Amazon ‘Thank My Driver’ gives $5 million in tips after 1 day

Amazon said its vacation thank-you tip program for Amazon drivers through its Alexa drivers ran out of money within a day.

Bloomberg and Getty Images

“As of December 8, we have received more than 1 million ‘thank you’ messages closing the promotion offering $5 per ‘thank you’ to eligible drivers,” the company said. wrote on the site.

In a statement to USA todayAmazon representatives said the program “exceeded our expectations.”

The company announced last week that it would give drivers $1 million in tips 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 about this new opportunity to thank these everyday heroes and give our customers the opportunity to help us do this,” the company wrote in a statement at the time.

Amazon drivers are wide allegedly overworked – reportedly peeing in bottles in their car during delivery routes or managers who care more about completing delivery routes than if an employee is badly injured, Insider reported. A study of the Strategic Organization Center found it that 1 in 5 Amazon drivers will be injured on the job by 2021.

Many of Amazon’s drivers don’t work for Amazon directly, but through the Delivery Service Partner (DSP) program, which essentially contracts companies with the company that hires their own drivers. Those employees are also reportedly difficult to reconcile.

The average driver earns about $21 per hour or $43,207 per year, according to USA Today. Company said it would increase 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 received the most thank yous $10,000 and $10,000 to a charity they could choose.

You can still tell Amazon’s Alexa to thank your driver, but it will send them a thank you and won’t have any monetary value in the future.