The tips in this post are based on the techniques described here. The only difference is the way you refresh the screen. This method simply uses the pinning feature on your phone so that the Home screen of the Amazon App is easily refreshed.
This technique for some reason works better when you are using cellular internet, so turn off your WIFI before you pin your screen. To begin, you must first turn on the screen pinning feature. Go to Settings. Under the personal heading, click Security. Scroll down to the bottom under advanced and you should see Screen Pinning. Turn it on.
Now go back to the Amazon Deliver App and open your home page. From the home screen you will hold the square menu button. Next, swipe your finger up to reveal the thumb tack. After you click the thumb tack your phone will tell you how to unpin the screen. Click Got it, and then you will be back on the home screen ready to go. For the visual people the screens look like this:
So why did we just go through all this? Well…If you are lazy like me and don’t always like having to hold your phone in one hand and use your other to complete the process of refreshing your screen, you can pin the home screen and refresh it by simply pressing and releasing the power button on your phone! I have found that this method can sometimes give you a better chance at seeing a shift when it comes available because you are not leaving the home screen at all. I say sometimes because I have yet to try it out against someone using the menu/calendar/menu/home method. What I do know is that I get shifts using both methods and it’s all a matter of what works for you and how you’re feeling at the time of clicking.
A couple notes on this method. The screen does not refresh with every push of the power button. I would say 8 times out of 10 it will. There is a timing that you will come to learn. The refresh however will be confirmed by the blue circle that spirals in the middle of the screen for a flash. It will look something like this:
Although I mentioned that this method seems to work better on cellular internet, by all means try it both ways. Your systems may be different, so mess around with it.
The rest of the method to get a shift is exactly the same once you see the Ready To Deliver Today button. You are able to click through the whole process and Accept Deliveries even though the screen is pinned.
Thanks man. I’m going to try the pinning method tomorrow and see if it works. I can’t figure out the trick to pick those midnight shifts up. They literally last a tenth of a second before they disappear. I’m in the Indianapolis location.
I hope it works for you. It’s been my goto approach for a while. I have not been able to pick up the midnight shifts either, but have I only tried a couple times. They go very fast as you mentioned. Maybe try the pin method on a shift you know you can’t take, just for the practice. But of course don’t click through to the Accept Screen! Thanks for commenting and good luck!
For some reason, those icons are not at the bottom of my app. Is this normal?
Are you referring to the thumbtack icon or the menu icons? Make sure you turn on the “Pinning” feature in your settings first. It is my understanding that most phones running the Android OS have this option. Let me know the icons you are referring to and maybe I can help a bit more.
The menu icons: the triangle, circle, and square.
And great advice by the way! I officially got on today, and can’t wait to start earning some extra coins.
Great to hear! So I was able to double check my phone and while the Home screen on the Delivery app is pinned I still show the menu icons. This may very from phone to phone. I have a Motorola. In my opinion, so long as you have turned on the pinning feature and you have pinned the Home screen, you should be fine without the icons showing up below. Just make sure that you are seeing the refresh “loop” in the center of your screen after you click the power button on the side of your phone. The refresh of the home screen is the key, so make sure that’s happening. Glad to hear you are up and running! Don’t forget, the job is getting the shifts, delivering is the easy part!
Why is it necessary to pin the home screen? Maybe this varies by phone, but on my Nexus 6P, pressing the power button to shut off the screen and then holding the fingerprint scanner to turn it back on seems to refresh the app just fine without pinning.
Thanks for your advice btw. I’ve been with Flex for two weeks and have not been assigned a delivery block yet (Willowbrook in Houston), so I am hoping this will help.
For my phone type, as well as many of the people I regularly work with, I have to pin the screen to have it refresh with the power button. So if your screen refreshes with the method you mentioned that’s great. It very well could be a phone by phone basis. I hope some of these tips work for you and you can start adding some blocks!
For a samsung galaxy s6, what i do is open the delivery app then hit my recent apps button and clear all recent apps except delivery then i tap the recent apps button 2 times and it refreshes the flex screen. Hownoften do you refresh the screen ever 1s, 5s, minute?
I do it as fast and as safely as possible. (And just try to make sure that if the “Schedule Open Blocks” tab does appear, I don’t accidentally refresh it and miss the block!) And thank you for posting your tip for others.
Thank you for sharing the method using recent apps. That works perfectly for me.
Doesn’t the Amazon Flex app send a message that blocks are now open for the picking???
Or do we need to sit with our phones in hand and constantly have to refresh the app in order of picking up open blocks???
The push notifications really only happen when a new delivery location is getting up and running. After that they are a very rare occurrence. Yes, you do have to constantly refresh the app to see the blocks that become available throughout the day and then click through the process to accept them. It’s the job…
Matthew Flex driver in Orlando I’ve been working with amazonflex for about 5 months now and I’m starting to notice the other day some drivers are working every day of the week and I started wondering how is this possible at 10 o’clock every night I try to get a a block for the next day and it always pushes me out but then I remember those other drivers and wonder how do they get blocks every day and I’ve come to the conclusion that when the block come out at 10 p.m. eastern time if you do not live close to the warehouse or fulfillment center you will be pushed out of the app and the other drivers will get it before you?? I might be wrong but this is the only thing that makes sense to me!!
Hello Matthew! I’ve never had luck with the night before blocks either. Some people swear by them. Are you looking for blocks throughout the day as well? That’s the only way I’ve ever been able to pick up shifts. I’m not sure that proximity plays a role in getting a shift, but who knows. Internet and phone speed could matter. I have gotten shifts while sitting at the warehouse using my cellular connection while others were using the wifi at the warehouse. Maybe their bandwidth is low? Either way, just try and figure out what is working best for you and your area. Good luck.
I’m pretty sure those people are using hacks for the app. They don’t even need to be on the phone and it automatically refreshes and accepts blocks for them all day long. I noticed I can never get a block in the morning and never one more than two hours away, and I noticed.. the same people at the station always being there and somehow always working 8 hour shifts! then around 2 or 3pm I start getting blocks but sometimes not until later and they’re mostly last minute. I guess once everyone who has a hack gets a full schedule then I can start getting blocks which is ridiculous. I’m not sure if there’s even a consequence for using hacks but they disabled screenshots but not the hacks. I don’t want to use a hack in case it gives amazon a reason not give me what I’ve made. But I’ve not heard or seen any consequence.
I’m not sure how Amazon would be able to tell if someone was using a hack without access to their phone. I also have not heard of anyone being deactivated for running a background refreshing program. But then again, I’ve never seen or heard of any regulars in my city using them.
hi sir, first time asking anything but long time flex driver. I use my tablet for amazon since I don’t own an android phone. it seems that when the blocks are dropped, as soon as I click on it, it just disappears. I was reading your pinning info, is this something I need to do to? should I be looking for open blocks with my wi fi and Bluetooth turned off? or can you tell me in general why I get “kicked” out. thanks.
The pinning method is really just to make it easier to refresh the screen without having to go back and forth between menus. There are some new phones that refresh by simply pressing the Windows key. My phone does not have that option so I have to pin. I’m not sure if the option is on your tablet, but it would work well if there is no other way to refresh using one button. I do think that internet speed matters when picking up blocks. It all depends on the bandwidth of the wifi you are using. In some cases I have had better luck when using the cellular connection on my phone. I have picked up a block at the warehouse using my cellular connection beating out others that were using the wifi. Whether it had to do with my connection or just plain luck, I don’t know. I normally only use my wifi at my house when trying for a block because I know my bandwidth and internet speed. Outside of that I go all cellular. The reason you get “kicked” out is because someone went through the process of confirming the block faster than you did. Again, a lot of it is internet and phone speed, but there is definitely luck involved. Remember though, even if you get “kicked” out and miss a block, keep searching. Many times there will be another one coming. I hope this helps. Let me know if you have further questions.
hi sir, thanks for the info, good to find someone knowledgeable out there. I was wondering if its my device or everyone else too who see that when the “schedule open blocks” appears in my app there is no sound or ping with it to alert you. they also send an email with an alert sound too when dropping blocks, but if theres no alert you can easily not notice the schedule open blocks tab in the app. is there maybe somewhere in my device where I can install an alert? thanks.
I’ve not found a way to get the sound when refreshing for open blocks. I guess that’s why it’s so easy to miss it when if finally shows up…It would be nice, but for now it’s just the push notifications that give the sound alert.
Did they change the time that blocks drop? They have been dropping the same time every night at 10pm for .com orders. They even told me 3 days ago they where doubling the capacitythe next day. Well ever sence I was told that there have been not shifts that drop at 10. Does anyone know? This is for the Fort Worth Facility.
I work out of the Kent, Washington facility. I have been driving for about six months. I have a few questions and I am wondering if anyone else has experienced the same or has any advice. First, does anyone actually get any legitimate help from customer service? When I email customer service for anything I typically recieve a generic response that never answers my question. I only deliver retail items for Amazon, they do not have food or other items based out of the Kent, Wa location. We just pick up a block, arrive at the warehouse, backup to a bay to scan and load the assigned packages.
Can anyone help with this?
On several occasions I have been given way more packages then I am able to deliver in a four block. How does this happen? A couple different ways. In this week alone, a warehouse attendant came over and dumped two extra bags on top of the four bags I had been assigned. He said another driver could not take them and asked me to take them. He instructed me to return whatever I could not deliver. Today, I was assigned 60 packages which is on the high wnd for a typical delivery but the packages were spread out over four different geographical locations. There was no possible way to deliver all of the packages in the four hour block that ended at 12:30. I delivered as many as I could up to 12:30. I marked the remaining as undeliver. I received an email today shortly after my block ended stating that I am required to deliver all packages that are assigned to me unless they are marked as undeliverable. I am not even sure what that means. Has anyone else received this email? The is the first time that I have. The strange thing is that I have always been instructed by the warehouse attendants to return packages if I am not able to deliver them within the 4 hr block. I was at the warehouse on November 3, returning packages and another driver was asking the warehouse lead to compensate him for the additional 2.5 hours he worked beyond his 4 hour block. He had a similiar situation as mine. The driver said he called CS and they instructed him to speak to the base lead to make an adjustment for the additional hours. The base warehouse lead said he has no authority or ability to adjust anyones hours. For the most part I am usually able to deliver all of my assigned packages during a four hour block but for the past three weeks or so there have been a lot of changes at the Kent facility. They did not open up 10:00 pm blocks for several days. When they did open blocks again I asked the reason for this at and they said they were making changes to the process to improve effiency. Also, for the past couple of weeks it seems like my packages are not sorted or assigned to areas very well. It has always been my understanding that if I can’t deliver all of my assigned packages within the four hour time frame that I should return them to the warehouse when my block ends. Any comments on this? There are no written guidelines for the independant contractors as far as I am aware of. I wish Amazon would provide some assistance to the Indepedant contractor but from what I understand they want to distance themselves as much as possible because other companies have been sued for treating contractors like employees.
Hello, Someone. You have a lot of interesting and valid points here. I can only agree with what you have said in that some routes are just too much for the allotted time. There are so many factors that the computer models can’t foresee. Weather, traffic accidents, a warehouse worker handing you extra deliveries that aren’t even in the vicinity of your route…I’ve had the same thing happen to me more than once. Although it causes some stressful routes, I still fight with hundreds of other drivers to pick up that next block… As far as the email you received goes, I think all it means is that the packages you return to the warehouse should be marked as “undeliverable” due to a reason on the recipient’s end, not your own. One of those reasons being that your block ended. Definitely keep your reasons documented though as they will help going forward if you need to appeal certain decisions.
Hello, I was recently approved to drive for Amazon Flex Sacramento watched the videos setup my schedule, but I dont see my schedule actually taking any affect in the calendar until a week from now… is this normal?
The schedule that comes out on Fridays is for Sunday to Saturday. So the schedule you are seeing would go through December 3rd.
So when they release blocks on Friday, I usually only see 1 block which I pick up. It’s always a Sunday or Monday. Never anything past that. Do they show mutiple blocks at once if they are available or do I need to keep refreshing my screen to pick up as many blocks as possible? It would be nice to get more then one block every week…Thanks!
Rob
Indianapolis
Hi Rob. They will show multiple blocks if they are available and being offered to you. Pay attention to the time line in which you have to respond. Some may be for the entire week but others may actually be same-day or next-day blocks for which you have to respond sooner.
Pressing my power button does not refresh the pinned page, it merely turns my screen on and off.
My screen turns off and on as well, but when it turns back on it refreshes. Double check for the circle icon. If this doesn’t work then you can try removing your lock screen as a few have suggested. Hope this helps.