There will come a day when the traffic just doesn’t cooperate. The route is longer than normal and you are stuck with a few deliveries to go as the clock ticks closer to the end of your delivery block…I know, it sucks, but accidents happen.
If you know you most likely are going to be late with a delivery or deliveries, you should definitely call support to let them know ahead of time and give them the reason. So long as it’s not because you stopped off at home to have a snack and watch some Tele, you should be fine. Support will log the call into the system, that way if a customer calls wondering where their package is, everyone will be on the same page.
The Amazon delivery app will also inform you that the delivery(ies) that is next on your route is late and let you know to call the customer to confirm that they still want the goods. (They most always will.) Be apologetic on the call.
Continue the route as usual and deliver whatever is late to the best of your abilities and either return unwanted packages to the warehouse or head home. Head hung low, of course!
So, what’s next?
The next morning you will receive an email from Amazon Flex reminding you that you were late on deliveries and you have ruined your chances of ever working for them again…Just kidding. But not really.
The email from them will scold you a little about how you were late and how you should always be on time and how the customer expects their packages within a certain window and you failed…blah, blah, blah. You may even get scheduled blocks removed from your calendar. Yes, this happens! It’s kind of a lame move by the company, but it’s their company, they can do what they want. We are just independent contractors. Don’t sweat it if this happens because as we all know, we will just pick up more shifts with the Method.
If the reason you were late was truly out of your control, like an accident or a bridge was blocked or a tunnel was closed, then you need to get on top of the issue and report it to them again by immediately responding to their email.
Let them know that you called support when you realized the deliveries were going to be late and also let them know the name of the support team member you spoke with. Explain, in detail, how the lateness was out of your control and that you will do your best to never let it happen again. Tell them you understand what it means to provide excellent service to Amazon’s customers and that you look forward to making future deliveries. The main point is to stay in front of the issue and face the music. Don’t just try to hide and be a face in the crowd. Own it and move on!
If everything checks out on their end, in a few days you should get another email letting you know that they appreciate your response and that this incident will not go against your delivery rating. You will still be given the same chance of getting scheduled shifts and you can go back to delivering on time.
That is of course until the next time traffic isn’t cooperating…But now you’ll at least know exactly what to do!