What Is an Amazon DSP? A Practical Guide for Owners and Operators
The short answer: An Amazon DSP is a Delivery Service Partner — an independently-owned business that operates Amazon’s last-mile delivery routes under contract. DSPs run fleets of branded vans, hire and manage drivers (called “Delivery Associates” or “DAs”), and deliver packages directly to customers’ doorsteps every day.
If you arrived here looking for the advertising platform, you want a different page — see the disambiguation below.
What does “DSP” mean? (Disambiguation)
In Amazon’s ecosystem, “DSP” can refer to two completely unrelated things:
- Delivery Service Partner — a last-mile logistics business that delivers Amazon packages. This is the meaning used by anyone running, working at, or buying software for an Amazon delivery fleet.
- Demand-Side Platform (Amazon DSP) — Amazon’s programmatic advertising platform for buying display, video, and audio ads. Used by media buyers and ad-tech professionals.
This page is about the logistics meaning. If you came here looking for advertising, search for “Amazon DSP advertising” instead.
What does an Amazon DSP actually do?
A DSP is a delivery operator. Each morning, the owner and their managers receive routes generated by Amazon’s routing system and assign them to drivers. Drivers pick up vans loaded with packages from a nearby Amazon Delivery Station, drive their assigned routes, and deliver packages to customers — typically 200–400 stops per route, completed in an 8–10 hour shift.
A DSP is responsible for:
- Hiring, training, and scheduling Delivery Associates
- Operating a fleet of leased Amazon-branded delivery vans
- Daily dispatch and rostering — making sure each route has a driver, vehicle, and equipment
- Monitoring and improving driver performance against Amazon’s metrics
- Vehicle maintenance, inspections, and accident response
- Compliance with Amazon’s safety, photo-on-delivery, and customer-experience standards
- Payroll, HR, and employment law for drivers
Amazon owns the customer relationship, the routing logic, and the technology that flows packages to the station. The DSP owns everything that happens between the station and the customer’s door.
How is a DSP different from Amazon Flex?
The two get confused often, but they’re structurally different:
- Amazon DSP: a contracted business with W-2 employees, leased vans, dedicated routes, and a long-term operating agreement with Amazon.
- Amazon Flex: independent contractors using their own vehicles, picking up shifts on demand through an app.
DSPs handle the bulk of suburban and urban next-day delivery; Flex fills in surge capacity, harder-to-reach areas, and same-day delivery from Whole Foods or Amazon Fresh.
How do DSPs make money?
DSPs are paid per route, with rates that vary by region and route type. The biggest cost lines are:
- Driver labor — typically 60–70% of operating costs
- Vehicle leasing and maintenance — Amazon-branded vans leased through approved providers
- Fuel — fluctuates with regional fuel prices
- Insurance — commercial auto, workers’ comp, general liability
Margins are thin — a few percentage points — and Scorecard performance directly affects route allocation and pay. The owners who do well are the ones who run tight operations: high driver retention, low Scorecard variance, and disciplined cost control.
What is the Amazon Scorecard?
The Scorecard is Amazon’s weekly performance scoring system for DSPs. It rolls up several measurements into a single grade — typically Fantastic, Great, Fair, or Poor — that determines route allocation, contract renewal, and visibility to Amazon’s operations team.
Scorecard categories include:
- Delivery Completion Rate — packages delivered as a percentage of attempted
- Contact Compliance — driver on-time check-ins and route adherence
- Photo-On-Delivery (POD) Compliance — photo confirmations of safe deliveries
- Safe Driving — measured by Mentor or Netradyne telematics on metrics like braking, acceleration, distracted driving
- Customer Feedback — survey responses tied to deliveries
Improving Scorecard isn’t just a vanity metric — it directly drives revenue. A DSP that moves from “Fair” to “Great” can see meaningful changes in route allocation and contract leverage.
How big is a typical DSP?
Most DSPs run 20–60 vans and employ 25–80 drivers, varying by station, region, and ownership group. A few much larger operators run multiple stations under one ownership umbrella (“multi-station DSPs”), with 100+ vans and 200+ drivers across their footprint.
Single-station DSPs are the most common. Multi-station operators typically need centralized tooling for cross-station performance, communications, and compliance — a different set of operational requirements than single-station DSPs.
What software do Amazon DSPs use?
Amazon provides the routing system, customer-facing app, and some dispatch tooling. But DSPs need their own software to run the operational side of the business — the parts Amazon doesn’t manage.
Typical software categories:
- Operations platform — daily rostering, driver scheduling, vehicle assignments, performance tracking, automated coaching, compliance documentation. (This is the category Hera operates in — built by a former DSP for DSPs.)
- Telematics — Netradyne, Mentor, or similar in-vehicle systems for safe-driving scoring
- HR/payroll — ADP, Paycom, or comparable systems
- Communication — group messaging or driver SMS broadcast tools
- Vehicle telematics & maintenance — preventive maintenance scheduling, mileage tracking, fuel-card management
DSPs that try to run on spreadsheets and group texts hit a ceiling fast — usually around 30–40 routes — where coordination overhead overwhelms the owner. The shift to a dedicated operations platform usually pays for itself in driver retention and Scorecard improvement.
How do you become an Amazon DSP?
Amazon recruits new DSPs through a program with significant upfront vetting. The general path:
- Apply through Amazon’s DSP program
- Pass screening (operations background, capital, business experience)
- Complete Amazon’s training program
- Sign a contract and launch a station with an initial route count
- Scale based on Scorecard performance and station capacity
Capital requirements vary, but expect to need meaningful working capital to fund the first months of payroll and lease deposits before route revenue stabilizes. Amazon publishes program details and applies caps to new launches based on regional demand.
Frequently asked questions
What’s the difference between an Amazon DSP and Amazon Flex?
A DSP is a contracted business with W-2 employees and leased vans operating dedicated routes. Amazon Flex drivers are independent contractors using their own vehicles, picking up shifts on demand.
How much does an Amazon DSP make?
Margins are typically a few percentage points of revenue. A well-run single-station DSP with 25–40 routes can generate meaningful owner income; multi-station operators scale further. Scorecard performance directly affects route allocation, so operational quality drives financial outcomes.
What software do Amazon DSPs use?
DSPs use Amazon’s routing tools plus their own operations platform, telematics, payroll, and communication tools. Hera is one of the dedicated operations platforms in this space — built by a former DSP operator and focused specifically on DSP scheduling, coaching, compliance, and Scorecard performance.
How are Amazon DSPs measured?
Through Amazon’s Scorecard — a weekly performance scoring system covering delivery completion rate, contact compliance, photo-on-delivery, safe driving (telematics-based), and customer feedback. Scorecard grades drive route allocation and contract leverage.
How many drivers does a typical Amazon DSP have?
Most DSPs run 20–60 vans and employ 25–80 drivers. Multi-station operators may run 100+ vans and 200+ drivers across their stations.
Is “DSP” the same as Amazon’s advertising platform?
No — those share initials but are unrelated. Amazon DSP (Delivery Service Partner) is last-mile logistics. Amazon DSP (Demand-Side Platform) is programmatic advertising. This page is about the logistics meaning.
Run a DSP? Hera helps with the operational side.
Hera is the all-in-one operations platform for Amazon DSPs — built by a former DSP operator who ran a station before building Hera. We cover daily rostering, automated SMS coaching, performance tracking against Scorecard, compliance, and fleet management.
