Amazon Relay

Review by eFreeware

Amazon Relay is a free app from Amazon Mobile LLC, built for the people who move Amazon freight: carriers, owner-operators and the drivers behind the wheel. It has been in the store since October 2017 and now sits past a million installs with a 4.6 average from more than 45,000 ratings, which tells you it is not a niche experiment but something a lot of working drivers keep on their phones.

The reason to consider it is simple. Relay bundles the parts of an Amazon haul that would otherwise be split between a dispatch desk, a phone call and a stack of paper: booking loads, finding the right truck entrance, telling someone when a run goes wrong, and closing out the paperwork at the end. If your week revolves around Amazon facilities, that combination is the draw.

Booking freight without sitting at a desk

For carriers and owner-operators, the center of the app is the Load Board. It is where you book loads that fit the schedule you actually run, rather than the one a broker assumes you can keep. The developer's pitch is that this can happen anywhere you have a phone signal, from a checkout line to a fuel stop parking lot, which matters when the alternative is being chained to a laptop.

Two features build on that idea. Suggested Reloads surfaces additional trips along routes a driver is already running, so an empty return leg has a chance of paying. Post A Truck goes further and books loads automatically when they match the availability you have posted. The second is the more interesting one for a small fleet, because it turns spare capacity into something that can be filled without a person watching the board all day.

The Trips page is where booked loads live. You can review what is on the schedule and assign or update the driver attached to each one, which is the sort of housekeeping that gets messy fast when it happens over text messages. Push notifications carry updates and announcements from Relay, so changes do not have to be discovered by refreshing a screen.

Navigation built around a loaded truck

Drivers get navigation at no cost, and it is routed for trucks rather than for cars. That includes guidance to the Amazon truck entrances at facilities, which is a small detail that saves a large amount of circling. Lane guidance tells a driver which lane to be in as a turn approaches, the kind of instruction that matters more with a trailer than without one.

The alerts are aimed at the same problem. A driver can be told when a load is ready for pickup, when one has been cancelled, or when something new has been added to the schedule. Each of those is a reason to change plans, and hearing about it early is worth more than hearing about it at the gate.

Load History keeps the last two weeks of Amazon loads in view, which is useful when a question comes up about a run that has already been delivered. Drivers can also report delays or disruptions to their company's dispatchers and to Amazon from the app, so a problem gets recorded by the people who need to know rather than relayed secondhand.

Paperwork that does not wait for the office

Proof of delivery and bills of lading can be handled digitally, which is the quiet workhorse of the whole package. Paperwork is where a smooth run turns into a phone argument three weeks later, and having those documents captured at the point of delivery is the kind of feature that earns its keep without being exciting.

For a carrier running several trucks, this pairs with the Trips page: the load is booked, the driver is assigned, the run is completed, and the documents are attached to it. Nothing here is complicated on its own. The value is that the pieces sit in one app instead of four.

What the app asks of you

Relay is free, carries no advertising and offers no in-app purchases, so there is no upsell to work around. The trade is that it is not a general freight tool. It is built around Amazon's own network, from the load board to the facility entrances to the two-week load history. Carriers who haul for a mix of customers will still need whatever systems those other customers use.

The app is designed for the gaps in a working day rather than for a desktop at the yard. Using it also means accepting the Amazon Relay terms of use and privacy notice, which is stated plainly when you start.

The recent update is limited to bug fixes and performance improvements, which suggests steady maintenance rather than a new direction.

The right fit for Amazon freight

This is a working tool for people whose income depends on Amazon loads. Owner-operators who book their own freight will get the most direct use from the Load Board and the reload suggestions. Small carriers with a handful of trucks get the Trips page and driver assignment, which is where the app starts to look like a lightweight dispatch layer.

Company drivers benefit from a different half of it: the truck routing, the entrance guidance, the pickup and cancelation alerts, and the ability to flag a delay without hunting for a phone number. If your loads are not Amazon loads, most of what Relay does will not apply to you, and the app makes no attempt to hide that focus.

The install numbers and the 4.6 average suggest a large body of drivers and carriers have found it useful enough to keep. That is not proof it will fit your operation, but it is a reasonable signal that the core jobs, booking, routing and paperwork, are being handled well enough for daily use.

A practical addition for Amazon haulers

I would install Amazon Relay if Amazon freight is a regular part of your work. It costs nothing, shows no ads, and covers the parts of a run that are easiest to get wrong: finding the right entrance, knowing when a load changes, and closing out the paperwork. Carriers and owner-operators get the booking side, drivers get the road side, and both get the same account of what is happening.

The limits are the ones the app sets for itself. It is tied to Amazon's network, and it assumes you have accepted the Relay terms. Within those bounds, it looks like a sensible default for anyone whose routes already run through Amazon facilities.

What's new in version 2.44.233

Bug fixes and performance improvements