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
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