“I actually had to pay Amazon to deliver their grocery packages for a block I signed up for in April.”
Karl S., Amazon Flex worker, Seattle
I work on Amazon Flex, and I need Seattle City Council to step up and pass the PayUp policy.
I started on Flex in 2017 because I wanted to support my 10-year-old daughter with her education, and I also needed to support my wife who is caring for her elderly mother in our home. The scheduling flexibility with Flex was great and gave me the ability to accomplish both of my goals in support of my family’s needs. The pay wasn’t that great, but it was enough to get by at the time. Having control of my schedule was a higher priority for me.
Now, the dramatic increase in gas prices is making it very difficult to make profit per delivery block. It’s reached a critical stage for Flex drivers, and Amazon has not stepped up to relieve us of this burden. For example, I actually had to pay Amazon to deliver their grocery packages for a block I signed up for in April.
I was paid $19.50, and gas alone spent on this trip to North Bend was $20. I was not allowed to refuse the delivery.
That’s not even taking into account other mileage costs, like insurance and maintenance — or accidents that can throw a driver into financial chaos.
I got into a fender-bender through no fault of my own when an impaired driver side-swiped my vehicle. Amazon claimed they covered all costs for accidents we may get into while driving for them, but I found out the hard way that they only paid for anything my insurance didn’t cover — they didn’t actually cover my vehicle while I was driving for them. I had to pay $1000 for my deductible and over $500 for a tow. Amazon paid $0 for accident costs. The delivery block that day paid me $88.
Sometimes I have to return undeliverable packages to the pickup station after the delivery block ends. I don’t get paid for that time or mileage at all. Sometimes it’s more than an hour away. Amazon just cuts us off and expects us to return packages at our expense. In a company truck, the employer would have to pay for that hour. So why is it any different for Flex drivers?
The flexibility of gig work is important to me. But eventually, we will have to either seek employment elsewhere for better pay and benefits, or I’ll have to work until I die. I’ve had less than $100 in my bank account in the last year. My wife and I have both put off our dental care needs because we couldn’t afford it, and we had other basic needs we had to fulfill, like putting food on our table and a roof over our heads.
We need PayUp now because we are barely surviving on these wages. No medical or dental benefits, no 401K retirement plan we can contribute to, no paid time off, no family leave, no real insurance coverage for anything that might go wrong with our vehicles while driving for Amazon’s benefit, no gas allowance, no allowance for cleanliness or maintenance expenses that Amazon would have to pay for if they had to maintain their own fleet of vehicles. No wonder they want Flex drivers on their payroll.
Look at all the money they’re saving by passing all this risk on to drivers.
Please make them pay up.