This former pastry chef found an advertisement for Amazon Flex when he was shopping on Amazon.com.au and decided it sounded like an ideal job for a single parent who only wanted to work during school hours.
And 12 months on Wei, 38, says it’s even better than he anticipated, and it has helped him find the perfect work life balance to keep him active and earning an income, yet available for school drop-offs and pick-ups.
“I used to work in our family business as a pastry cook, but I stopped doing that because I wanted to spend more time with my daughter, and driving for Amazon Flex worked out perfectly for me” he says.
Wei says he now has the best of two worlds.
He gets to spend a lot more time with his nine-year-old daughter Rachel, but is also able to earn an income in a much less stressful and demanding environment than the busy kitchen where he used to work.
“I used to spend six days a week in the shop and rush to school each day to pick Rachel up, and she had to stay in the shop after school,” he says.
“Now I do a delivery block from 10am to 2pm during school hours, so it a perfect fit for me. I can still drop her off in the mornings and pick her up in the afternoons, and she’s also doing swimming lessons and piano lessons.
“Sometimes she plays with her friends and she has more and more social activities in her life, so I need to spend more time with her because she has so many things to do. I think it’s very important to spend time with her at this stage of her life.”
Wei says it was the flexible working hours and the straightforward nature of working as a delivery partner that appealed to him more than the money, although he says the pay is comparable to other courier jobs he has worked.
He says driving also helps improve his wellbeing because he finds it relaxing and relatively stress-free.
“When I do deliveries for Amazon Flex I feel quite relaxed because it’s an easy job, and you can relax your mind, because you don’t have to rush. I usually deliver all my packages in less than the allocated time,” he explains.
Wei plans to open his own business again one day, but says even when that happens he will probably still stay on as an Amazon Flex delivery partner, and he likes it so much that he’s recommended it to a number of friends.
But the best thing of all is that Amazon Flex has helped him become an even better dad. “It’s been great for both of us,” he says.
Learn more about Amazon Flex.
