Photos: A day in the life of an Amazon delivery driver

After my alarm goes off, I hop in the shower, get dressed, and then head to the kitchen to make my lunch for the day. I usually bring my own lunch, something that's easy for me to eat along the way—usually a sandwich, a bag of chips, and an apple. If I don't have breakfast at home, I’ll stop at Dunkin’ Donuts on my way to the delivery station and grab an iced tea—(I’m not a coffee drinker)—and a blueberry or chocolate chip muffin.

I arrive at our delivery station in Bellingham, Massachusetts. I leave my personal car in our parking lot and walk into the delivery station to meet my boss, Joe Garcia. Joe is an Amazon Delivery Service Partner (DSP) and runs Gruntastic Logistics Corp. He's the best boss I’ve ever had and does a great job running the whole operation. He gives me my route for the day and tells me how many stops and packages I’ll have. I’ve been a delivery driver with this DSP for about 2.5 years. On a typical day, I’ll have anywhere from 170-190 stops and deliver about 250-300 packages in the South Boston suburbs. After I chat with him, I’ll grab my gear bag, which has a phone, keys, phone charger, gas card (if you’re not driving an electric vehicle), and I go find my van in the delivery station parking lot. I also do my pre-vehicle safety inspection to make sure the van is working properly.

I hop in my van from Rivian and drive around the corner to our delivery station entrance where we do load out. While I’m waiting in the line with the other vans, I put a bottle of water in my cup holder by the steering wheel so I can stay hydrated throughout the day. Load out is when we grab our totes and oversized packages for the day from rolling carts within the delivery station and put them in our vans. The phone in my gear bag tells me the order of everything that will be delivered and how many carts I’ll have that day. I scan the cart with the phone to make sure I have the correct number of totes and load them into the van.

Time to start my route! Once I arrive at my first stop, I open my first tote of the day and put everything on the shelf with the addresses facing me so I can see them easily. A lot of drivers share their own tips and tricks for how they like organizing their packages—it's very much a community thing we have. I grab my phone and connect it to the van, and now I only have to use my phone to scan the packages and take a photo once I’ve delivered the package to the customer's preferred delivery location, like their front door. Before I was in one of Amazon's custom electric delivery vehicles, I’d use my phone for routing and navigation, and then use it to locate and scan packages in the cargo area and take a photo once the package was delivered. Now the tablet screen by the driver's seat has my routing, navigation, and package information, which makes it easier.

I’ve delivered a good chunk of my packages, so I decide to take my lunch break. Each driver has an hour built into their schedule for breaks. We have a 30-minute lunch break and two 15-minute breaks, so there's opportunities throughout the day to find a bathroom or grab a snack.

My lunch break is over, so I’m back on my route. My favorite thing about working as a delivery driver for Amazon is the independence I have during my day. When I’m in the van, I like listening to a podcast or sports talk radio, or whatever I’m feeling. Once I’m out on the road, I can just do my thing.

One of my deliveries is close to a gas station and convenience store, so I make a quick bathroom stop.

I have a few oversized packages at this stop, but they’re easy to access in this van. There's more room in the cargo area for me to maneuver and more shelving options to hold the packages. The bulkhead doors open automatically once I put the van into park, and the temperature-controlled seats and heated steering wheel are also great features, especially in the cold Boston winters.

I see another Amazon delivery driver on the road, so I honk my horn and wave. I find that especially if I deliver in the same areas, I’ll deliver to the same houses sometimes two or three times a week, and I’ll even get to know the customers, which is nice.

I’m done with my deliveries for the day, so I head back to the delivery station. Another perk of using an electric delivery vehicle is that I don't have to stop for gas at the end of the day.

Back at the delivery station, I head to the area where I did my load out to return the empty totes from my route and check in with the Return to Station desk. Then I drive to the van parking lot, do my end of the day vehicle safety inspection, and plug the van into its charging station so it can charge overnight. After that, I check in with my dispatcher and return my gear bag. Joe ordered pizza for his drivers as an end-of-day treat, so I grab a slice and eat it on my way out.

I get into my personal car and head back home. I’m a singer and musician in a few different bands, so sometimes I have rehearsals after work. Since I don't have rehearsals tonight, I’ll cook dinner with my fiancée, and we’ll probably re-watch a few episodes of one of our favorite shows, which happens to be The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Prime Video.

I hope you enjoyed this behind-the-scenes look, and be sure to check out the full video of my day on the Amazon News YouTube channel. I’ll see you on the road!