Amazon said its holiday thank-you tip program for Amazon drivers through its Alexa drivers ran out of funds within one day.
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“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 wrote on the site.
In a statement to USA Today, 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 widely 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, Insider reported. A study from the Strategic Organizing Center found 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 difficult to unionize.
The average driver makes around $21 an hour or $43,207 a year, per USA Today. The company said it would boost pay 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.
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