How to possibly apply as a Delivery Driver in my local area

I am new to this lol so bear with me… I’ve recently seen a number of Amazon drivers in my area delivering packages out of their own personal vehicles and this peak season I was a Seasonal Support Driver for UPS delivering packages out of my vehicle but UPS always starts to lay off seasonal employees almost immediately after Christmas chances of getting hired on perm are almost zero they just have a lot of union rules & regulations now. One day when I was on my route I had a chance to ask a woman who was delivering in the same neighborhood for Amazon out of her vehicle how do you apply and she told me that basically I had to know somebody who owns a business in my local area and they had to be an “Amazon partner” whatever that means. All I’m asking is that true or how does the process work they are setting up a smaller last mile delivery DC in my area that is supposed to become operational sometime next year and I assume which would likely create more jobs into our area but nobody knows when that will happen.