With the recent update to the Amazon Flex Delivery App, I spent most of the day making sure I understood exactly how it was going to impact the method of picking up blocks. I saw a few more blocks than usual come available today, so things are certainly off to a good start. Maybe the update caught a few drivers off guard and they are taking longer to adjust? Either way, the method hasn’t changed very much. It is still all about the refresh.
I tried three methods today that I will share. Two worked very well. One…not so much. Remember, there are other factors that come into play that will affect each of us differently. These factors include phone models, internet connection, timing and luck. So definitely work through these and figure out which works best for you.
The Swipe
As noted by Mike in the comments section of the previous post, the new Offers screen has a “swipe down” feature for a simple refresh. Make sure you are seeing the little refresh circle! To use this method all you have to do is keep swiping your finger until you see the available shift show up. The screens look like this:
Some people said they had luck today with this method, but for some reason it did not work for me. I’m not quite sure if my screen was refreshing, even though the spinning circle showed up. Maybe it has something to do with my phone model? I spent a lot of time swiping my screen and didn’t see one available shift appear. That’s not to say I won’t try this method again. It is definitely the simplest of the three, but for now, it’s on the back burner.
The Method, Part Two
Since The Swipe wasn’t producing for me, I went back to a manual approach. Although more time consuming and tedious, I saw a lot of available blocks by moving through the following progression, starting on the Offers screen: Menu, Home, Check For Available Blocks. Then repeat. Again. And again. In pictures it looks like this:
You would continue the progression above until you see a block appear on the offer screen. You know it’s coming if you get to the third screen and the words below the Flex symbol are missing.
Pinning, Part Two
The third method I used today was “pinning.” This gave me my greatest success. If you aren’t familiar with the term you can read about it here. For this method you keep refreshing the pinned home screen using whatever button your phone requires. The screen you pin and continue to refresh is the home screen. It will look like the first screen below. Once you see the second screen it means there are offers available and you would immediately push the Check For Available Blocks.
Whatever method you use, don’t forget that you still need to finish out the progression. And just like before, you need to do this quickly! If the time and date works for you, you still need to complete the process by pressing the offer and then pressing Accept. The screens look like this:
There are a few other findings from today I would like to mention:
- I did not see any next day blocks come across. That’s not to say they weren’t there, I just didn’t see them.
- I saw a lot of blocks during the same time frames in which I normally focus. I wrote about these windows a few months ago here.
- I saw some 3 hour blocks that I had not come across very often with the previous app. Maybe there were system limitations before? Definitely pay attention to the block date, start/stop times and duration.
For now that’s all I’ve come up with. I hope the above is at least a starting point to see which method works best for you with the new update. As always, please share any of your findings here as well. I would definitely like to thank all the people that gave such great advice in the comments of the last post. Hopefully as we can all continue to help each other out.
*We’ll see what happens tomorrow with the shifts going out for next week. It will be interesting to see how the update affects scheduled blocks. I will do my best to post what I find.
Are you pinning the Home or the Offers page?
Hello Scott! I’m pinning the Home page. For some reason this worked the best for me today.
I’ll give that a go for a bit but it seems like an extra step if the offers page can be refreshed the same way. competition is fierce and speed is the name of the game.
I agree, speed is key. I was excited when I first saw that the Offers page could be refreshed with a swipe, but for some reason it wasn’t working for me. It may just be my phone model. It didn’t seem like the page was actually refreshing. Pinning that screen didn’t work for me either so I tried it on the home screen and was successful.
Los Angeles flexer here….i feel like refresh is fake. I just completed test run and am now waiting for next block which i picked up 10 min ago. Maybe old habits die young, but i did manual method and picked up a shift. Around me were people swiping and not tapping…..maybe they were reviewing the election news…..but right after i got the shift, i heard explicatives and they got up and left….an hour before shift end. Which…..why does amazon allow that? The whole amazon dmv sit around….how do i become a dispatcher? Ill make people work who want to!
Hello LAFlexer! I agree, something is up with the swipe refresh. It doesn’t be “refreshing” on my phone.
I’m an AmazonFlex driver. Woke up to download on my phone and drivers app no longer there. Anyone know the app info
https://flex.amazon.com/get-started
Just answer the questions till the download link is available. As for the update, you have to turn phone off and back on again so the app “realizes” it needs to update. (Took me 4 times).
Thanks for posting the link and helping Maria out.
I have a question, I have been doing this for about 4 weeks in Los Angeles. After the update I cannot seem to pick up any blocks and honestly after reading I am still confused. So my current time is 10:38pm I checked the app no blocks available for tomorrow. Okay so normally the warehouse I go to has 2 main times 10-11am and 3-5pm. When should I check the app again tomorrow? In the morning or should I just get a push notification?
If you wait for push notification, you’re already late. 1038 is late. Go backwards from the last shift which ends at 1200….1000 would be the last block. You have to be trying to get that block before then. The dispatcher is ready to home. They will not open anything up for the next day. They may not even be working during the daytime….they might do night shift again. By then, the dropped blocks would be picked up by the day timers trying to stretch.
Totally agree with LAFlexer. If you area is like it is here in Houston, 10pm shifts go in seconds!!!! I normally pin my screen at 950pm and get my other phone and open the time and date clock on that one. I start refreshing continuously around 9:59 and 30 seconds, then at 10, its game time.
I know here if there are additional shifts released, it is normally around 3:30am.
Not sure if my method will work with the new update but I will try tonight.
Is it something going on in Houston? I can’t get any blocks or even see any available ever since the las update…… any advice for the Houston area??,
Thanks for the updates and tips. The swipe did not work for me but I the pinning helps alot!! I refresh between the offers screen and home. You have to be mindful of the home screen since the only changes are the words disappearing. I had gotten use to waiting for that schedule open blocks to appear, that I do not want to miss out on any shifts.
Phx flex driver- on the offers screen It does not say swipe, but I noticed if I tap the screen on the top half I do not get the loading circle, but if I tap the lower half of the screen I do get the loading circle. I tried the method last night and it did load blocks.
Thank you for commenting, that’s good to know. I’m still not having luck on my end, so it could be phone model related.
Does anyone know what time the reserve shifts get posted on Fridays?
It’s noon Friday on the west coast, and I don’t see any “reserved” blocks showing up yet. 🙁
It’s 5:15 in Baltimore and I haven’t seen anything yet.
Hey Kelly do blocks still come out at 10pm
I haven’t seen anything at 10 lately. I forgot to look tonight, but I’ve tried every other night since the update and haven’t seen one shift.
It’s 1:30 in Phoenix and I do not see any “reserved” blocks showing up.
its 3:30 Phoenix and i have no offers for next week, has anyone gotten any?
I haven’t seen anything either for Phoenix.
Were you able to get blocks last night at 10pm? i wasnt the last time i got a block was Sunday to work Monday
It’s 7PM now and I still haven’t seen any reserved blocks. I wonder what’s going on. I’m also receiving random tips (not complaining at all). I haven’t been able to get a shift in two weeks and finally grabbed a 6 hour yesterday. Would yesterday’s tips already be processed?
Hello, Kelly Lynn. Yesterday’s tips will show up in your earnings tomorrow afternoon at some point. Nice to hear about the six hours yesterday!
Did anyone get a scheduled block offer. I didn’t and the gray dot also disappeared from this Sunday!
No one has mentioned getting offers for next week’s schedule, yet. I think the gray dot from this Sunday would normally disappear like in the past, though. It seems that the schedule is still the same Sunday to Saturday.
I didnt get any reserved spots for next week. I rarely get assigned shifts. However, i did pick up a 730am for tomorrow. I just happen to log in and it was there. I got it around 620pm this evening. Goong to wait til 10pm my time to see if anything is available for 1130am on tomorrow.
I always get an assigned shift! Not sure if I’m liking this new app.
I got a Reserved block but I’m not digging the update so far. Two days of trying and nothing. Prior to the update I would at least see a couple of block drops even if I got beat to the punch in landing one. I haven’t even seen a block drop to try for, even with pinning. Swiping does not seem to be working. I realize there’s lots of competition but getting a 2 or 4 hr block per week with my availability set for 48 hours per week is very frustrating.
Hey guys what’s up? Man this new update really messed up our routine. I’m in Dallas I haven’t got any updates yet. Confused
Any word on if it’s gonna start getting busy around black Friday/thankgiving/Xmas? Will we be able to get 40 hrs a week ? Or is that wishful thinking? Any inside info would be much appreciated
My husband and I do this for our primary source of income. We are in Dallas too. We used to consistently get at least 36 hrs each, 48 on a good week. The past 3 weeks has been terrible and we are really frustrated. This has blown our minds. We thought we’d have NO problem picking up shifts this time of the year. This is Q4, so I KNOW people are buying! We are having to rely on other services like Door Dash, Postmates, and Favor to make up for the lost income. I’d recommend signing up for those just have in your back pocket in case you can’t get amazon blocks. We much prefer amazon and generally make less doing those other services, but after being independent for so long we refuse to get “real” jobs, so we make it work! Let me know if you’d like referral codes for those. Best of luck.
Hi Lj. Which branch u work? Im at the farmers branch one. Damm 36 hrs a week your blessed. I’ve only gotten the most is 15 hrs. I. Thinking about changing my location to maybe Plano to increase my chance s of pick in up more work but I dunno if that will work. I stay in Richardson so it’s a lil closer. Its very frusturating adjusting to the new changes.
I’ve been doing this about 6 months now, most of that time at Farmers Branch (ever remember seeing a busted up silver Suzuki driven by a pregnant girl in flip flops? Yeah that was me, lol). I was fierce about snagging blocks, so I usually had no trouble getting plenty of hours in. Again, we do this full time, so we do have the ability to sit around refreshing the app all day, though it’s extremely annoying. My husband has always been at dfw8 and when my app glitched about a month ago and suddenly gave me the option to switch, I took it. I like the process of loading at dfw8 (we pull directly up to the docks, no waiting in line for 30m to an hour just to get in and then waiting some more for slow people to finish scanning and loading). Also, the routes are generally much better. Way fewer apartments and routes are clustered tightly for the most part, no driving all over dfw or crap like that. I will say, I do miss the 12pm shifts with ONE package that I used to get at DDA1, LOL. But leaving all the other garbage behind has been worth it. Seems like as soon I switched, though, not as many blocks will pop up throughout the day and the hours offered are also different (earliest is 7am, latest regular shift I’ve seen is 3pm). Idk but I hope things pick up soon, especially for the loyal drivers who have great rating records like we do. We really enjoy this and it’s perfect for our family’s situation. Again, I wish you luck in getting more hours. And if you know Henry, please tell him Leah says hi if you see him! When I switched, it was immediate, so I never got to say good bye 🙁
I would love some referral codes for those other services. Thanks
Hi Mandy! For Postmates and Favor, use my email address upon sign up in the Referral field. (Leahhatch@yahoo.com)
The Door Dash link is here: http://drd.sh/fH15cs/
That link will auto fill with me as tye referrer. I would not expect to earn “$25/hr” as advertised, but I’ve been able to make anywhere from $12 -$16/hr on decent nights (including tips). Go for the larger orders (that goes for ALL services!). Fast food, starbucks, etc are usually more time wasted than money made IME.
I dont like the new app but i have to make it work. Not sure what type of feedback they got that would allow them to change the home screen. I liked the old home screen, they should have kept it and combine it with thw offer page.
This update has totally thrown off my ability to nab blocks! I have been trying for 3 days and nada… Does anyone actually know what times to check for blocks (Pacific time btw)?? This is frustrating.
I saw one offer in the afternoon for 9-1 shift today, but it was gone when I pressed accept. I’m in Atlanta, does anyone know when blocks are released?
No I dont when they going to be released. I am also in atlanta working in the srymna location. I dont like this new update I cannot get no blocks.
I just picked up a block 9-1 at the Smyrna location. I’ve been refreshing all morning. It seems to be very random, there were two blocks that came in at 7:17 am.
I have a question for the Smyrna GA flexers – I’m assigned to Bolton. Approx how many pkgs do u get in a 4 hour block? Thx
The most I’ve ever received was 49.
Thanks Mika, I have a small car (Civic) I don’t know I could put that many pkgs in my car. Was that a 4 hour block?
Yes it was a four block.
Hi tamika I just picked up a block in the smyrna location as well from 930-130pm I dont like how random it is I would rather have a set time when new blocks go out. I am going to ask an employee when I get there how does this new system work becuase I am confused. GRRRRRR!!!
I will ask also, please come back and share what you find out, and vice versa. It appears to me like they release blocks anymore at 10pm. Also I received an email yesterday asking me if I wanted to switch to the Bolton location, which is the Prime deliveries.
I meant say they don’t release blocks at 10 pm anymore.
Ok I sure will. I also received that emailed for prime deliveries in the bolton area but I dont think I will do that.
Hi, do you know, when can I see my new schedule for the next week and my offers, about the time exactly, Friday or Saturday and time when she available… thank you
The offers for next week’s schedule would have hit sometime last night, Friday. The grey dots on your availability calendar are gone now for the week. As far as I understand it, any offers would have shown up at the same time the dots disappeared. It will give a time period that you have to respond to the offer. The timeline was conveyed in the email as 24 hours. Once you “Accept” an offer it would appear on your calendar as an orange dot just as before. If there were no offers when the grey dots disappeared then you will have to keep refreshing the app to pickup same and next day blocks. That part hasn’t changed.
Yeah, I was hoping I’d get more than ONE offer with this new process but once again, I only got ONE. I prefer the pre-update method, as I was always able to snag next days at 10pm. Now it’s just all up in the air…
hi there. i am planing to be a full time delivery driver for amazon flex.
i drive 2005 mazda tribute which give abt 13 mpg. will it worht it end of the day ?
Pleas also guide me on how to get more hours with amazon flex ?
Please help
I have a spreadsheet here that you can play around with using your mpg to get an estimate of your earnings. Obviously until you get out there it’s hard to really know. As far as getting more blocks, I recommend viewing the posts under the “Featured Articles” button in the menu above. There are also some other posts throughout the site that have lots of other tricks and tips. Best of luck to you.
thank you sir.
“Worth it” is relative. Ur Tribute is a good resource. But are you willing to put in the leg work that YOU have to do? Im not advising against. Im not pushing “for”, im just trying to be realistic. Your questuon is whether or not its worth it. Only you can answer that. For me its worth it. And i love doing this as a side gig. Would i do it full time? No. Could I do it full time if i wanted to? Yes, but its just not the best choice for me to do that. Try it out– what can you lose? Then update us all let us know how its working out for you!
thx buddy. will do that
The swipe to refresh works great on iPhone app.. I’ve been doing around 36-38 hours a week consistently the past 2 months and this update has not changed that. I’m in Austin TX. A method I’ve been using is to refresh exactly 24 hours before the block you want, I’ve been able to pick up all the at to 8 hours like this.. of course sometimes you don’t get lucky. I did have a question about pay period? Before earnings page update I would get paid for all deliveries from Wednesday-Tuesday on Wednesday , and tips from Monday and Tuesday on the following Wednesday. However now it appears Tuesday delivers and tips are not going in till a week later, but blocks and tips from Monday are going in that same Wednesday.. sorry if this is confusing, but if anybody understands me I appreciate a response!
Nice job on the hours! My Monday and Tuesday tips normally go in the next week’s pay. The last tips I receive for a pay period are from shifts on Sunday. This will be the first Wednesday payday since the update for me so I’ll let you know if it’s different.
How do I get the app on my iphone 6s?
Try here. Click Get Started, answer the questions, and it will provide a link to download the app.
To all the Atlanta Logistic drivers assigned to the Smryna location: as I stated yesterday I finally received a 9-1 block yesterday around 7:17 am (I love this block, I’m generally done before 11:30.). I asked one of the warehouse employees, the nice short lady, and she stated it’s slow, but they expect it to pick up. I also was chatting it up with other drivers, and everybody is saying the blocks are very random now, however, a few of us noticed around noon on Friday blocks came up for the next day, but went very quickly. All through out the day yesterday I refreshed to see if I could see any blocks released in advance for today, absolutely nothing, did anyone else see any? 10 pm release really looks like a thing of the past. I logged on this morning, and was able to pick-up a 10:30 – 2:30 around 6:57 am. Also, today is the last day to decide rather I wanted to switch to Bolton rd. doing “Prime”; I decided I’m going to stick with logistics because the Prime seems like a lot hassle from what I read about it. Having to get packages and food orders to the customer at a specific time,and having to travel back to the warehouse to pick-up more blocks sounds like a hassle to me, the traffic is too bad here for all that going back in forth. Plus, I love getting 4 hours blocks, and being done in approximately 2 hours or less, and it’s very rare I have to travel back to the station once I’m done delivering. Please share your thoughts—are you seeing a pattern in the way blocks are released? Are you thinking about switching from Logistics to Prime or have you already—what’s it like?
This is kind of strange, i have not been able to get any offers and on Friday was not offered anything for the following week, i am starting to wonder if they are neglecting certain people with this new way of offering blocks, i was doing so great before i even had the ability to work 2 blocks per day, but i dont know if business dropped, I also sent them an email and they have not responded as before they use to respond all of the time, i am so disappointed i wish they would at least tell me if i am deactivated. Any one else have similar experience in Phoenix?
FDT (Flex Driver Tips), ASAP, do a post or find out AF (Amazon Flex) analytics and logistics….so i was sent out on a test run without notification, I thought it was a live run. So when i arrived, i called help….by end of call, i was considered late. But rep told me she would document it. But she also gave me the caveat to try to get more shifts as my stats foe the night would be 50 % since my itenerary had 2 stops….so thay gives us insight as to what they look at….also, she forgot that going to my home base is a “stop” so im guessing they dont care too much about that once you check in on time. And for that day, due to circumstances out of my control, i checked in at 759 when my shift started at 800, 805 with the grace period but i never want to rely on that grace….i get scheduked every other week so my “stats” arent stellar so i rely more on getting blocks using “the method”.
@LAFlexer “.also, she forgot that going to my home base is a “stop” so im guessing they dont care too much about that once you check in on time.”
Do you mean they don’t care if you drive to the waiting area or not if you don’t have anything in the itinerary?
I did that yesterday. I just didn’t bother going to the way point because I knew I would be making another pickup somewhere close by where I was at.
It seems like a huge waste of gas to drive to a waiting area only to get a restaurant pickup close by where you got your last call was at.
Can I ask where in LA you are? You don’t have to answer if you want. I’m from the San Fernando Valley but moved to Orange County last year. When I signed up I was given the option of choosing the Valley, Irvine, Anaheim, Santa Monica, Riverside or Hawthorne as my pick up locations. I wanted to pick the Valley because I’m more familiar with the cities and the streets but opted for Anaheim as it’s only 15 minutes from where I live. I’ve wondered if the Valley would have been a better choice but I’ve recently decided to scrap this whole thing for the time being as I’m not happy with how I’ve been treated.
I think the location closest to you is always best. If you get a shift using “the method” you’re close by. Anywhere in OC is so new that they sometimes seem backwards….at my location, the prime drivers get the first drops and flexes get the leftover…. Why they are willing to pay $18 for people to sit around beats me….but that’s why it’s slow for flexes right now. As AFDT says over and over ” the job IS the method. Anaheim is good and should pick up soon. Again, OC is so new…..did u get a place behind packing house?
I remember doing the “dry runs” when Flex first started in my city but I haven’t heard anything about them since. I’ll see what I can find out.
I go to a warehouse in Buena Park. I actually haven’t used the method. I was picking up blocks at 10pm but haven’t been able to since the update. It’s ok with me though because I didn’t like the fact that most of my shifts were going beyond the scheduled time. It really bothered me for some reason. The money isn’t even the issue for me the bigger issue is that Amazon is blatantly taking advantage of people. Maybe in the few weeks I’ll check it out again but for now I’m good.
Have you tried picking up blocks at different times? take your route length and if that’s not enough time to do your deliveries, contact support to put in a note for you. if you supposedly have 90 minutes to do complete your run, and they gave you your route 30 minutes into your 2 hour block, its mission impossible and hopefully amazon logistics will tell the warehouse to adjust. (Amazon is hiring for a director of logistics currently so the warehouse dispatchers may think they have free reign but if we do it enough times, we’ll get to the top eventually)
What time on Friday do these offers come available ?
Hi, I have 3 week and I have not receive offers, nothing, no schedule for the next week, I don’t know what’s happening, who’s explain to me, thanks
Hello Jose, You have to start trying to pick up blocks. Read through some of the early posts on this site to get a feel for what you need to do.
The offers on Friday we’ve been talking about are the scheduled blocks for the week. They will coincide with your availability calendar. They normally hit around 6pm. With the new app you are given 24 hours to accept or decline them. If nothing shows up in the offers screen and the grey dots on your calendar disappear for the next week, you were not offered any scheduled shifts.
That’s crazy , 3 week aad not orange dots Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
What time on Friday do these offers come available ?
I work Amazon Prime Now here in Sacramento. I’ve been having a difficult time finding blocks and didn’t get any offers yet. I’ve been working for about 3 weeks, my first two weeks were great I was getting about 10hrs a week which was great, but my 3rd week dwindled down to about 7-8hrs. This week so far only got 3hrs, seems like the new update and the whole time when blocks go out is terrible. I talked to the warehouse mngr here and he told me it’s been slow. And the scoobeez guys have been getting the priority load. He said he’s not sure about the 10pm drops if they work anymore. He said if he puts out blocks it’s same days within a few hrs or so. Thanks for the pinning tip I’ve been using that for awhile but not recently. Hopefully I’ll have some luck.
Does anyone know if it matters if you go to a waiting area or not?
Sometimes I’ll get restaurant deliveries in an area and then told to drive 15 minutes north only to be sent back 15 minutes south. I’ve been ignoring the waiting area task in the itinerary and just parking next to a closeby freeway interchange until another call comes in.
It doesn’t matter because I’m 15 minutes from pretty much everything if I just sit there and ignore the waiting area. I just don’t want to get in trouble if it matters to the dispatchers.
A bit off topic but I’m wondering what you guys do when the customer instructions say “Don’t knock, don’t ring doorbell, text me when it arrives” As a driver, I don’t have access to their number and customer support couldn’t text either.
You call the help number and they will give you the customers number
I work in San Francisco . I started driving early October , I never had an issue getting blocks they were always available . Two weeks ago that changed I notice at the Hub there were a lot of non flex drivers that worked as employees that worked for other courier company’s that have a contract with Amazon. It looks like that’s where all the schedule blocks are going, yet I see so many ads for an Amazon hiring flex drivers. I don’t understand the logic. Our other location seeing the same thing going on?
Here in Phoenix there is lots of ads for Flex Drivers and i had been doing it since July and all the sudden i am no longer getting any offers.
It appears that business is really slow and they might only be giving blocks out to the new people to train them and be prepared for the holidays?
Is everyone else working, please share.
Interesting. I worked at a mailroom at an ad agency during last year’s holiday season and remember the UPS driver telling me that Amazon was working with UPS for the season and that drivers were getting greater volume of Amazon packages to be delivered. Not sure these observations are correlated, but it could be that Amazon works with other couriers during the holidays and that is why there are fewer reserved blocks?
FWIW I signed up with Amazon Flex about a week ago and have yeen about 5 opportunities to pick up blocks. I was able to schedule 2 reserved blocks this past Friday, one 4 hour on Tuesday @ 8pm and one 2 hour on Wednesday @ 10pm so it may be some kind of training run?
Hello, FlexDriver ATX. Just let the warehouse know that it is your first shift and they should give you a rundown on how to proceed. If your location is consistent with others then you won’t be doing any training runs. You will hit the ground running. If there warehouse staff isn’t very helpful, just ask another driver. Most should be willing to help. We all had a first day. Best of luck to you and feel free to ask further questions if you have them. There are lots of very helpful drivers here.
Thank you for the warm welcome! TBH this blog provided most of the information I needed to know, and the one question I had last night was answered by another reader this morning. Thank you for providing this resource, well done!
Thanks for the kind words. I’m glad you’ve found the site helpful. There are quite a few drivers posting some great information here. Glad to hear things went well on your first shift. If you have any more questions let me know.
Hello,
I live in the Phoenix area. I completed background 3 weeks ago. I became eligible for blocks two weeks ago. I only have Saturday, Sunday and Monday free and put that in the app and I have yet to receive any blocks in two weeks. I would expect a lot of competition for blocks on weekends but I would think Monday would be more open. I hope things turn around. I really want to try this and see if this is something I can consistently do for extra money. anybody else with similar issues?
GC Rider things appear to be kind of mysterious they have lots of ads on craiglist to hire new people but yet there does not appear to be much work, i been with them since July and had lots of work even had options to do 2 blocks per day, but then all of the sudden it comes to a halt, i wonder if most of the people are not buying things anymore? But i am sure they are trying to prepare for the holidays but only God knows if things will be the way they have been in the past.
Many things could change drastically in the blink of an eye.
I don’t think the new update is a good idea. I just picked up a block but obviously this means that we have to be CONSTANTLY on our phone and checking for blocks all day long. I believe that you don’t even get push notifications anymore for available blocks.
Also, if the blocks are available 24 hours prior to the block time, what happens if you’re in the middle of delivery when that block for the next day is released? Does this mean that you won’t get the opportunity to pick up the next days shift because you’re already in the middle of delivering and the app won’t give you the option?
I am still getting push notifications for available shifts, post-update. Also, if you are currently delivering, and want to look for open blocks, you can tap on the menu in the upper left corner, and then tap on the “offers” page, to see if any open blocks are available.
Hi Johnny,
I was wondering the same thing. I got a 3hr block over the weekend that was 24hr out. I didn’t see any available blocks while I was out working. However around 9ish the same night I got a 5hr block. I just checked at a random time. and refreshed at the right moment.
is for refreshing I use the swipe right method, this worked very well for me. I can tell when the offers page is refreshing. I trying the pinning method, didn’t work for me. I hope this helps someone out there. And Good Luck!!!!
Man this new update is ridiculous!!!!
I honestly think it’s slow in most locations and unfortunately it appears you have to check the app constantly to see if any blocks open up for availability for times you want to work. I’ve been using the pinning strategy once again and was able to pick up a 3 hr on Saturday and Sunday. I also looked into shifts this morning and a 2 3hrs popped up again. Looks like you may need some luck while times are slow. But it does appear the new hires are picking up the 4hr shift. I’ve ran into 3 new hires this past weekend. They all had 4 hr shifts. Looks like there getting them ready for the holidays.
Just as I think I’m getting a grip on this thing, I get hit with another curb ball. Today I received an email stating: “you had undelivered
packages and the packages were not returned to the station at the end of your block. We expect that delivery partners return all undeliverable
packages back to the station at the end of their block.”
Ok, so are we not allowed to go past your 4 hour block to attempt delivers—I’m getting penalized for it. Has anyone else experience this or have some inside scoop? BTW I’m doing logistics, not the Prime now deliveries.
Did you accidentally hit “mark as undeliverable” (in the questionmark help menu in the upper-right corner of the app) for a package that you left at a customer’s address? If not, that’s very strange! I deliver for logitstics in Minneapolis, and the only stipulation for delivery times is before 9pm. I have had to go over my 4hr block time several times, because of difficulties delivering to apartments, businesses, stores in the Mall of America, etc. with no consequences. If any packages are marked undeliverable, it adds the distribution center (where you picked up your packages) as the final stop, at which you bring in the packages that weren’t able to be delivered, and an emoloyee scans them to confirm they are back at the distribution center. I would get in touch with support asap to let them know what’s happened. You should not be penalized for going over your 4hr time-block if delivering with Logistics.
Yes, because there were a lot of apartments on my route, and I did go into the ? to mark as undelivered because there’s wasn’t a safe place to leave the packages, and I too have gone over my 4 hour block. I have reach out to support, and have not received an reply.
Oh my first day I had 3 packages that were late for delivery due to apartments I deliver prime it was a 2hr window. Not sure how lenient they are with logistics but if your going to be late I suggest calling support to let them know, also reply to the email they send to let them know the reasoning and that you’ve contacted support about it.
Wow! So many people are having issues with this update! Hopefully Amazon will hear our cries and adjust in time. I posted about “the swipe” on the last article, and find it very surprising that other people are having problems with the technique. Perhaps it IS an issue between phone models, (I use a Galaxy S6) but this seems unlikely to me, as it is a refresh function that is built into the app, and has nothing to do how your phone closes/opens apps, which is what causes variances from device to device for “the method.” As another commenter noted, “the swipe” also works if you tap on the lower part of the screen, rather than swiping. As for drivers’ issues finding shifts, I drive for Logistics in Minneapolis was able to pickup a shift using “the swipe” on Thurs (11/10), and awoke to a notification for available blocks around 7:30am on Friday (11/11) morning, and there were 4 different blocks to choose from! I was also offered one reserved shift on Friday (11/11) for the next week that I accepted around 1:45am in the morning on Saturday (11/12). REMEMBER, you have to accept any reserve offers within 24hr after they are sent out. My guess is that the issues drivers have been having finding shifts, or not being offered reserve shifts, just have to do with a lull in the amount of deliveries being offered in a current area, combined with a large pool of drivers all “fishing” for shifts. Hopefully that will improve in the coming weeks!
Thanks for the update, Mike. I still haven’t had much luck swiping but pinning the home page is working for me. It still takes some timing and luck but the blocks are out there.
Since this update I am not receiving anything not even at 10 my app is not opening up. I went from working Monday thru Friday for 5 months to nothing here in Las Vegas I Uninstalled the app and reinstalled. I emailed flex everything is random I was told. I understand that but something happened.
Pamela, I am here in Vegas too. I just started a month ago but was able to snag 4 blocks in my first two weeks.. After that, I have seen fewer and fewer pop up. After the update, it was showing blocks at 10pm and every so often a block would show up for the next day (24 hour interval) but they were gone within milliseconds. Since Sunday I have not seen one block appear. I am using the pinning method now, but have tried the swipe method also. I am set to Prime now deliveries. Maybe the warehouse is very slow right now? I have also considered switching to the Amazon Local (boxes) warehouse to see if its any better.
Very frustrating after a pretty good start. I was hoping this would be good for extra cash for the holidays. In the meantime I am doing Postmates and Ubereats. It is OK but not as easy or quick as the Amazon stuff.
Let me know if you have had any experience with the Box deliveries.
Thanks!
That is so similar to what happened to me here in Phoenix, i only got one block yesterday and was off almost a whole week
I think that the true job of this gig has been hi-lited via experience for all of us, albeit as negatively as it has come: the job is snagging the blocks. I tried to do my back research and found a reply to a different thread on this same website where the poster belittled us who are adding our tips and experiences to the conscious collective. poster wanted everyone to just keep their tips and tricks to themselves and not share. I highlight this because I think that the people who hold the keys and tips and tricks (and hacked phones) are not the ones who will be commenting and posting. That’s fine. let’s all assume we are the half witted proletariat they belittle us to be…100 half wits together will still pummel the total capacity of that one self – titled genius. I treat you all as intelligent, hard working humans vying for the same goal as me. keep posting and commenting with meaningful data. If we compile the times we are getting blocks, we can beat the system with a collective knowledge. if we stick to our crab mentality of bringing everyone down with us or hiding our little nugget of knowledge, one day the masses will find you…if not, the system will change again. so please, keep posting times you get blocks, etc…(do we need to know how frustrated you are and that you emailed support….not so much…) I’m reading other websites and it seems like the dispatchers do have favorites and drop blocks for their friends…but within the same story, sometimes dispatchers have to drop a block multiple times before their friends can handle the silver spoon in their mouths…so that’s our silver lining. I propose we all list the times we get blocks and our locations. ex (1:30 am, PHX. 2-hour block.) use the three letter airport code closest to your location then i’ll plot them all and we’ll figure out the system together.
Rant/ The ability to catch a block after this last update has completely stopped for me and it has been beyond maddening especially when I am working (scheduled) it’s the same core group of people there… every time. First couple weeks I’d catch one every other day or so and no matter what, the same small group was always there, always talking about this being their “3rd block today”. Supposed to be random? Getting harder and harder to believe that./EndRant
I know at my location drivers hang out at the warehouse and grab the blocks as they are being added. It definitely doesn’t seem fair. I have two toddlers and can’t hang out at the warehouse all day for work. I hope they figure this stuff out soon.
Bmoreflexdriver, Sometimes I am one of those drivers, but I will tell you it does not guarantee picking up released blocks. Many times I’ve had better luck at home using my wifi than at the warehouse. Timing and luck. Figure the times you should be refreshing the most for your city and you will start to see more opportunities.
I really believe what is going on is that business is very slow, and they hired and are hiring more people to prepare for the holiday rush, they are mostly using new people right now to get them trained and ready for lots of work, and with the app update they can pretty much pick and choose who ever they want no matter if that person is hanging out at the warehouse or at home, please do not take it personal, i am in the same boat i been doing this since July and was very busy and was offered blocks every day and i use to cancel alot and ever since the app update i only got one block
Blockless in Vegas, Rant/I truly believe that you too can be a part of that core group, if you want to be.
/EndRant Things will pick up!
LAFlexer, thank you for this comment. I agree completely. Helping each other out will do far greater things than hoarding information.
Hey Everyone, I don’t care what market you’re in—I just received some inside info, and I’m going to share it because I’m not a crab in a barrel. The “Area Manager, logistics person is responsible for blocks in your area. I was told they’re very much over worked, and due to my annoying “prying”, the fulfillment centers are 24 hrs.—I’m going by here say. I’m told the rules change very frequently because this is still a pilot in many areas, and it is causing a high turner, and pink slips for Amazon employees and independent employees . I was told the Super Bowl is more lucrative than the X-mas season. Also when you reach out to support to try to defend yourself about your grade card—I’m told a lot of foreigners (no disrespect) or handling the email responses. Hope this helps someone.
Very interesting. I’d like to provide that (post update) I came back right before my shift ended at 1200am. Took a number and sat. The dispatcher told me to go home as there are no more packages and he was on the way out. I didn’t pry more as I had my family to get back to as well but if I stayed, you better believe I would be trying to connect another shift. LA flex drivers, LA market so small we are not 24 hours yet. I know this because the guy that told me to go home turned off all the lights, locked the door, and was zooming home in his beater 80”s corolla before I could get my Bluetooth hooked up in my 07 corolla. He wasn’t lying, and I can agree amazon employees are overworked and underpaid…..just like us….but here’s a flip to the coin:if they have to pull in good numbers, I can’t blame them for cherry picking their friends or the drivers with the best stats. Again, our silver lining is the ability to pick up shifts. Work hard. Do what you can and stats will go up. Support I got from my fumble was a call center in morocco. Nice lady had an interesting accent so I had to ask and she told me she was in morocco.
Just sent an email to Amzon Flex Support about our feedback which i did. The more feedback we have hopefully the more chance they might doing something about the new update.
So I’ve gotten lucky with some shifts. Starting to figure out the patterns of the managers who are issuing blocks here in my area. There only do same day blocks. The pinning method is definitely getting it for me.
Thank you everyone for your awesome insights, especially this blog, since we couldn’t share without it.
Since The Method is part of the job, is anyone figuring that time spent working it into their income calculations? I did, and the hourly goes down significantly ($1/hr) when spending just 10 minutes within just a few hours a day. Now, I didn’t calculate time spent working The Method when actually on a shift/block, because that’s just good time management.
Anyway, I don’t think this works well for those who have a lot going on in their lives (main jobs, children, students, researchers, creatives, etc.) and don’t have the time to swipe/pin/refresh, so often throughout the day.
It’s unfortunate, but good to think about when comparing this to other services, and when trying to determine how Flex can work out for someone.
Good luck getting blocks and I’ll continue reading 🙂
Great comments, Leah! I think time swiping while on a block can be nothing but a plus because we are paid $18 an hour. If you can extend your shift, its nothing but a plus. unless you’re counting calories to tap vs. sitting stationary watching tv…in that case, loss is gain…
Right LAFlexr, I purposely didn’t count time spent working The Method while on shifts/blocks cause, again, that’s just smart time management. I only calculated 10 minutes spent every hour around the beginning of blocks (8,10,12,etc.) for 4 hours, assuming you get an 8 hour shift and only have 4 additional hours outside of work with which to work The Method after alloting 12 hours to sleep, eating and functioning. 8 hours was ambitious but still a good gauge, because any shift shorter than that, and the hourly goes down more than a dollar an hour for that same 10 min/4h average.
The point was that this is a good hourly but predicated on that being roughly the only work being done during blocks/shifts, but when figuring in time working The Method, and the wage drops quickly and so does the true “flexibility,” that people are looking for.
I think what were seeing is a huge slowdown in discretionary spending exacerbated by a traditionally slow period in consumer spending (period of post halloween – pre black friday)
http://www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/operations/sales-finance/post-election-spending-impact
Routes should pick up in 2-4 weeks
SATFlex, <3 the data-based analytics!
I know it is very frustrating, because everyone wants to work. I mean the pay is very good and the job is extremely easy. I would like to restate what I posted last week. I truly believe the people who get first dibs on blocks are the drivers with the FASTEST delivery times. Whether it is Prime or Flex. I don’t think its buy coincidence that some drivers always get blocks. The only exemptions are cities where Amazon just started.
When is the best time to look for a block? It seems to change daily
Times vary, but I wrote about my favorite times to look in the post titled Where Most Luck is Found.
It also varies by location.
Absolutely.
I just confirmed with a reliable source that year to year deliveries are down significantly
I have so much to share—I wish I could get on a conference call with all you fellow flexers instead of typing it. It’s only a matter of time before I’m deactivated—I received another email saying a customer said they didn’t get their package—my response was I put detail notes where I leave a package. I don’t even care anymore about these emails, and going forward I won’t respond because I always get a generic response. I simply can’t be consumed with something I can’t control. Anywhoo, I picked up two 4 hours blocks yesterday, and once I was done scanning all the packages I noticed the total count on the app didn’t match up with the physical amount of packages in my car. I stopped a warehouse employee, and showed him how I had way more packages in my car than what was showing up on the app—and let me make it clear when I scanned the packages I received the green light and check mark. He tells me that’s fine, it’s a glitch in the app, and it happens sometime. He says once I start driving the packages will load into the app, I asked him was he sure, he assured me yes. I have completed all the stops in my itinerary, but the back of my car still has 10 boxes—I’m pissed! I call support, and she asked me if I would be willing to deliver the packages, and I said yes, so she tries to set my app back to the point where I can scan again, but it didn’t work so I had to go back to the station. I told the warehouse employees what happen, but the guy who told me the non-sense about the app was not there. The employees were dumbfounded, they started asking me to describe him, and saying he should of never told me that, and if that ever happens again don’t leave the station unless everything is matching. If I was a thief I could’ve went home with the packages because they were not tied to anyone’s name. I hope the young man doesn’t get fired. I have to go into a meeting, I will be back with part 2 shortly.
Waiting for part two of this story. Thank you for taking the time to provide this insight. I have been holding my full comment until I saw the rest, so let us know if you have the time. Hopefully things are all good for you.
Anyone from the raleigh NC area? How are the blocks?
Slow. When they do pop up, they get gobbled up within a second within a second.
Milliseconds!
ANOTHER APP UPDATE?!?!?!?!?!? This better be a better one!
3.0.4418.0
Just got an update for the app but it didnt change anything.
So third week in the program and no scheduled shifts again even though I increased my availability to over 80 hours because of the holiday week and more time off from my main job. So frustrating. After checking my calendar and all my gray dots disappeared I did have an offer pop up for Friday the 25th on the offer screen which I accepted so we shall see how it goes for my first run ever. From what I’ve been gathering it seems with this new update nobody is being scheduled and everything is an offer and unless you are checking the app all the time you probably won’t get the offers. If this is the direction Amazon plans on going I may have reconsider doing this and find something else. I hope this is not the case and it is just a slow period for them and they start scheduling from the calendar’s and not solely from offers. Am I right in my assumptions? This is in the Phoenix area BTW.
Hi i am in Phoenix also, and i am able to get a block in the morning when i check like 7 or 8 for 10 am, things were slow but starting today its going to be very busy, please send them an email and ask them how you can go about getting more blocks.
Another week with no scheduled shifts for me either, but there have been some offers here and there that I’ve been able to capitalize on. I’ve always taken the scheduled blocks as “extra kickers” anyway, so I’m used to the time spent refreshing. Things definitely have been a little more frustrating since the recent update though, I agree.
Anybody else in the raleigh area having a hard time picking up blocks since the update?
I think things have been extra slow everywhere. Were you able to pick anything up this weekend?
Slow everywhere. Few “offers” here and there that I was able to get, but got sent home early by dispatch who told me next drops area already for next shift (which I didn’t have) so at least he gave me the heads up. I said, thank you, sat in my car and wore out my fingers from tapping thinking, “okay, he sent me home so his friends can make deliveries…I will snatch those shifts…” Nada…only three people showed up next shift and they had one package each…so yeah…its slow everywhere but picking up [slowly albeit….]