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How Amazon Flex Drivers Delivers Amazon Fresh

Simon Kwok
amazon flex

How Amazon Flex Drivers Delivers Amazon Fresh

Amazon Flex drivers who delivers Amazon Prime has the below three options available when they sign up for an Amazon Flex block:

It will say on the offers screen which block it is. In addition, Amazon recently started to display the exact starting locations for restaurant. Amazon Flex drivers can get tips for Prime Now and Restaurants, but not on Amazon Fresh. This is the reason why Amazon Fresh blocks sometimes pay a little more than the Prime Now or Restaurant blocks, especially for those very early 5am blocks. In my experience, the early morning blocks (6-8am, 8-10am) seem to pay up to $44, while blocks in the middle of the day pay the normal $36 for a 2 hour block ($18 hourly).

Amazon Fresh

Amazon Fresh is a grocery delivery service for Amazon. It is similar to Prime now, but they have many more fresh produce options that goes well beyond what is offered in Prime Now. The service has been running for over a year but they have been delivered by local third party companies that uses big giant green trucks that you often see. They typically deliver groceries in the reusable green Amazon Fresh insulated bags.

When Amazon transitioned Amazon Fresh to be delivered by Amazon Flex drivers, they ditched the reusable insulated bags and went with paper bags that have the insulating material inside. This is what an Amazon Fresh route looks like:

Amazon Fresh Delivery or Pickup?

About a few months ago, Amazon Flex had tested out using Flex drivers to do the Amazon Fresh deliveries. At the time, they were still using the reusable green Amazon Fresh bags. However, it was just a limited trial. In parallel, they were building an Amazon Fresh Pickup area next to the Seattle warehouse. The Amazon Fresh Pickup service is different from the delivery service. The Amazon Fresh pickup is for customers to order the groceries online and pick it up at the warehouse. The Amazon Fresh delivery services uses Amazon Flex drivers to deliver groceries to customers, like Prime Now.

Change Warehouses?

About six months ago, Amazon Flex decided to let all drivers get any block in the region, so at this time there isn’t necessary a need to switch warehouses. It may increases the odds that you get a block in your preferred warehouse/area as a reserved block, but I’ve gotten plenty of blocks in the adjacent region. It typically takes a while to change warehouses, so don’t think it’ll get done in a few days. It often takes a week or three to change warehouses.

Amazon Flex Support

There are two layers of Amazon Flex Support as an Amazon Flex driver:

You can only access Amazon flex support via telephone directly through the application. It requests Amazon flex support to call you. If you have any issues with current deliveries, contact them via the menu on the top right and click on contact support.

If you need help and you are not currently on shift, you can see the below post about how to contact Amazon Flex Driver Support:

Types of Amazon Fresh Deliveries

At this time, all Amazon Fresh deliveries are on 2 hour routes. You show up at the starting time of your block and then get a route to deliver your packages. The number of packages seem to be of a reasonable number so far and routes are comparable to normal Amazon Flex routes. It is still in beta, so some routes are very short (I heard someone finishing within 30 mins) and others being longer at close to 2 hours. It just depends on how many orders Amazon send to these warehouses. If you are late getting back to the warehouse for your next consecutive two hour block, you may not have the opportunity to pick up a route and you may get sent home early. This is great since there are no tips for Amazon Fresh so either way, you made the same amount of money.

Amazon Fresh customers can designate to either be there for the delivery (attended delivery) or have the driver leave it at the front door (unattended delivery). Amazon do not allow unattended deliveries for Amazon Restaurants and Amazon Prime Now deliveries from supermarkets, but it is possible with Amazon Fresh. It is the same stipulations as other unattended deliveries in that there needs to be a safe place to put the package.

Starting a Shift

So for most people, they will start their shift at the Amazon Flex warehouse you picked. You go to the Amazon Flex warehouse and when you get close enough, there will be an orange button that you can click to check in. It is critical that you check in on time or you will lose your entire block! On my first Amazon Flex block, my app didn’t have that option to check in so I lost the block by the time I figured out what to do. There is an option on the top right that allows you to check in if the application doesn’t let you check in. I’ve used this option a few times when I am at the location. It saves me a few seconds to a few minutes to proceed to delivering or checking in to the location.

Also, if you are working more than a 2 hour block as an Amazon Flex driver, you will be going back and forth to the Amazon warehouse quite often. Most times, you go out to deliver and then come right back to the Amazon Flex warehouse, which involves driving back and checking back into the warehouse. You’ll do this a few times during a shift so you’ll get quite used to checking into places. Unfortunately, it is also an important part of the Amazon Flex process and if you mess up, you’ll lose your Amazon flex block.

Amazon Fresh Warehouse

At the Amazon Fresh Warehouse, you’ll see a bunch of things. Typically, you check in on the Amazon Flex app, go inside, then check in again on the tablet that is near the racks.

As I stated above, all the Amazon Fresh deliveries at this time are on two hour routes.

2 Hour Deliveries

This is the most common route or type of work as an Amazon Flex driver if you are at a warehouse and this still holds true for the Amazon Fresh deliveries. At the start of your Amazon Flex block, they will start bringing out items for 2 hour deliveries and then assigning Amazon Flex driver to a route. You may get a good route or bad route. It just depends on luck. These are manually assigned, typically in the order you checked in. Here is the typical workflow of the routes:

  1. Once an Amazon Flex driver arrives, say “you’ve arrived” on the Amazon Flex app
  2. Check your Amazon Flex app and make sure you do not have stops on your current itinerary except for the Amazon Prime Warehouse
  3. Go into the Amazon Prime warehouse and check in on the tablet
  4. They normally do a roll call of Amazon Flex drivers who are checked in before handing out routes. If you hear your name, just yell out that you’re here
  5. They will start handing out Amazon Flex routes after they confirmed who is checked into the warehouse and present
  6. You get your route and load the packages into your car
  7. Return the cart
  8. Start delivering

You will typically get a cart or rack with items on it. The items are grouped into routes on the computer and once you scan one bag, your application will automatically pull the route for you to go, along with a list of the other bags or boxes for you to scan. If you are unsure about what to do, just wait for instructions or watch what everyone else is doing. Once you are done with your route, follow your Amazon Flex app. For Amazon Fresh, it typically sends me back to the warehouse.

Critical Items I Recommend:

Below are three items I recommend for any driver. The multi-position hand truck is a must. It folds up and fits in any car. I typically carry it on the floor in the backseat so I can fill my trunk and rear seats with bags and still have free access to the hand truck.

Amazon Flex Blocks (Shifts)

Amazon Flex blocks are typically made up of 2 hour shifts, from 8am to midnight. This holds true for Amazon Prime Now Blocks and Amazon Restaurant Blocks. However, the hours for Amazon Fresh are typically earlier. In Seattle, it is 5am to 10pm, so a few hour shift earlier than the other two services. For now, they are 2 hour blocks. You are able to connect Amazon Fresh blocks back to back, but if you change to Prime Now Warehouse or Amazon Restaurant blocks, you will need a 2 hour gap so keep that in mind if you want to work the entire day and was looking to mix/match different types of blocks.

You typically arrive at the start of a 2 hour block, get a 2 hour delivery route, and then come back. It could take you 30 minutes or it can take you 90. I typically spend anywhere between 20-40 minutes at the warehouse per 2 hour block. Even if they have you back at the Amazon Flex warehouse a few minutes after the next 2 hour Amazon Flex block, they may still have a 2 hour route for you to take. It may take 15 minutes for all the 2 hour routes to get assigned and sometimes I have seen 2 hour routes sit for 30 minutes until more Amazon Flex driver can come back to pick them up. The 2 hour amazon flex block schedule starts falling apart later in the day once it gets really busy.

Once Amazon Fresh gets busier, it should resemble similar logistics as Amazon Prime Now in that there will be a mix of 1 hour routes and 2 hour routes. For now, it is just 2 hour routes.

Since Amazon Fresh blocks don’t get tips, they typically pay less overall and there are fewer Amazon Flex drivers that are willing to accept these blocks. However, since there are so many Amazon Flex blocks, Amazon Fresh blocks don’t stay up for that long, but if you are desperate to work, you may want to accept these blocks. You are making a few dollars less per hour, which isn’t too bad since it can be less work than the other services.

Late Deliveries?

The only thing Amazon Flex really tracks are late deliveries. It normally doesn’t matter if Amazon flex driver are late for check-in or arrival (except for when you first check-in for your block. That is ultra important to get there on time!), but as long as you deliver on time, it is fine. Typically, if you are late showing up for the warehouse, you may have a late delivery so try to get back to the Amazon Prime warehouse as soon as you can. Amazon Flex typically gives Amazon Flex driver enough time to get back to the Amazon Flex warehouse, but sometimes delivery times are almost impossible or late due to warehouse issues.

If you think you will be late for a delivery, call Amazon Flex Support and tell them the reason why. Here is a few I’ve heard of or experienced:

They have to file a support ticket for every call they get and this get reviewed by Amazon Flex. I have a few late deliveries and haven’t yet get the dreaded email from Amazon Flex support about being on time for my deliveries so make sure to call every time this happens. There have been other Amazon flex driver who didn’t do this and got multiple emails about late deliveries. It can be difficult to explain the situation afterwards, but seems to be easy to do it before an issue arises. I have also know a few Amazon Flex driver deactivated for late deliveries. Amazon has so many Amazon Flex drivers that they can afford to lose a few.

Missed Delivery

If the customer isn’t there for the Amazon Fresh delivery or respond to your phone calls, you can leave Amazon Fresh deliveries as long as the app says you can and that you can find a place to put it. Amazon Fresh customers can select to have an unattended delivery, which is similar to Amazon Prime Now deliveries.

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