Short answer
An Amazon Relay contract is pre-planned work you book ahead, up to 6 months out, at a fixed rate. Amazon offers full-week, partial-week, reservation and standby contracts, with lengths from 8-hour box truck contracts to 119-hour team blocks. You need a B grade or better to book new contracts, and Amazon pays weekly for the previous week's completed work.
What is an Amazon Relay contract?
A contract is work you book in advance instead of grabbing loads one at a time. Amazon's contracts guide describes contracts as pre-planned blocks of work out of a domicile (a city or area), at a fixed rate, built on round trips. You can book them up to 6 months out.
Contracts sit alongside spot loads on the Relay load board, Post A Truck, and freight auctions. Our Amazon Relay loads guide compares the ways to get Relay work.
What is a block on Amazon Relay?
A block is a chunk of time you reserve trucks and drivers for Relay. Amazon says a block is paid even if Amazon doesn't use the full block.
Two places spell this out:
- Reservation contracts. Amazon's contracts guide says: "We still pay a competitive rate if the full block of time isn't used."
- Post A Truck block orders. Trips start and end at the same location, and a matched block is paid in full even if Amazon doesn't use the whole block length. See how to post a truck on Amazon Relay.
For the other contract types, Amazon's guide doesn't say how unused time is paid. Read the contract details before you click Book.
What types of Amazon Relay contracts are there?
Amazon lists four types:
| Contract type | What you get | Drivers |
|---|---|---|
| Full-week | Full weeks of work | Solo and team |
| Partial-week | Weekly work that varies, with a minimum and a maximum | Solo |
| Reservation | Three blocks of work a week, paid a competitive rate even if the full block isn't used | Solo |
| Standby | A set start date and time window in which Amazon may tender a load | Not stated by Amazon |
Full-week gives the steadiest schedule. Standby is the loosest: you hold a window, and Amazon may send a load in it.
How long are Amazon Relay contract blocks?
Block length decides how long your driver is out and what truck you need.
| Length | How it runs |
|---|---|
| 13-hour solo | Five 13-hour blocks a week, one driver, one day cab. The driver returns to the start after 13 hours of trips. |
| 37-hour solo | Three pre-planned 37-hour blocks |
| 109-hour solo | One round-trip block over five days in a row, then two days off in a row, usually the weekend |
| 119-hour team | One round-trip block for two drivers |
| Multi-week | Up to 10 weeks, with blocks locked in early at upfront rates |
To find multi-week work, filter the contract search by contract duration.
Day cab or sleeper? Amazon requires a sleeper cab whenever drivers spend nights on the road. The one exception is the 13-hour solo contract. So if you only run day cabs, the 13-hour solo is the contract built for you.
Are there box truck contracts on Amazon Relay?
Yes. Amazon's truck requirements page lists box truck contracts, including 8-hour and 13-hour solo contracts with round trips. The truck has to be a 16 ft or 26 ft dock-height box truck with a working tuck-under liftgate. In the contract search, 26 ft box truck is one of the equipment filters.
More on equipment in our Amazon Relay box truck guide. If you're starting with a van, read can you use a cargo van for Amazon Relay first.
Who can book Amazon Relay contracts?
Your grade decides it. Amazon's grades page says:
- B or higher to see and book new contracts.
- A+ and A get contract price alerts.
- Below C+ puts the contracts you already booked at risk.
Amazon also says contracts are only for carriers in good standing. You become eligible for a grade after ten or more Relay loads in the last six active weeks.
Your grade is your lowest metric, and cancellations hit the acceptance metric. Our scorecard guide explains the metrics, and what happens if you cancel a load covers acceptance.
How do you book an Amazon Relay contract?
- In Relay's contract search, filter by equipment: 53 ft trailer, 26 ft box truck, reefer or intermodal.
- Filter by driver type: solo (1, 2 or 5 day) or team. Add contract duration if you want multi-week work.
- Check the dates, equipment, driver type and estimated payout on each contract.
- Click Book on one that works for you.
- Set each driver's weekly availability.
- Assign drivers to the blocks.
Amazon says solo drivers can return home daily or every other day, and team drivers every five days. Plan who covers which block before you book, not after.
How do Amazon Relay contracts pay?
At the contract's fixed rate, weekly. Amazon pays for the previous week's completed work. Relay's pay week runs Sunday to Saturday, and loads completed before 11:59 pm Saturday are paid the following Friday.
You see an estimated payout on each contract before you book. Amazon doesn't publish typical contract rates, and pay varies by lane, timing and equipment. Our guide to how much Amazon Relay pays explains what moves a rate.
What's the difference between contracts and auctions?
Both lock in work ahead. The difference is how the price is set and where the truck goes.
| Contracts | Auctions | |
|---|---|---|
| Based on | A domicile (city or area) | A domicile or a specific lane |
| Price | Fixed rate | Open bidding; the winning rate is locked |
| Trips | Round trips | Mostly one-way |
| Grade to book | B or better | C+ or better (B for reefer, B+ for some box truck loads) |
| Length | 13-hour blocks up to 10-week runs, booked up to 6 months out | 3 to 6 months of one-way contracts |
The full bidding process is in our guide to Amazon Relay auctions.
Where does NudoIQ fit with contracts?
NudoIQ doesn't book contracts or touch blocks. You book those in Relay.
Where it helps is the open days around a contract. A partial-week contract, or the two days off after a 109-hour block, can leave a truck sitting. Those days get filled from the spot board, and that's where NudoIQ works.
NudoIQ is a Chrome extension that runs inside your signed-in Relay load board tab. It's an independent tool, not made by or affiliated with Amazon. It refreshes the board on a 1 to 5 second interval and alerts you when a load matches the lanes and price you set for those open days. In Autobook mode it books only loads that clear your own Min Net Profit and stops at your max-books cap. Every load card shows net profit after driver pay, fuel, maintenance and deadhead, so a filler load is judged on what it nets.
It's used by 300+ carriers. Try it with a 7-day free trial, and cancel anytime. NudoIQ is rated 5.0 on the Chrome Web Store.