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Amazon Flex drivers want Amazon to help with spiking gas prices

Amazon's delivery contractors are rallying to ask the company to follow in the footsteps of DoorDash, Uber and Lyft in helping to offset rapidly increasing gas prices.

Amazon driver Shawndu Stackhouse delivers packages in Northeast Washington, D.C.

Amazon delivery contractors are rallying to demand the company help them offset the cost of surging gas prices.

Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Amazon delivery drivers rallied in Los Angeles today to demand the company follow DoorDash, Uber, Lyft and other gig work providers by helping to offset surging gas costs for their drivers.

The Amazon Flex drivers, independent contractors who deliver Amazon packages via an app much like DoorDash, use their own vehicles and their own gas for deliveries. Gas prices have risen to over $4 a gallon in most of the country due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which sent oil prices sky-high.

Uber and Lyft added gas surcharges to user rides to ease drivers' pain at the pump. Meanwhile, DoorDash launched a "Gas Rewards Program" that gives U.S. delivery drivers a prepaid business Visa credit card to earn 10% cash back on gas to offset the wild increase in prices. All three companies have said the measures are temporary, though it's unclear when prices will return to normal.

Amazon, in contrast, has not offered any kind of gas offset or bonus for Flex drivers. Some of the rallying Flex drivers told CNBC that up to half of their pay was going toward gas now that prices have increased, and that some are opting for other jobs or to drive for other contracting companies instead.

Switching to electric or hybrid vehicles could also be one way for drivers to save money on gas, but the EV market remains inaccessible for most lower-income drivers, and they make up the majority of the ride-hailing and Flex driving population. Companies like Uber and Lyft have pledged to help get drivers into electric vehicles as a way to offset the emissions of gas-powered cars, and Amazon has also pledged to transition some of its delivery fleet to electric (though those EVs wouldn't be for the contracted Flex drivers).

"Our delivery partners play a vital role in serving customers every day," Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a statement to Protocol. "We’re closely monitoring the situation and listening to their concerns. Amazon Flex delivery partners earn among the best in the industry at over $26 per hour on average. We've already made several adjustments through pricing surges in impacted areas to help ease some of the financial challenges and as the situation evolves, we’ll continue to make changes where we can to help support our partners."

Anna Kramer

Anna Kramer is a reporter at Protocol (Twitter: @ anna_c_kramer, email: akramer@protocol.com), where she writes about labor and workplace issues. Prior to joining the team, she covered tech and small business for the San Francisco Chronicle and privacy for Bloomberg Law. She is a recent graduate of Brown University, where she studied International Relations and Arabic and wrote her senior thesis about surveillance tools and technological development in the Middle East.

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