I’ve heard lots of stories about drivers getting deactivated. When you deliver for long enough there are going to be mistakes made. Packages will be late. Items will be reported not delivered. Blocks will be forfeited too close to the start time. Traffic. Thieves. Bad weather. Life happens and no matter how hard we try there are some things we just can’t control. For the most part these mistakes are forgiven. You receive the standard don’t do it again email and everyone moves on.
Except sometimes they don’t. And that’s when the contract termination email arrives.
I used to think that was the end of the line for an Amazon Flex delivery driver. I had never met or heard of a driver being reinstated. But that all changed a few weeks ago when I found out that being reactivated was possible.
I’m sure the severity of the mistake weighs heavy on the decision. If you decide to stop by your house for some video games in the middle of your route, I’m pretty sure your chances of delivering again are zero. But if your mistakes were beyond your control and you took the time to document them as recommended in this post, then there is definitely a good chance your appeal will be heard and approved.
So how did this driver do it?
- Instead of firing off an immediate response, she waited.
- She set aside her frustration and in doing so she could think more clearly.
- She took the next few days (not ten minutes) to craft a well written appeal.
- She wrote about her length of time delivering.
- She wrote about her rapport with customers, other drivers and warehouse workers.
- She wrote about why she likes being a Flex Driver.
- She wrote about how, if reactivated, she will be better.
- And then she was patient.
- Two weeks later she was out delivering again.
I know some may think the above is too much to go through to keep a position such as this. I know there’s a lot of discontent lately with Amazon and the lack of support for it’s drivers. I get it. But on the other hand, there aren’t too many positions out there that pay as well for the amount of time worked. To lose a job like this can be very frustrating, especially during this time of year when every penny counts. Hopefully the above gives some hope to drivers who feel they’ve been wrongly deactivated and truly want to keep delivering.
On a final note, here’s hoping that things continue to pick up for all of us. Stay safe and pay attention to your surroundings. Especially on the night shifts. There’s lots of crazies out there!