Instacart is an American company that operates a pick-up and delivery service in the United States and Canada, which runs via a website and mobile app.
The idea is simple: a person selects products from participating retailers, and an independent contractor, also known as a shopper, picks up the items and delivers them.
However, the reality is much more chaotic. As the subreddit r/InstacartShoppers shows, the interactions on the platform can get quite funny, weird, infuriating, and even creepy.
In-store shoppers:
- Shop on an assigned shift;
- Do in-store shopping only (no delivery, so a car isn't required);
- Are part-time employees of Instacart (the company handles taxes);
- Work shifts up to 29 hours per week;
- Option is available in many areas (but not all) to help meet increased demand.
#22 Instacart Sent Me To The Wrong Address. Customer Care Can’t Figure Out Where This Customer Lives Or Phone Number So They Cancelled The Order. So Here I Am With $600 Worth Of Crab And Lobster
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82points
For full-service shoppers, Instacart is like Uber for food. While in-store shoppers earn a fixed, hourly wage, these folks earn by the order with varying amounts.
The Instacart app shows an estimate of potential earnings for every order and guarantees shoppers will earn at least $5 for each delivery-only run and $7 to $10 for each full-service (shop, load, and deliver) batch.
#28 Costco- $1,050 Order. Life Changing Tip
Took this thinking it might be percentage based tip. Nah, customer tipped flat 25.
1hr 46 minutes in store. 10 mins loading… which I had to Tetris in my camry. 10mins unloading into cust garage.
Biggest order I’ve done so far. I’ve done orders from the same store, paid 3x more and took less time. Needless to say I was disappointed after all the hard work
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66points
Earning potential is usually higher when customer demand spikes, so working on Sundays and during popular events, like the Super Bowl, can mean more money, but, as you can see from the pictures, more interaction with customers can increase your headache as well.
