'Tip your Amazon driver using Alexa' program is out of gas.

An Amazon delivery driver carries a package through the snow following a winter storm in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

last updated 23 December 2022

Amazon’s short-lived tip “Alexa, tip my driver” program, where customers can send an Amazon-supplied $5 tip to their delivery drivers, has new life.

Amazon told customers this week it has resuscitated the perk with a $1 million infusion weeks after the program ended when the initial $1 million was quickly drained.

“After extraordinary participation by the community … we are extending the ‘Alexa, Thank My Driver’ $5 appreciation program by an additional 1 million ‘thank yous'," Amazon said in a blog post this week. “Drivers will receive a notification of when the $5 promotion has ended.”

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Via the tip my driver program, Amazon drivers join that list of the people you should tip during the holidays. And why not? You see them running up to your doorstep time and again during the holiday shopping season because you’re taking advantage of your Amazon Prime perks after the 2022 price increase.

The best part? The money doesn’t come out of your pocket. Amazon picks up the $5 tip.

Amazon announced the service earlier in December, and even gave subscribers a video to show how it works. Customers access Amazon’s cloud-based voice service Alexa, on the Amazon app or through an Amazon device, such as Echo, or third-party devices that have Alexa built-in. All you have to do is say “Alexa, thank my driver.” Alexa fires back, “Glad you liked your most recent delivery. Since you shared your appreciation, as a special ‘thanks’ this holiday season, your driver will receive an extra $5 at no cost to you.”

In a statement, Amazon said it rolled out the promotion because “Amazon has a long-standing commitment to empowering and investing in delivery drivers. While this thank-you is another moment for us to express our gratitude, it certainly will not be the last, and we look forward to finding additional opportunities to celebrate the drivers who deliver smiles for customers.”

The “Alexa, tip my driver” is an Amazon perk in a year when Amazon Prime subscribers have been counting perks, a must for those considering the fate of their Amazon Prime membership, which became 17% more costly in 2022. Some perks, including Amazon Treasure Truck and Amazon Drive, have been axed (or soon will be). But a bonus came in 2022 when Amazon opened up its record vaults to Amazon Prime subscribers.

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Bob was Senior Editor at Kiplinger.com for seven years and is now a contributor to the website. He has more than 40 years of experience in online, print and visual journalism. Bob has worked as an award-winning writer and editor in the Washington, D.C., market as well as at news organizations in New York, Michigan and California. Bob joined Kiplinger in 2016, bringing a wealth of expertise covering retail, entertainment, and money-saving trends and topics. He was one of the first journalists at a daily news organization to aggressively cover retail as a specialty and has been lauded in the retail industry for his expertise. Bob has also been an adjunct and associate professor of print, online and visual journalism at Syracuse University and Ithaca College. He has a master’s degree from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and a bachelor’s degree in communications and theater from Hope College.