How to tell Amazon to tip your delivery driver $5

Amazon drivers with most 'thank-yous' will receive cash prize

Amazon has announced a new initiative for the holiday season that will allow users to tip their delivery drivers $5 – at no cost to the customer.

Beginning this month, Amazon consumers are able to use Alexa-enabled devices to send a "thank you" to those who deliver their packages. 

"Starting December 7, any time a customer says 'Alexa, thank my driver,' the driver who delivered their most recent package will be notified of the customer’s appreciation," Amazon said in a press release. "And, in celebration of this new feature, with each thank-you received from customers, drivers will also receive an additional $5, at no cost to the customer."

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The Amazon logo

This picture taken on July 4, 2022 shows the logo of Amazon, a major online shopping company, displayed at Amazon Amagasaki Fulfillent Center in Amagasaki, Hyogo, Japan. (Photo by KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

The free $5 tip feature is only applicable to the first 1 million drivers thanked with the new technology.

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Amazon has also announced that the feature will be used for a company-wide competition, with the drivers who receive the most thank-yous winning a small cash prize.

"The five drivers who receive the most customer ‘thank-you’s’ during the promotional period, will also be rewarded with $10,000 and an additional $10,000 to their charity of choice."

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shopper browsing Amazon website

Browsing the Amazon webpage on an iPad. (iStock / iStock)

The promotion comes following a recently announced lawsuit claiming that Amazon has been siphoning tips away from its drivers.

Washington, D.C., Attorney General Karl Racine is suing Amazon alleging that the e-commerce juggernaut stole tips from delivery drivers over the course of several years in order to subsidize its own labor expenses. 

The suit, which also names Amazon Logistics as a defendant in the case, claims that between 2016 and 2019, "Amazon misled consumers to believe that they were paying tips directly to their delivery drivers through Amazon’s online delivery portal, and that those tips were increasing driver pay by the consumer-designated amounts."

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Amazon delivery driver loads packages

A parcel from the online retailer Amazon stands in a DHL transporter for parcel delivery. (Sebastian Gollnow/picture alliance via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Instead, the company is accused of using them "to pay a portion of the amounts Amazon had already promised its drivers—thereby subsidizing Amazon’s labor costs," according to the 17-page lawsuit.

FOX Business' Daniella Genovese contributed to this report.