Everything You Need to Know About Amazon Flex Reserved Blocks
As every Amazon Flex driver knows, it can be very difficult to get a block to work for Amazon Flex. There is often so many drivers looking for offers that they typically last only a split second. Sometimes if you see the block and try to accept it as fast as you can, the Amazon Flex app will say that the block is not available for pickup anymore. It can be available for only a fraction of a second before someone else accepts the block.
Reserved Blocks can go a long way to give some hours for some Amazon Flex drivers. This is often the way I start my week on Amazon Flex. Once I have a block, I blindly swipe and accept blocks, knowing that I am safe while I am on shift. I can hunt for blocks during the day, but getting reserved blocks is much easier and I often know a few days ahead when/where I am working.
In some markets, drivers haven’t seen a reserved block in months, while drivers consistently see reserved blocks every week. Most drivers I spoke to that gets reserved blocks only get one or two blocks a week, varying between 2-8 hours a week for Prime Now. I typically work about 10-20 hours a week and typically get 2-8 hours a week in reserved blocks. I believe you need to work the week before or meet a certain weekly average number of hours to get reserved blocks. There are so many drivers willing to accept blocks that they don’t need to send reserved blocks to all drivers. They want to send reserved blocks to drivers who will accept it and work that block. In my entire tenure with Amazon Flex, I have only forfeited one reserved block, out of the 50 or so blocks I have accepted and work. This could be the reason why I normally get a block or two every week.
What are Reserved Blocks
Amazon Flex Reserved blocks are blocks that Amazon Flex offers to drivers once a week and typically gives them a few days notice of the upcoming shift. The Amazon Flex reserved block can be almost any duration, ranging from 2 hours to 8 hours in any given day. I typically get 2 or 4 hour long reserved blocks but I have received 6 or more hours in a given block. It may just be random and the luck of the draw.
Where Are Reserved Blocks Located?
Reserved Blocks will appear in the “Offers” section of the Amazon Flex App just like a normal offer, but there will be additional text in the offer box that says this is a “reserved offer” and you can see the time it expires on the top right of the application.
It looks as if you have about 90 minutes from when you get the notification to accept the blocks. You used to be able to accept them in 24 hours, but they have recently adjusted that down to just about 90 minutes from the notification, or an hour after you log into the application and see the offer.
How Do You Get Amazon Flex Reserved Blocks?
First, you need to fill in your availability. You will need to go to your calendar and set up your availability. You can get to the calendar page from the top menu or click on “Update my Availability” from the homepage. Make sure that you update this whenever your schedule changes. It is the worst feeling when you get an offer that you can’t perform because that may be the only offer you get that week.
Once you get to your availability, you can set the hours you are available and how many hours you want to work in a week. Typically, I set my availability for 8am-4pm since I can typically get dinner restaurant blocks. I don’t set my availability on the weekend since blocks on Saturday/Sunday are much easier to get and I don’t typically work weekends. However, since hours are so easy to pick up, I often go out and work a few hours. In addition, sometimes Amazon Flex raise the hourly rate on dinner blocks and some weekend blocks and when you get a Reserved Block, you won’t get the higher rate.
When Do Amazon Flex Reserved Blocks Appear?
Amazon Flex Reserved Blocks typically appear once a week on Friday afternoon. The time it appears have varied from Friday at Noon to Friday at 9pm. Many drivers are not sure why they vary in appearance, but expect it by Friday afternoon local time.
Many drivers, including myself, have noted that there can be a second wave of reserved offers on Saturday, ranging from Saturday morning to Saturday afternoon.
Amazon Flex Reserved Block can also appear no less than 48 hours before the start of the shift and these blocks are offered based on your availability so it is very important you updated your availability if it changes in any given week. I was once offered a 6 hour Restaurant-Only block on Monday, which was way outside the normal Friday/Saturday cycle. The block was for Friday morning. Remember that they can offer it to you more than 48 hours ahead of time and like other blocks, you have the freedom to accept or ignore them.
Can You Forfeit Amazon Flex Reserved Blocks?
You can either ignore the reserved block and let it expire, or accept it and then forfeit it at a later time. Remember, you have up to 45 minutes before a shift to forfeit the block without having it count against your reliability rating.
What Happens If You Forfeit Amazon Flex Reserved Blocks?
If you forfeit that block, you won’t be able to see that exact block anymore. Say you forfeited a Tuesday 6-8pm Warehouse1 block. You will no longer be able to see any Tuesday 6-8pm Warehouse1 block but you should be able to see a 5-7pm block or 7pm-9pm Warehouse1 block, if it becomes available. I believe this also applies for restaurants, so you won’t be able to see any restaurant blocks in a given area.
This is a change from the old policy where if you forfeited a block for a certain time, you won’t be able to pick up any hours during that period. Say you forfeited 6-8pm. You wont be able to pick up any block that has hours between 6-8pm, so you won’t be able to accept a 5-7pm or 7pm-9pm, or any other block with hours that take place between 6-8pm. However, they changed the rule so that you won’t see the specific block you forfeited, which allows drivers much more flexibility.
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