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- A baby boomer who's been a delivery driver for four years may soon call it quits.
- He values the flexibility and independence but said the inconsistency had lowered his paycheck.
- He's seeking a more stable marketing position but cannot stop gig work just yet.
After delivering more than 30,000 packages, Scott says he might be nearing the end of the road on his driving gigs.
Scott is a baby-boomer delivery driver who worked as a digital marketer full time before the coronavirus pandemic, said after nearly four years of driving for companies such as Amazon, Walmart, and DoorDash. He said that while his current gig at Amazon Flex has been "the best gig out there," he's unsure how much more he has in the tank.
Scott, who drives in the Washington, DC, area, requested that Insider publish only his first name, fearing personal and professional repercussions for candidly discussing his experiences driving for Amazon and other companies.
The independence and flexibility, as well as the trust his employers have in him, have made him continue striving to be a top driver. But he said the anxiety of making ends meet with inconsistent work and more competition among drivers had been stressful. He says it's become a "trap" — he's reliant on this income to make ends meet, though he can't take time off to restart his marketing career full-time.
Gig work is still strong, as many younger Americans are looking to jobs like grocery delivery and digital freelancing. The number of US gig workers is thought to have more than doubled during the pandemic.
Many still debate whether these gig jobs can be full-time jobs or are better suited only for supplemental income. Barely anyone can get rich off of just doing delivery driving, Scott said, but it's an option for him while he searches for a more stable office position.
Navigating the uncertain world of gig work
Scott said he was hit hard financially at the start of the pandemic and couldn't immediately secure an office position, so he looked into gig work. On weekends, he worked as a retail data collector at large grocery stores before transitioning into personal shopping. He took up DoorDash and Instacart before delivering for Amazon, all the while still doing some freelance marketing projects.
"For someone that needs gig work, it's great if you know how to do it," Scott said. "However, it's not sustainable. You can't do it forever because of the wear and tear on your vehicle."
Since then, he's driven nearly 40,000 miles with personal vehicles for Amazon Flex, which he's had to maintain with his own money. He's made it a goal to average a gross income of $150 a day, prioritizing reserved offers that guarantee him a few hours of work.
"The scene is constantly changing with the stress of being able to make sure that you're going to be able to have enough work to do to reach that goal on a weekly or monthly basis," he said.
Work is becoming harder to get
He said work had become much tougher because of growing competition. He said more and more drivers are vying for the same few deliveries, and he said it's caused him to lose about 20% of his income compared with six months ago.
He used to get four to six instant offers — or deliveries that start right away — a day just by being close to a pickup facility, but now he's only getting one or two a day.
"Amazon Flex delivery partners sign up for delivery blocks that fit their schedule," Steve Kelly, an Amazon spokesperson, told Insider. "Blocks are dependent on customer demand and may fluctuate week to week. Amazon Flex delivery partners are encouraged to check the Amazon Flex app throughout the day for available blocks and instant offers."
Still, Scott said the flexibility had been helpful, especially as he spends time networking and doing side projects in hopes of returning to an office position. He's skeptical he can land in corporate America at his age, but he's networking with business professionals to start to get his foot in the door.
"I'm just at a point where I cannot afford to drop this income stream to focus 100% on my passion," he said.
Finding what works
After three years of driving, he's learned the types of delivery tasks that pay well, such as lengthier drives that can pay $40 to $50 an hour with tips if done fast. That's amounted to more than 2,200 customer compliments over the years, according to documents Scott shared with Insider.
He said it's not too difficult to make a few thousand dollars a month, though it's gotten tougher.
"It doesn't seem like they reward drivers that have longevity and have high marks," he said. "They'll recognize you with a little badge of honor, but it's not like you're getting preferential treatment. It's frustrating to see the new drivers out there taking up that work that used to be mine."
He said maximizing how much he could make in the 40 hours he puts in many weeks came with meticulous planning. He said grocery deliveries were often the most lucrative, though it takes more work if it's a walk-up apartment.
He said he's also managed to increase his tips by, for instance, scanning packages before dropping them off instead of outside a window, or approaching homes quietly and without lights on. It comes down to small details such as where to park or having the package ready to go right after parking.
"The app keeps track of everything that you do, so I can find that I've become a delivery guru, and that's something that's personally worth it," he said. "I don't know if it means anything to anybody else, but you can look back and say, 'I did that, and I knocked it out of the park.'"
Are you a gig worker who has thoughts about how gig work has changed in your experience over the past few years? Reach out to this reporter at nsheidlower@insider.com.