Amazon Customers Give Out $5 Million in Tips to Drivers in One Day

Amazon announced last week it would pay for customers to give out a million $5 tips after asking Alexa or other Amazon products to ‘thank my driver.’ It ran out within one day of the program’s launch.

By Gabrielle Bienasz | Dec 13, 2022
Comment
Bloomberg I Getty Images

Opinions expressed by Âé¶¹Éç contributors are their own.

Amazon said its holiday thank-you tip program for Amazon drivers through its Alexa drivers ran out of funds within one day.

“As of December 8, we have received more than 1 Million ‘thank yous’ concluding the promotion offering $5 per “thank you” to eligible drivers,” the company

In a statement to , Amazon reps said the program “exceeded our expectations.”

The company announced last week that it would provide a million $5 tips to drivers when customers asked their Alexa drivers to “thank my driver.” It would then give a $5 tip, funded by the company, to the driver who delivered the customer’s most recent package.

“We are excited for this new opportunity to thank these everyday heroes and giving our customers the ability to help us do it,” the company wrote in a statement at the time.

Amazon drivers are reported to be overworked — reportedly peeing in bottles in their cars during delivery routes or managers who care more about finishing delivery routes than when a worker is badly injured, . A study from the Strategic Organizing Center that 1 in 5 Amazon drivers was injured on the job in 2021.

Many of Amazon’s drivers do not work directly for Amazon but through the Delivery Service Partner (DSP) program, which is basically contracting businesses with the company that hires their own drivers. Those workers reportedly are also .

The average driver makes around $21 an hour or $43,207 a year, . The company and add benefits for drivers in the DSP program in September.

Related: ‘It’s Just A Poke in The Eye’: Amazon Warehouse Workers Slam Small, Hourly Raises

As for the “thank my driver” promotion, the company also said it would give the five drivers who got the most thank-you’s $10,000 and $10,000 to a charity they could pick out.

You can still tell Amazon’s Alexa to thank your driver, but it will send them a note of appreciation, and will not have any monetary value going forward.

Amazon said its holiday thank-you tip program for Amazon drivers through its Alexa drivers ran out of funds within one day.

“As of December 8, we have received more than 1 Million ‘thank yous’ concluding the promotion offering $5 per “thank you” to eligible drivers,” the company

In a statement to , Amazon reps said the program “exceeded our expectations.”

Gabrielle Bienasz is a staff writer at Âé¶¹Éç. She previously worked at Insider and Inc.... Read more
Join the Conversation
Leave a comment. Be kind. Critique ideas, not people.
Sort: |

Related Content