Amazon Flex - flexible p/t work

short+sassy

Hey All--

I know a lot of us are on the prowl for easy, flexible ways to earn extra income.

Amazon is rolling out a new program where Prime customers can order items from an Amazon warehouse and have them delivered in 1-2 hours.  They are currently hiring drivers for this program, but only in certain areas.  Drivers choose the hours/days they want to work and are paid $18-$25/hour.

It is already live in Seattle and is expanding soon to Manhattan, Baltimore, Miami, Dallas, Austin, Chicago, Indianapolis, Atlanta, and Portland.  However, even if you aren't in one of those cities...like me ...you can also sign up to be notified if they start the program in your area.

This is a Washington Post article that describes the program and there is a link to sign up within the article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2015/09/29/amazon-flex-the-retailers-uber-like-effort-to-bring-you-packages/ 

lbonga1

That's interesting. I know they have another thing where you can sell your services too. One of the options in certain areas is for people to rent your goats!

I suppose Amazon Flex would be similar to what I do on occasion. I sometimes deliver for Postmates on weekend nights. For those unfamiliar with it, it's a service that will deliver almost anything to you in under an hour. Mostly people order food, but I've delivered alcohol and groceries as well. I only do it on weekend nights though because I realized the Postmates company doesn't pay very much, and the customers tend to not tip during the day.

hoffse

lbonga1 said:

That's interesting. I know they have another thing where you can sell your services too. One of the options in certain areas is for people to rent your goats!

I suppose Amazon Flex would be similar to what I do on occasion. I sometimes deliver for Postmates on weekend nights. For those unfamiliar with it, it's a service that will deliver almost anything to you in under an hour. Mostly people order food, but I've delivered alcohol and groceries as well. I only do it on weekend nights though because I realized the Postmates company doesn't pay very much, and the customers tend to not tip during the day.

My FIL totally did this.  He rented goats for a day to eat the kudzoo and poison ivy in their back yard.  It 100% worked.

julieanne912

hoffse said:

lbonga1 said:

That's interesting. I know they have another thing where you can sell your services too. One of the options in certain areas is for people to rent your goats!

I suppose Amazon Flex would be similar to what I do on occasion. I sometimes deliver for Postmates on weekend nights. For those unfamiliar with it, it's a service that will deliver almost anything to you in under an hour. Mostly people order food, but I've delivered alcohol and groceries as well. I only do it on weekend nights though because I realized the Postmates company doesn't pay very much, and the customers tend to not tip during the day.

My FIL totally did this.  He rented goats for a day to eat the kudzoo and poison ivy in their back yard.  It 100% worked.

I love it, and was considering this for our lot.  But then H's dad gifted us a riding lawnmower so there went my dreams of having pet goats for a day  

short+sassy

julieanne912 said:

hoffse said:

lbonga1 said:

That's interesting. I know they have another thing where you can sell your services too. One of the options in certain areas is for people to rent your goats!

I suppose Amazon Flex would be similar to what I do on occasion. I sometimes deliver for Postmates on weekend nights. For those unfamiliar with it, it's a service that will deliver almost anything to you in under an hour. Mostly people order food, but I've delivered alcohol and groceries as well. I only do it on weekend nights though because I realized the Postmates company doesn't pay very much, and the customers tend to not tip during the day.

My FIL totally did this.  He rented goats for a day to eat the kudzoo and poison ivy in their back yard.  It 100% worked.

I love it, and was considering this for our lot.  But then H's dad gifted us a riding lawnmower so there went my dreams of having pet goats for a day  

That is hilarious!  I love it.  And how environmentally conscious.

I really want two pet pygmy goats.  I think they are the cutest little things.  They're extremely social, so they're aren't happy if there is just one.  But, alas, I live in an urban environment and don't have an acre+ for them to roam around on.  Plus my H loves his garden and even pygmies would scarf that down in 10 minutes.  Maybe someday. 

lbonga1

hoffse said:

lbonga1 said:

That's interesting. I know they have another thing where you can sell your services too. One of the options in certain areas is for people to rent your goats!

I suppose Amazon Flex would be similar to what I do on occasion. I sometimes deliver for Postmates on weekend nights. For those unfamiliar with it, it's a service that will deliver almost anything to you in under an hour. Mostly people order food, but I've delivered alcohol and groceries as well. I only do it on weekend nights though because I realized the Postmates company doesn't pay very much, and the customers tend to not tip during the day.

My FIL totally did this.  He rented goats for a day to eat the kudzoo and poison ivy in their back yard.  It 100% worked.

This is amazing. I love it.

vlagrl29

kudzoo is so pretty though

Xstatic3333

vlagrl29 said:

kudzoo is so pretty though

Pretty...but evil...

That's awesome your family did the goat thing, @hoffse! It's all the rage in the conservation world right now.

Erikan73

One thing to be aware of when doing these delivery services, check your car insurance. Using your vehicle for delivery services is not covered under many personal auto policies. You may need to get a commercial auto policy which typically is more expensive. If your company is one of them and you get into an accident while making a delivery, they can deny your claim & possibly cancel you. And if you are at fault for the accident, then you would be 100% responsible for all damages and injuries.

hoffse

Xstatic3333 said:

kudzoo is so pretty though

Pretty...but evil... That's awesome your family did the goat thing, @hoffse! It's all the rage in the conservation world right now.

***SIB****

Yeah kudzu takes over everything.  I remembering writing an essay question about kudzu during my constitutional law exam.  The professor referred to it as "the plant that ate the south."  In the question Minnesota wanted to ban commercial growers of it, and we had to determine if that violated interstate commerce. 

The goats were pretty fun.  My MIL was skeptical, but even she admits they did a great job clearing it out.

Xstatic3333

hoffse said:

Xstatic3333 said:

vlagrl29 said:

kudzoo is so pretty though

Pretty...but evil...

That's awesome your family did the goat thing, @hoffse! It's all the rage in the conservation world right now.

***SIB****

Yeah kudzu takes over everything.  I remembering writing an essay question about kudzu during my constitutional law exam.  The professor referred to it as "the plant that ate the south."  In the question Minnesota wanted to ban commercial growers of it, and we had to determine if that violated interstate commerce. 

The goats were pretty fun.  My MIL was skeptical, but even she admits they did a great job clearing it out.

Gonna go full nerd here....

Did it violate interstate commerce? I'm seeing a lot of state by state bans of potentially invasive plants (barberry, butterfly bush) but I'm unsure whether they refer to commercial growing or just selling.

hoffse

Xstatic3333 said:

Xstatic3333 said:

kudzoo is so pretty though

Pretty...but evil... That's awesome your family did the goat thing, @hoffse! It's all the rage in the conservation world right now.

***SIB****

Yeah kudzu takes over everything.  I remembering writing an essay question about kudzu during my constitutional law exam.  The professor referred to it as "the plant that ate the south."  In the question Minnesota wanted to ban commercial growers of it, and we had to determine if that violated interstate commerce. 

The goats were pretty fun.  My MIL was skeptical, but even she admits they did a great job clearing it out.

Gonna go full nerd here.... Did it violate interstate commerce? I'm seeing a lot of state by state bans of potentially invasive plants (barberry, butterfly bush) but I'm unsure whether they refer to commercial growing or just selling.

Lol there's not a clear answer (because it hasn't been tested), but I think states could probably ban it.  Some states have successfully banned invasive species of fish.  That one went all the way to the Supreme Court, but they did uphold the ban after a lot of language cautioning that it's the exception to the rule, and they were specifically allowing it because the fish would take over indigenous species and there was really no other way to prevent that from happening except for a blanket ban.  Generally states can't ban stuff that would affect interstate commerce, unless there is a very strong state/public interest.  Often you see a strong state interest in things like public health or state police powers.  The environment is probably on that list too, but it hasn't been as strongly defined as the others.  However, because of the fish case I'm pretty sure I said that Minnesota should be able to ban it since kudzu is also invasive and the only way to prevent it is by keeping it out of the state entirely.

My prof. told me privately after the exam that it was funny to see how the students' answers broke down geographically.  He said students that were from parts of the country where kudzu was a big problem tended to answer a strong "Yes" to letting Minnesota ban it.  But he said most of them also mentioned it probably won't prevent the kudzu from taking over Minnesota eventually anyway, lol.

Xstatic3333

hoffse said:

Xstatic3333 said:

hoffse said:

Xstatic3333 said:

vlagrl29 said:

kudzoo is so pretty though

Pretty...but evil...

That's awesome your family did the goat thing, @hoffse! It's all the rage in the conservation world right now.

***SIB****

Yeah kudzu takes over everything.  I remembering writing an essay question about kudzu during my constitutional law exam.  The professor referred to it as "the plant that ate the south."  In the question Minnesota wanted to ban commercial growers of it, and we had to determine if that violated interstate commerce. 

The goats were pretty fun.  My MIL was skeptical, but even she admits they did a great job clearing it out.

Gonna go full nerd here....

Did it violate interstate commerce? I'm seeing a lot of state by state bans of potentially invasive plants (barberry, butterfly bush) but I'm unsure whether they refer to commercial growing or just selling.

Lol there's not a clear answer (because it hasn't been tested), but I think states could probably ban it.  Some states have successfully banned invasive species of fish.  That one went all the way to the Supreme Court, but they did uphold the ban after a lot of language cautioning that it's the exception to the rule, and they were specifically allowing it because the fish would take over indigenous species and there was really no other way to prevent that from happening except for a blanket ban.  Generally states can't ban stuff that would affect interstate commerce, unless there is a very strong state/public interest.  Often you see a strong state interest in things like public health or state police powers.  The environment is probably on that list too, but it hasn't been as strongly defined as the others.  However, because of the fish case I'm pretty sure I said that Minnesota should be able to ban it since kudzu is also invasive and the only way to prevent it is by keeping it out of the state entirely.

My prof. told me privately after the exam that it was funny to see how the students' answers broke down geographically.  He said students that were from parts of the country where kudzu was a big problem tended to answer a strong "Yes" to letting Minnesota ban it.  But he said most of them also mentioned it probably won't prevent the kudzu from taking over Minnesota eventually anyway, lol.

Interesting! And sad but true-certain plants, once they're out, there's really no going back.

formerlyGDaisy09

I totally just sent an e-mail to the maintanence committee for the dog park I'm on the board for...there is a poison ivy problem in the small dog park, which we generally hire a landscaping company to come in and spray round-up to get rid of it.  the e-mail basically read "guys we need to borrow goats from someone" and had a link to this NPR article about how goats can eat a variety of poisonous broad-leaf plants. 

short+sassy

Erikan73 said:

One thing to be aware of when doing these delivery services, check your car insurance. Using your vehicle for delivery services is not covered under many personal auto policies. You may need to get a commercial auto policy which typically is more expensive. If your company is one of them and you get into an accident while making a delivery, they can deny your claim & possibly cancel you. And if you are at fault for the accident, then you would be 100% responsible for all damages and injuries.

Good point, but one of the articles I read about this job opportunity said that Amazon provides an insurance policy for their drivers, while the drivers are making deliveries.

Erikan73

short+sassy said:

Erikan73 said:

One thing to be aware of when doing these delivery services, check your car insurance. Using your vehicle for delivery services is not covered under many personal auto policies. You may need to get a commercial auto policy which typically is more expensive. If your company is one of them and you get into an accident while making a delivery, they can deny your claim & possibly cancel you. And if you are at fault for the accident, then you would be 100% responsible for all damages and injuries.

Good point, but one of the articles I read about this job opportunity said that Amazon provides an insurance policy for their drivers, while the drivers are making deliveries.

But will their policy cover only Liability coverage or will it also cover comprehensive or collision claims? Just something to check into. I would hate to see someone take a job doing this not checking out all the details and then have an accident and end up in a worse situation then they were before they took on the job for extra money.

lbonga1

I'm not sure about Amazon, but with Postmates, we were told we would be completely covered in case of an accident on the job.

CuriousKiddosMama

Wow, I'm sorry to bump such an old post, but I just did my first prime now order. (We lost ds kindle, and dh is flying with him on his own tomorrow. That is a pathetic 'emergency' but it will save dh's sanity so it was worth it. Plus they had a coupon for $10 off my first order so the kindle was only $40!)
I need to keep an eye open for when they hire more drivers. They automatically add a tip to your order. You can change it if you want, but I'm sure most people don't even notice it. And it's an extra $8 that they added. If you get $15-25 per hour plus those types of tips, that's a lot of money for a small side job. I could even see doing this one night a week or one weekend day.

short+sassy

CuriousKiddosMama said:

Wow, I'm sorry to bump such an old post, but I just did my first prime now order. (We lost ds kindle, and dh is flying with him on his own tomorrow. That is a pathetic 'emergency' but it will save dh's sanity so it was worth it. Plus they had a coupon for $10 off my first order so the kindle was only $40!) I need to keep an eye open for when they hire more drivers. They automatically add a tip to your order. You can change it if you want, but I'm sure most people don't even notice it. And it's an extra $8 that they added. If you get $15-25 per hour plus those types of tips, that's a lot of money for a small side job. I could even see doing this one night a week or one weekend day.

Wow!!!  That is some serious cash.  I WISH they had those jobs available here, but I know it will be a long time (if ever) before they add that kind of service.  But I'm "pre" signed up, just in case.