Status: 02/22/2022 08:16 a.m
Amazon delivers many packages in Germany with its own delivery service. Self-employed drivers are often used for this. The calculated payment of 25 euros per hour only seems attractive at first glance.
Thanks to the rapid growth rates of online trade, the majority of adults in Germany are familiar with the website of the market leader Amazon. The US company’s “Amazon Flex” service is less well known. Interested parties cannot buy any products on the associated website, but can find out how they can offer their labor to Amazon.
“Earn money in your free time” as a contradiction?
The activity is described in flowery words: “Earn money in your free time,” it says. “Do it your way. Drive your car, listen to your music and get paid for it.” According to Amazon, the earnings are 25 euros per hour. The basis for this calculation are therefore delivery blocks with a previously estimated time required for the delivery of the parcels contained in them.
The specified average hourly wage is a good two and a half times the statutory minimum wage of 9.82 euros currently applicable in Germany. Even after the two planned increases in the current year to ultimately 12.00 euros at the beginning of October, the earnings promised by Amazon would be more than twice the then valid minimum wage. That doesn’t seem bad for an unskilled job.
But there are a number of limitations that prospects should consider. The prospect of an average wage of 25 euros per hour does not cover the journey to the distribution center and the journey home after the last package has been delivered.
Furthermore, this work differs significantly in some points from the activities, for example, in the shipping and logistics centers of Amazon. Working for Amazon Flex is not like a permanent position. There is no promised minimum working time. “It’s not a full-time job,” Amazon said. And: The drivers act as self-employed. They must therefore pay for health, pension or unemployment insurance themselves. This must also be taken into account when classifying the salary offered.
High costs
Interested parties must also register a trade and submit the trade license to the company no later than 90 days after starting the activity. The employee must also provide the vehicle for transporting the parcels themselves. In addition, there are the costs for wear and tear and maintenance, such as higher motor vehicle insurance due to commercial use. The fuel costs and all other expenses such as traffic tickets are also on the account of the delivery driver.
In addition, compulsory membership in the trade association (BG) Verkehr with an annual fee of 62 euros is to be expected. The exceptions here are drivers who are only on the road as delivery drivers for a few days a year.
Big risk of liability
Experts also recommend taking out professional liability insurance to protect yourself against liability risks. “If a package is damaged or lost during delivery, you are responsible,” Amazon Flex says on the website.
The service is not without controversy among applicants. Some interested parties complain on evaluation portals that they were unable to get any orders despite submitting a good certificate of good conduct and a business registration. The costs for submitted documents would not be reimbursed in this case either. Apparently, Amazon does not actually need new drivers at every location at all times.
Review by ver.di
Criticism also comes from ver.di. The union is particularly critical of the employment of a large number of unemployed delivery drivers. “The large number of logistics partners that the company uses in its core business prevents large workforces and, as a result, the formation of works councils and collective bargaining agreements,” says ver.di Deputy Chair Andrea Kocsis.
In addition, the social security institutions would have to initiate status determination procedures for all Amazon Flex drivers in order to uncover and end bogus self-employment. In Spain, for example, the local government instructed Amazon in 2020 to hire 3,000 self-employed delivery drivers. It remains to be seen whether this will also happen here.