On the Road: Insights from an Amazon Flex Side Hustler

I’ve been doing YouTube for about 3.5 years now and still have a full-time job. Due to cost of living and chasing the YouTube dream, I needed to find an easy way to make some extra money for savings and upcoming projects. I tried a few side hustles, most notably Amazon FBA, however the risk to reward was not worth it at all and the amount of money you must invest in order to get a decent return was a lot. I worked out that I was working for about £3-£4 an hour collectively, and it started feeling like a 2nd full time job.

I then signed up to Amazon FLEX, which I was sceptic about at first from what I read about delivering for Amazon, but I thought I’d give it a go. Now it’s been 7 months and I really enjoy it. The work is very easy, you get paid weekly and I’m earning about £400-£500 a month (after tax and expense) from doing only 3 evening shifts a week.

Mainly it was the freedom. You can cancel a block up to like 40 minutes before you start, and there are no restrictions (apart from a 24 hour cap per week, but I never get close to that).

Also, getting paid weekly is really good!

I work a 9-5 so I only work in the evenings. I try and do 3-hour blocks instead of 3.5 hour blocks because I’ve found the depots try their luck with 3.5 hour blocks and send you quite far, whereas I usually finish 3 hour blocks in around 2 hours, and is usually only about £6 less than a 3.5 hour block pays.

It’s a long waiting list, so you have to be lucky to get in. Either that or apply around November as they onboard more drivers for Christmas. That’s how I got in.

Don’t listen to the people who say that it’s not worth it because of ‘wear and tear’ on your car/vehicle. I’ve only done around 2k extra miles in 6 months from my usual usage, and if a part needs replacing, likelihood is that part would’ve needed replacing soon anyway. It’s not a big deal at all. The amount I’ve earned has massively exceeded anything I’ve needed to pay on my car.

If you are worried, just put a bit of money away in your savings for your car when you get paid.

Also, speak to an accountant about tax. You get 45p per mile back in your first 10k miles driven, which will help when working out how much tax you pay at the end of the tax year. Keep track of every shift, mile, and payment.

My YouTube channel is TommyWills. I make videos covering my experience with Amazon Flex among many other things!