The Introduction.
Amazon Flex came in a form of introduction by my same great friend that recommended me Postmates. I have no idea what Amazon Flex is. I know Amazon though so I figure it is about delivering packages. From my knowledge, Amazon Flex was a pilot or Proof of Concept for delivering the last mile and it is usually the hardest and most complex part of the whole logistics. Image a product coming from a fulfillment warehouse and delivering it to distribution hub or to an Amazon Flex hub, it’s simple and direct right but who is going to deliver the package from Flex hub to your house, townhouse, condo or some out in a boonies in the middle of nowhere desert. That my friend is where you Flexers comes in to pick up the slacks. From the get go, Amazon have advertised that they are paying $18 an hour so here we go.
The First Day.
After an online orientation thru the app and some background check, I was green flagged to proceed to the next stage. The next stage is to become their workhorse in a form of “Independent Contractor”. You will swipe refresh on the app to get a “block”. In other words, it’s a block of schedule that you will be choosing and accepting. Once you have decided then you will confirm and be ready to work for that block. You are instructed to not be late and arrive 15-20 minutes before the block start time. Everything sounds rudimentary right? It is in fact but with some juicy human interjection of drama. You arrive and first thing I see is a line of cars and you basically line up, all their blocks are in 30 minute increment like 8am then 8:30am etc. So one guy will ask you what time and the person will tell you to line up on the left side or the right side. You get up to the front of the line, another person will halt you there while the cars slowly goes thru the garage doors. Once you are inside, you will be prompted with another person and they will tell you which lane to go. The Flex warehouse is divided into lane A, B, C, D and E or in numbers. Once you drive up to the lane and whichever position you stop behind another car, then you come out of the car and there will be a rack filled with packages next to the car. You will then start loading into your car. My first time was a mess and confusion. I didn’t know you have to organize it in a certain way like first drop off till the last drop off. So you can see where this is going, it sucked. Everything in and off you go but before leaving, you have to bring your piece of paper with your route number to the exit person and they will write your name down. Yes, you read correctly, they use a clipboard, paper and a pen to record. This time is really go time and you are guided to your first drop off location which is numbered on the app. For this first day, first time of doing Amazon Flex, I past 2 hours of my original block which is 3 hours and it was 107 plus degrees in August in Las Vegas. I unfortunately took a rack filled with apartment complex and gated communities. Getting a rack filled with those are basically death sentence in the world of Flex. Horrible day and it was my birthday. Tragic.
