Hello fellow drivers,

I see a lot of posts asking questions, for advice, and tips on being overall more efficient. I also see a lot of people who are being sent home, not given their hours promised, or having to be rescued every day.

The reason I wanted to write this is because those all applied to me when I started. I am by no means an Amazon fanboy. This is not a career. But for those who want a little advice from someone who is on their way out the door (I used this job to stay in shape for a job that takes about 3-6 months to get through the entire hiring process) I just wanted to give a little insight on going from shit driver with 2 shifts a week to being asked to work overtime in February.

Yeah it’s a dead end job, but being good at your job is at least somewhat fulfilling when you work for a shit company like Amazon. Here’s my best advice:

How long have you been working there? Just out of training? 2 weeks? 2 months? I ask this rhetorically because the advice will vary depending on how much you’ve already started developing habits. When I got done training, I started out following EVERY single rule that they told us. This kinda screwed me in the short term (slow, couldn’t finish routes in time, called dispatch frequently) BUT now I’m one of the few that is guaranteed their 40 hours and I am even offered OT most weeks. Even in this slower period.

My strategy was to follow all the rules from the start to get the good habits and muscle memory down, and as I worked there longer, I slowly started ignoring some of the rules that I was sure no one was following. Now, I know exactly what shortcuts to take to make work more efficient. The drivers that didn’t give a shit from the start were gone quick, or didn’t get hours/told their route was dropped that morning. I’m rambling, but the takeaway here is pay attention to and ask the ppl that have been there the longest questions, casually, to see how they do it.

The reason that is my 1st piece of advice is because all dsps enforce rules slightly different. Mine didn’t enforce engine off compliance for the first few months I was there. Now they enforce it and remind us everyday. Guess who doesn’t get in trouble? Me, because I was already used to following the rule. Remember, Amazon can make your DSP fire you, so even though some of our best finished in 6 hours, our DSP had to let them go because they couldn’t follow eoc. Having quality pictures is another one. I’ve taken good pics since day 1. Safety infractions: have been enforced the whole time I’ve been there and in 6 months I have only 2 seatbelt violations, 3 stop sign violations, 0 “distractions” and 0 speeding events.

As far as tips for being faster assuming you’ve gotten the basics down:

1. Load your van as quick as possible, bags on one side, overflow on the other. Pull your first bag aside since you’ll be pulling from that immediately. (If you’re in a smaller Amazon van, push the seat all the way forward and lean it back to create a spot for the packages you’re working from) Once everything is in your van, swipe to see the order of your bags/overflow. From front to back, organize the overflow by number/letter. (1a,1a,3a,2b,2b,1c,3d,2g …etc) -in my opinion, the most important thing in the beginning of your route is knowing where your next package is. Even if you have to take 5 minutes after load out to pull over, DO IT. Trust me, you’ll save yourself so much time.

2. The routing can be shit sometimes, but there’s instances where I tried to route myself and unless you’re still going in relative order (like starting with stop 21 and doing 1-20 at the end) you’ll likely waste more time messing with your phone, looking through multiple bags. So unless a stop is just egregiously bad, follow the itinerary even though it’s stupid.

3. Driving: I have the best safety record at my DSP. It’s simple, always go only 5mph over the limit and stop at signs. I don’t get how ppl screw this up.

Some dsps are more strict than others. At mine, they don’t give a shit if you use customer driveways. As you’re pulling up, think to yourself “will it take longer to walk all the way to the door and back than it will to pull in a driveway and back out?” If the answer is yes, use the driveway. There’s no need to run at this job.

1. The delivery: as you’re pulling up to a stop, turn off van, hit I’ve parked and grab your package and go. Scan it on the way to the door. Click “front door/porch” and have that camera ready before you get there. Put package down with the label facing away from you (if the address is visible your pic will get rejected) take the picture and as soon as you see that it’s clear you should already be taking your first step back. You should know exactly where your next stop is. On group stops, I almost never take pictures. Unless something seems expensive or I’m at some shady apartments I always click select all order and click “another safe location.” The truth is, your pics are only rejected if you submit a shitty one. The only way to get in trouble is if the package goes missing and there’s no picture of it. In 6 months, this hasn’t happened to me once.

Corners I cut: 1. group stops- not getting a pic 2. If I have trouble with delivery, call customer twice, hang up after first ring, send text, immediately mark undeliverable. 3. If I find a mis-sort, if it’s thin, put it in one of your totes and fold it up. You never even saw it. If it’s too big, tell station you found it while cleaning out your van. I can’t stand wasting my time on someone else’s fuck up. 4. If I’m in a safe area with no traffic, seatbelt is clicked in and over the seat. I pull the shoulder strap on and off.

All in all, your biggest time saver is efficiency. Not running, not speeding, not cutting a lot of corners. Don’t scan in the van, don’t wait til you get to the door to select your delivery location. Be one step ahead of the phone and seamlessly make every move efficient. I also set goals for the day. 180 stops? Cool, my goal is 6 hours. I want to be at 90 3 hours in. So I wanna be at 30 after my first hour. My best days are when I bang out those first two hours and I’m ahead of my goal.

I hope this helps. It’s obviously going to differ from DSP to DSP, but that’s why I started off saying to follow the rules and slowly start cutting some corners. Don’t cut all the corners and react to getting in trouble.

*this advice is obviously not a one size fits all, and it’s not for the more experienced driver. If you disagree or think I left something really important out, comment below.

I will answer questions that anyone may have in the comments for the next day or so.

Good luck brothers and sisters!