Does Amazon Flex Reimburse Parking Fee? What are the actual expenses that we can claim?

Hi, I just tried submitting a claim for parking fee reimbursement after my block finished. Unfortunately, Amazon said that they do not cover the costs of parking. I am quite disappointed with this decision because, in fact, I have to spend money out of my own pocket to cover the parking cost?

As we know, actual conditions in the field sometimes require us as delivery drivers to park multiple times and sometimes we have to use our own money when we cannot find free parking areas near customer locations.

Just curious, how do you deliver at locations where most street parking is paid and sometimes costly like Chippendale?

Hi Andrei, I’m sorry to hear that. Actually, this is not only your problem but also experienced by delivery drivers around the country. Attempting to find free or at least cheap parking on the streets in some areas of Australia is often considered pointless.

As we know, according to the Global Parking Index, Australia is the most expensive country for daily parking in absolute terms, including short-term parking with the average cost of a two-hour park is 15.65 USD.

While reading the Amazon Flex FAQ on its official website in the Earnings section you can find their short statement on reimbursement for mileage, parking and tolls. Here is their explanation of this:

“As an independent contractor, you are generally responsible for your own expenses. Your overall pay rates include an amount for any mileage payments required by law. If you incur a toll while delivering, you can submit for a toll reimbursement through the app.” In that word, they only mention tolls reimbursement but not for parking.

Some of the Flex drivers that we know also never received this kind of reimbursement. Some of them have tried to claim tolls along with parking but they only get reimbursement for tolls only.

Reply from Flex Support

The following are some tips that may be useful for delivery drivers when they often have difficulty getting free parking while delivering.

• Find free parking as close as you can and deliver as many as you can within your block time. After finding a spot not too far from the delivery location then use a trolley to bring as many parcels as possible. This action is useful if the locations of the stops in the block are quite close to each other. While most Amazon Flex stops are set close together, sometimes one or two stops are quite far apart from each other.
• Call the customer and tell them that you can’t find the parking and ask nicely if they are willing to meet you outside. Even though it looks a bit inconvenient for customers, there are still customers who are willing to go out and pick up their packages. However, not all customers are responsive when you call or text them and not every customer are at home when you call them.
• In case you are delayed due to a parking issue and your block time finishes, call Flex customer service and ask them if they want you to continue delivering. If they say yes, demand them overtime, otherwise return the parcel on the same day to the delivery station. This may seem like the easiest solution but returning parcels too often can make you ineligible to deliver with Amazon Flex in the future, in other words, your account could be deactivated.