Signed up for Instacart

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With the current state of affairs, and my general lack of ability to sit still, I decided to be productive and do something with the new-found free time. I signed up earlier this week with Instacart, as both a shopper and delivery driver. For those unfamiliar, Instacart allows users to shop their local grocery store's and pharmacy's from home and have the items picked and delivered by an Instacart shopper (me).

I've only done three runs so far, two on Thursday after work and 1 quickie this evening. I actually enjoy it, even though I detest the grocery store on the best of days. There have been some issues with store stock, however the customers have so far been more than understanding given the circumstances. All communication is done through the app, and the best part is most people are requesting the items be dropped at the door (for obvious reasons). The only human interaction is at the checkout counter, a real treat in my eyes.

I had also considered driving for Uber (quickly shot that idea down, too much risk) and delivering food (again, risk and I didn't want my car to smell like food). I'm using the Impala for the runs, it's excellent on gas which is dirt cheap right now, and the maintenance costs are very minimal given I do all my own work and get parts at cost + 10%. My overhead is much lower than the average driver given those perks, so more of the money is going in my pocket.

I have no intention on getting rich off doing this, I luckily still have a job which takes up plenty of time. This is just something to make a few bucks and help provide a service that's needed more now than ever.

For those interested, here's a good article about the company. Yes, it has it's share of problems as most contractor-based business' do, but that's bound to happen.

Instacart looking for 300k workers
 
Originally Posted by AC1DD
Have you received information about the pending strike yet?


I literally signed up on Monday, and started on Thursday. I didn't know anything about the strike until I Google'd to find the CNN link. I don't think their demands are outrageous, however I don't think I'll participate in any strike. If I was making a living doing this, then maybe. I get in and out of customer vehicles all day, I'm at no greater risk delivering groceries than I am at work.
 
Thanks for the post. That was interesting. How is the payment figured out? Is the price predetermined by Instacart based on google map? What does it tend to work out to for an hour of your time.? Thanks.
 
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Originally Posted by Snagglefoot
Thanks for the post. That was interesting. How is the payment figured out? Is the price predetermined by Instacart based on google map? What does it tend to work out to for an hour of your time.? Thanks.


There's several factors that go in to the payment. Trip distance, item count, etc. So far I've been able to average about $20 an hour before tax and expenses. The tips have been at least 80 to almost 100% if my Insta payment, so if my "pay" is $12 on a trip I've been getting $20-23 total.
 
Sold two high mileage prii to people doing this. One guy was a semi-retired landlord who did this about 4 hours an evening and made around $100 every day.

Make sure your insurance situation covers what you need it to.
 
I commend you for doing this. It helps you and others.....seniors like myself for instance.

I recently used the service for the first time and found it rather expensive. The service was excellent, the young lady shopper was very cordial and kept in touch by the minute concerning outages, substitutes, etc. She even helped me bring it all in the house and didn't just dump it on the porch.

All was done and delivered 4 hours before their estimated delivery time. The cost was $28 including tip over what I could have purchased the items for. I'm not sure if the items were marked up above the store price so it could have been more than $28. The fact that she was very attractive eased the pain somewhat.

That's just too steep for those of us scraping by on social security alone. I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd be in this situation but such it is.
 
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Originally Posted by RTexasF
I commend you for doing this. It helps you and others.....seniors like myself for instance.

I recently used the service for the first time and found it rather expensive. The service was excellent, the young lady shopper was very cordial and kept in touch by the minute concerning outages, substitutes, etc. She even helped me bring it all in the house and didn't just dump it on the porch.

All was done and delivered 4 hours before their estimated delivery time. The cost was $28 including tip over what I could have purchased the items for. I'm not sure if the items were marked up above the store price so it could have been more than $28. The fact that she was very attractive eased the pain somewhat.

That's just too steep for those of us scraping by on social security alone. I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd be in this situation but such it is.



I'm glad the service worked well for you! I have no idea if Instacart marks up the items you purchase, but I would hope they don't. On my end, the app tells me what the cost of each item should be so I know I'm getting the right thing. I'll also look for deals just like I normally do when I shop: for example, one woman wanted 4 boxes of dishwashing tabs. The scent she wanted was out of stock, but I found the same brand original scent BOGO so I actually saved her quite a bit.
 
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