatically grab those blocks

before you can.

Blocks appear and they disappear within

seconds.

So you really have to be sitting there on

the app all day refreshing, trying to grab

blocks before anyone else can.

And I don't want to root my Android phone

and use the auto clicker because if they

find out you're using a bot, they can

actually ban you.

So it's not worth it.

Also, most of the blocks are at really

silly times.

So you've got the morning blocks, the

afternoon blocks, and the evening blocks.

The morning blocks start around 7 AM or

half past 6 in the morning, which is way

too early.

Takes me about 20 minutes to get to the

Amazon warehouse, and I have to wake up at

like 5:30 or 5 AM to get get ready, have a

shower, have my coffee, get my car.

So it's way too early for me to do the 7

AM morning blocks, so I never do those.

And then you've got the afternoon evening

blocks which start around 5 PM or 6 PM

until about 10 PM, and those are just way

too late.

It's too dark outside when it's winter.

I don't want to be driving around in the

pitch darkness.

So the only blocks I like are the

afternoon lunchtime blocks around 1 PM or

2 PM, but it's kind of hard to get those

because obviously lots of other people

want those blocks as well.

So it's kind of tricky to get those

blocks, and it means that two-thirds of

the available blocks you don't really want

to do because it's at an inconvenient

time.

So on my best month, I made about £1,500

in the entire month.

Now that might sound good for only working

a couple hours every day, but when you

minus things like your car insurance, your

car payments, your fuel and maintenance,

you don't really have a lot left over.

So for me personally, I am paying for an

electric vehicle on finance, so I'm

financing this car for about £200 a month.

I pay about £100 a month for insurance,

and then you need special insurance for

delivering parcels, and this cost me about

£140 a month.

So I pay £1.40 or £1.30 per hour that I

work, so that comes to about £140 a month.

So in total, I have to pay about £400 for

my car payments, 2 types of car insurance,

and then I've also got to charge my car

using electricity.

And I do roughly about 2,000 miles a

month, so that equates to roughly about

£60 or £70 of charging at home.

I plug it into my house charger and it

cost me about £60 or £70 a month to charge

my car.

So in total, I'm paying about £450 to £500

a month just to be able to do this job.

So if I only make £1,500 minus my

expenses, I've only got about £1,000 left

over, which is not a lot to show for after

doing all this work.

And people driving a petrol car, I don't

know how they make money, because imagine

doing 2,000 miles per month in petrol.

That would cost like £500, £400 a month in

petrol.

Now let's say you get really unlucky and

you get a

puncture or you damage your car, like a

small dent, or you crack the headlights,

or you have to get a new tire or new

wheel, that's probably not going to be

covered by your insurance because it'll

just be a couple hundred pounds and you

have to pay that out of your own pocket.

Well, then that's like minus a couple

hundred pounds out of your wages, and that

just reduces the amount of money you're

making even more.

So far I've been lucky and I haven't

damaged my car yet.

I have hit a few potholes.

I think I do have a slow puncture, but

it's not really a big problem because I

just keep pumping up the tire, and I

haven't crashed yet.

But if did have the misfortune of having

any of those problems, then that would

just wipe out even more of my earnings.

So the worst thing about this job that I

really hate about this job is the places

you get sent to.

So the job is pretty easy.

You just go to the warehouse, load up your

car with the parcels, and then follow the

app sat nav to deliver the items.

It sounds simple enough.

The problem is, depending on the routes

that you're given by— it's randomly given

to you, the route, so you can't choose

your route.

It could be a really good route, really

nice area, really nice houses.

Big open roads, lots of parking spaces.

That is the best kind of place to deliver.

And those times really make me feel like,

wow, this job is so good.

I really love this job.

It's great and amazing.

But you rarely get really good routes like

that.

5 times out of 6, you get a horrible route

sent to a horrible place.

There's different types of areas you get

sent to.

Town centers have to be the worst place to

go to because there's a lot of traffic.

There's not many places to park.

If you park somewhere sneaky, like

borrowing someone's parking space, you

might get in trouble or you might get a a

parking fine if you park on double lines

or in a loading bay.

So it's hard to find good parking that's a

safe place to leave your car.

And then you've got lots of flats and

townhouses, you've got to go up and down

staircases, you've got to hope that

someone buzzes you into the building

because it's usually a locked door where

you need a key card to enter the building.

And then the second worst place to deliver

in would have to be the really sketchy

areas like town council estates where it's

like a really poor, horrible area full of

sketchy people that look kind of scary and

dangerous, and it's just like really

unpleasant neighborhood where you don't

really feel safe, especially if it's dark.

And then you have countryside routes,

which I quite like the countryside routes.

I find the drives around those areas to be

quite relaxing, and the countryside is

very scenic, very beautiful.

But then you get sent to some farm that

has this really long little lane that

leads to the farmhouse, and it's just

covered in these massive potholes, and you

have to drive it like 2 miles per hour.

It takes you ages, and you risk damaging

your car.

And the farmers don't care because they

will drive 4x4s, Land Rovers, pickup

trucks, and tractors, so they really care

about your little delivery car getting

damaged in those stupid potholes.

I really don't like having to go to some

of these farms because they've got dogs

running around too, which can be quite

scary.

And then sometimes you get sent to some

really weird places.

I got sent to a military base.

It was the Gurkha Engineering Regiment

military base, and it was kind of cool at

first, but then it got really confusing

because the parcels were addressed to the

barracks.

So I went to the barracks on the map, and

I get there and it's just like a gymnasium

with training facilities for the recruits

and ask around, where do I leave these

parcels?

And they tell me to go to the guard room

to leave the parcels.

And then the guard room person says, I've

got to take the parcels to the houses.

It was really confusing.

So 80% of the time the job is pretty easy

and it's fine.

You just take the parcels, deliver them.

But then 10 or 20% of the time you get

this weird thing.

Random event happens to you that really

throws you off, makes you waste like an

hour or half an hour trying to figure out

how to get out of this situation.

So recently some weird things happened to

me.

I was delivering to a block of flats.

They had a car park, and I think, okay,

the gate to the car park is open.

I'll just drive into the car park, park in

the car park, deliver my things, and then

leave.

I didn't realize that it was a private car

park and you're not allowed to park there

unless you live there.

And the barrier— there was a big metal

barrier to the entrance of the car park,

and it was open when I got there.

I get out of my car and I walk past this

shady-looking man wearing jogging bottoms,

sneakers, a hoodie.

He looked really sketchy.

He gets into his car, which was parked

next to my car, and he leaves.

And I didn't really think anything of it.

So I go delivering my parcels, I get back

to my car, and I'm ready to leave.

But the gate, the barrier to the car park,

is now shut with a padlock locking it

shut.

So I can't open the padlock.

I'm trapped in the car park.

I can't drive out, and I'm just completely

lost.

I don't know what to do.

What phone number do I call?

How do I get out of this?

I seriously considered phoning the police

because I I didn't know how to get my car

out.

I see this guy wearing high-vis and I

asked him for help.

I asked, how do I get out?

And he was just a dick.

He was like, oh, you don't have the key,

you can't get out.

And he just shrugged his shoulders and

walked off like he thought I was an idiot,

probably.

So I waited for 10 minutes.

This woman appears.

I asked her, how do I get out?

And luckily she lived there, so she said

she would go and get a key.

And I wait about 15 minutes and she never

comes back with the key.

By that time, someone else in a car

arrives and opens the barrier for me as

he's coming in, and then I leave.

It was really annoying.

And I'm pretty sure the man that I walked

past did it on purpose, locked me in the

car park on purpose because he's a prick

and he thought, oh, it would be funny if I

lock the Amazon guy in the car park

because screw him.

Maybe because I'm Asian and he's a racist,

or he was jealous because my car's better

than his piece of crap car.

It was pretty obvious that I don't live

there because I'm carrying all these

Amazon parcels and I'm wearing my high-vis

jacket and I just arrived.

So he padlocked me into his stupid car

park just so he can get a one-up on me.

And then something similar happened the

next day, yesterday actually.

So I was delivering to this house that was

next to this busy country lane, a 2-lane

road, not very big road, but it was rush

hour.

So it was quite busy, full of traffic.

And I didn't know where to park.

I didn't want to block half the road by

parking on the road.

So I'm approaching the house and I think,

okay, I'll just pull into the driveway of

the house and deliver it to them and then

drive out of the driveway.

Unfortunately, because the houses were

bunched together so tightly, I

accidentally enter the driveway of the

house next to the house I was supposed to

deliver to.

So I enter the driveway, I turn around in

the driveway, and I just park my car in

that driveway.

I take the parcel and I hop over to the

next house, deliver it, and I run back to

my car.

As I'm running back to my car, I notice

the electric gates of the driveway that I

just drove into start slowly closing, and

I run to quickly get to my car.

And there's a man, a white middle-aged old

guy, standing at the doorway with his arms

crossed, looking very angry.

And then he starts scolding me about how I

shouldn't be parking on his driveway.

And I tell him I was just delivering some

Amazon parcels next door, but he's still

mad and he's telling me off, saying that I

shouldn't be on his driveway and I should

have parked in the street.

So he wants me to park on a busy street in

rush hour that's full of traffic, where it

could be dangerous for me to try and get

out or get into my car as there was so

much traffic, because he's so selfish and

wouldn't let me park on his driveway for 2

seconds to deliver this parcel.

And he shuts the gate on me, doesn't let

me leave until I apologize to him.

So I just realized that the only way to

get out of this situation is to defuse it,

and I just say, I'm sorry.

And then he opens the gate, tutting at me,

and then I drive out.

People are so stupidly monkey-brained

territorial when it comes to their stupid

property.

Oh, this driveway— can't park on my

driveway because it's my property.

And then they get all mad at you, and all

you have to do is say this one word,

sorry.

And then it's all over.

And then they, they feel like, oh, I made

my point, I'm the big man, I showed him,

he had to say sorry.

I don't really mean it.

I'm not sorry.

I think you're a prick.

I take my sorry back, but I just said

sorry to get out of the situation.

So I have to do another delivery a few

houses away from his house.

So I leave his driveway, drive for like 10

yards, and then park my car up.

This time I park on the road because I

don't want to make the same mistake again.

I park on the busy road during schooltime

rush hour with all these cars coming at

me, and I'm just blocking half the road.

I can't get out my car because there's

cars coming from behind, so I have to sit

there waiting for a gap so I can actually

get out of the car.

And then I go and deliver the parcel, and

then I'm just standing outside my car for

nearly 10 minutes because I can't get back

into my car because the driver's side is

in the road and there's so much traffic

and I'm blocking all the road.

And then I finally get back into my car,

but now I can't move because there's

backed-up traffic behind me.

Oncoming traffic in front of me.

I'm trying to turn the car around because

Amazon sent me down this road to deliver

here, and now it wants me to go back up

the road.

So I now have no choice but to reverse

back into the driveway of the house I just

delivered to and hope that I don't get

scolded by another angry idiot.

So it took such a long time, nearly 15

minutes, to do that second delivery

because I parked on the street, on the

road, because I was scared of getting told

off again.

And the other guy who told me He was so

selfish, he wouldn't let me park on his

driveway for 5 seconds, and he would

rather me park on the street and

inconvenience hundreds of drivers who are

trying to use that road because they now

have to drive around my parked car.

And I also put myself at risk in danger

because it was a dangerous road trying to

get in and out of a car during rush hour.

Doing this job really exposes you and

forces you to interact with so many

horrible, rude people.

Most people are nice.

I'd say 90% of people you encounter on the

roads or at delivery locations stations

are nice and friendly, but you get that

one or two few rude, horrible people who

get upset over stupid things like parking

on the driveway, or you have to encounter

all these rude, aggressive drivers on the

road after driving for hours and hours

every day.

You're just bound to eventually bump into

and encounter one of these rude, horrible

people, and it just ruins your day and it

makes you hate doing this job.

And I realized there's just so many

horrible areas around where I live.

Most of Maidstone is horrible.

Chatham, Rochester, Sittingbourne.

Horrible, horrible places that I would

never want to go to, but I'm forced to go

there because Amazon sent me there and I

don't get to pick my own routes.

I think you really should be able to pick

the routes you want to do.

The job is only nice when the weather is

nice outside and it's nice and bright,

it's not too dark, and there's no rush

hour, and it's a nice area, and it's not

like weird places you're getting sent to,

like military bases or a police station or

a castle where you have to go into the

middle of the woods.

To reach the delivery location, to

complete the delivery.

And then every time you get into the car,

you've got this worry and anxiety in the

back of your mind.

What if I crash?

What if I have an accident?

What if I damage my car and I have to

repair it?

You're constantly gambling with luck that

you're not going to get in trouble on the

roads because you're on the roads so much

for so many hours.

It's bound to happen at some point unless

you're the most— I mean, even if you're

the most skilled professional experienced

driver, you're bound to encounter some

kind of bad luck that's going to wreck

your vehicle.

And for those reasons, I feel like this

job is just not really worth it anymore.

The pay is not good enough, the insurance

is too expensive, the places you get sent

to are 7 times out of 10 horrible places,

sketchy areas, poverty council estates

that just smell like cannabis a lot of the

time.

It's just horrible to be there.

I don't know how people live there without

going insane.

So I'm thinking now that winter's coming

and the roads are going to get icy and it

might even and snow, I'm definitely not

going to go out driving when it's icy and

slippery and snowy and risk getting into a

car crash.

So I think I'm going to start winding down

doing this Amazon Flex work and try

thinking about what I can do next and look

for something else to do with my life.

I really don't see myself doing this long

term.

It's just not worth it.