According to a report by the Los Angeles Times, Amazon has recently announced that it will be ending the practice of using customer tips to pay its wages to Flex drivers.
This practice came under a lot of criticism when it was exposed back in February. It was revealed that not only Amazon but various other delivery services like Instacart and DoorDash were using their customer tips to pay delivery drivers their base salary.
This allowed these corporations to save a lot of money, as they didn’t have to compensate their workers.
As of now, Amazon confirms that the original minimum payment for each delivery will come solely from Amazon, with the driver’s tips going directly to the driver above their salary. This means Amazon will start using tips with the intent of how they should work in the first place.
The Base Salary Criteria
Amazon spokesperson Rena Lunak said that the company will always pay a minimum of at least $15 per scheduled hour to a driver, and often more, based on location and demand.
Along with that, if a driver receives a tip, they will receive 100% of those tips.
Instead of being part of it, the difference now is that the tips will be added to their basic pay.
The company confirmed that this new payment policy is set out to start today.
Is Amazon Living Up To Amazon Flex?
In an email, Amazon explained that it would be contributing at least $15-$19 per scheduled hour, depending upon the location, which is seemingly down from the initial promise of $18 to $25 that Amazon Flex’s site used to offer.
Although, it is still unclear how much of that old number came from Amazon and how much was from the tips of the workers.
For its part, Amazon also said that it’s raising its minimum contribution to the new numbers, which would imply that it previously contributed less than $15 an hour. Amazon did not wish to reveal what it’s minimum contribution was earlier.
In addition to that, Amazon is also updating its app for drivers to break down payments for each delivery more clearly. This will help show what amount of their pay will come from Amazon and what amount is coming from a tip.
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