Food for thought…
I think I figured out what’s a large part of Flex being particularly aggravating for many drivers recently. For all the talk of competition, no surges and pay being not worth it, there may be something that many haven’t considered: The EV Amazon marked vans.
It’s a pretty safe assumption that much like EV consumer vehicles, the faster you drive highways, the less range and more battery you use. This would make prioritizing local city routes the most efficient use of the EV Vans leaving Flex to pick up the slack with longer routes out in the hinterlands and at the edges of the delivery radius.
It seems like a lot of complaints have coincided with the advent of widespread usage of the EV’s and I recently noticed that I see a ton of them around town, but as a mixed urban rural market, I still see standard petrol vans when the distance from the station is further than average.
I don’t know if Amazon is footing the bill for charging, but using less battery and leaving the flex drivers to pay as much as possible for fuel costs also benefits the company. I’ve been trying to get a work around, within reason and while I’m still getting some routes, without tipping my hand too much I’ve had some success with maximizing earnings vs mileage.