If you want to deliver for Amazon Flex, there’s no doubt that you’re curious about the earnings potential.
You’ll want to know the average pay, the highest pay, and the lowest pay. With that information, you can make an educated decision and set realistic expectations.
In this article, let’s look at examples of the highest possible pay shared by real Flex drivers.
This is Amazon Flex at its absolute best—not its average. The average, typical pay for Flex drivers is much lower than what you’ll see in this article.
Reaching these crazy-high pay levels is usually a matter of luck: You have to live in a market that offers high pay, and you have to be lucky enough to see & claim the offer.
In fact, many Flex drivers struggle to get enough orders at all!
Keep reading to see how high Amazon Flex pay can go. And scroll past the earnings examples to learn the basics about the Amazon Flex earnings system.
Highest weekly pay: $1500/week, $1200/week
The highest weekly pay we could verify was over $1500 in a week. The driver below shared an earnings statement with an $823 deposit and hundreds of dollars of other pending earnings.
An $823 payment with more to come!
The typical average weekly earnings on Flex are closer to $500 per week. Most Flex drivers only work part-time, around 1 block per day.
The driver above was doing closer to 2 blocks per day and was able to score some lucky high-paying offers.
Below, this driver had two amazing weeks: $1100 in one week and $1200 the next. Both are outstanding results that most drivers will never achieve—but it’s possible!
Two $1100+ weeks back-to-back is outstanding
Highest paying blocks: Over $242 for one route
A typical block on Amazon Flex pays around $18–$25 per hour, and most blocks are 2–4 hours. But how high can the pay go for an individual block?
The highest paying single block that we found was $242 for a 5-hour block. That’s $48 per hour if you take the entire 5 hours to finish the block!
$242 is one of the highest-paying blocks we’ve seen
Below, here’s $175 for a 3.5-hour block. That’s $50 per hour! A higher rate than the one above, but for a shorter route. Flex drivers dream of blocks like this.
$50 per hour is some of the best pay that you’ll see
Huge payouts like the one above are called ‘surge’ blocks. Amazon adds surge pay when they need to quickly incentivize drives to accept orders. Unclaimed orders may get a pay bump as it gets closer to the block start time.
It’s a gamble: You can accept the order as soon as you see it or wait for a higher rate.
The biggest tips on Flex: $100+ in tips for Amazon Fresh orders
Amazon Flex has several different order types, each with a different payment system. Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh blocks allow customers to tip.
Tips are unpredictable. Amazon shows you an estimated tip range before you accept the block, but your actual tips could be much higher—or much lower—than the estimation.
The highest earnings from tips we found was $107 for a Whole Foods route, for a total pay of $148.
A $107 tip is huge!
The driver below scored $109 in tips on $25 in base pay. Tips were 4x earnings from Amazon! That’s as good as it gets.
$109 is the highest tip we’ve seen
$100 in tips is almost unheard of. The example below demonstrated the power of solid tips, but no individual tip amount will blow you away.
There are tips for $10, $17, $40, and $29 on routes only around an hour. That’s the power of tips!
You can get lucky with Amazon Fresh orders
What about the lowest pay? See what base pay looks like
So far, we’ve shared examples of the highest of high pay. But what about the lowest pay?
In most cities, base pay on Amazon Flex is $18 per hour. Here’s an example of two base pay offers.
Too many base pay routes can be unprofitable
$18 per hour might sound pretty good for delivering packages on your own schedule, but don’t forget that most drivers have to drive 30+ miles to get to the pickup location, and the route could easily be another 30. That means significant expenses for gas, wear & tear, and depreciation.
Below is an example from a city with base pay that’s lower than $18/hour. All of these offers are for $15.50/hour or $16/hour! That’s the lowest we’ve ever seen.
$15.50/hour is the lowest base pay we’ve seen
The basics: How earnings work on Flex
Now that you’ve seen the highest potential pay, let’s go over the basics of the earnings system.
Flex drivers get paid for each completed delivery block. When you see an offer for a delivery block, it shows the estimated payout and duration.
You are not paid per parcel. You are paid for completing the block, and the pay stays the same whether you finish before or after the estimated time.
Base pay, the number of deliveries per block, and route length
Flex offers an hourly minimum pay, called base pay. Base pay is typically around $18 per hour, but it varies from city to city. So if a 3-hour block pays $54, you get base pay: $54/3 hours = $18 per hour.
The number of deliveries in a block varies with each delivery. But for a typical 3-hour block, there might be around 30–40 deliveries.
But if you’ve never driven for Flex, it’s hard to imagine how long a route will take. How many miles will you have to drive, and how long will it really take?
The number of miles you drive for a route depends on how far you are from the pickup location, how far your deliveries are from the pickup location, and how far the final delivery is from your home.
Lots of variables! Some drivers are lucky to live near pickup locations, but others have to drive 30+ miles. You can expect to drive around 50–80 miles for a 3-hour block.
Each offer has a warehouse code that you can look up before you do a route to give you an idea of how far you’ll have to drive.
How drivers get paid
By default, Amazon pays via direct deposit every Tuesday and Friday. But you can get paid more frequently by changing your payout days in Settings > Personal information > Payment.
You’ll get paid daily if you select every day as your payout day. But Friday, Saturday, and Sunday blocks will pay out on Monday.
You also have the option to sign up for the Amazon Flex debit card, which gives you 2–6% cash back on gas, in addition to other rewards.
Unlike other gig app debit cards, the Flex debit card does not offer instant pay or actual daily pay.
Does Amazon pay for expenses like fuel and taxes?
Amazon Flex drivers are 1099 independent contractors, so you are responsible for your own vehicle expenses. You are also responsible for paying your own taxes—Amazon does not remove any withholding from your earnings.
To save on gas, Flex drivers use the Flex debit card or other cash back programs like Upside.
To save on taxes, make sure to track all of your deductible miles so you can get the maximum standard mileage deduction.
More help for Flex drivers
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