# Instacart



## uberboy1212 (Jan 10, 2017)

Anyone do Instacart? How is it as far as pay, tips, scheduling? I just got approved and I just need to go in and pick up my debit card. I recall grocery shopping for Postmates was a pain in the ass. Any insight would be appreciated


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## LauraC (Aug 10, 2017)

I do instacart. Schedules are done Sundays for early access and Wednesday for non early access. This is for the following week, not upcoming week. Hours also become available throughout the week. Can only work if scheduled. Requirements for early access is 90 hours in the past 3 weeks or 25 hours past 3 weekends. You get early access for about 1 month when you 1st start. Hours are hard to come by.

When you 1st start you are given a guarantee for 1st 20 hours, then no guarantee after. How much depends on area. I average $11/hr non guarantee. Tips are worse then food delivery, you do so much more, you'd think people would tip, I haven't got a tip my last 10 deliveries. I guess instacart service is already expensive before tips, I don't know.

I've never done grocery delivery with any other services, so can't compare with those but I personally like it. For me it's less stress, headaches, frustration then Flex, food deliveries or rideshare, and less wear and tear on my vehicle also. Thus I keep doing despite it being the lowest avg pay of all the side gigs I do.


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## uberboy1212 (Jan 10, 2017)

LauraC said:


> I do instacart. Schedules are done Sundays for early access and Wednesday for non early access. This is for the following week, not upcoming week. Hours also become available throughout the week. Can only work if scheduled. Requirements for early access is 90 hours in the past 3 weeks or 25 hours past 3 weekends. You get early access for about 1 month when you 1st start. Hours are hard to come by.
> 
> When you 1st start you are given a guarantee for 1st 20 hours, then no guarantee after. How much depends on area. I average $11/hr non guarantee. Tips are worse then food delivery, you do so much more, you'd think people would tip, I haven't got a tip my last 10 deliveries. I guess instacart service is already expensive before tips, I don't know.
> 
> I've never done grocery delivery with any other services, so can't compare with those but I personally like it. For me it's less stress, headaches, frustration then Flex, food deliveries or rideshare, and less wear and tear on my vehicle also. Thus I keep doing despite it being the lowest avg pay of all the side gigs I do.


Damn I assumed the tips would be great considering the extra work. I live near a bunch of participating grocery stores so I'll try it out and see how it goes. Thanks for the reply I really appreciate it


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## LauraC (Aug 10, 2017)

Hopefully your area will be different then mine and you'll get tips but either way I think you should try it. I personally like doing instacart.

Also if your area is busy, you can make more money if your quick and efficient, you won't have to rely on tips. My area is just slow so being efficient really doesn't help cause you just end up waiting longer for the next order to come thru.


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## GlfCstElf (Nov 14, 2016)

Anxious to see how you do with it uberboy, keep us posted!


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## uberboy1212 (Jan 10, 2017)

Prob going in to get the card tomorrow morning. Im keeping my expectations really low, will def keep u posted


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## Ghwwe72 (Sep 23, 2016)

I got my debit card today no hours available for the rest of this week and the only day available next week was Sunday afternoon which is prime Uber driving hours here in Boston so will have to see what else becomes available


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## uberboy1212 (Jan 10, 2017)

So I did wind up stopping by the office today and picked up my card. It took like 10 seconds, they didnt even ask for my name just handed me the card and said thank you. There are no blocks available this week. there are a few next week but the hours are no good for me. That sucks because I mainly wanted to do Instacart for the morning hours. GH doesnt start till 11 and UE is mostly McDs orders in the morning. Im going to check for block openings and see if I can pick up anything decent.



Ghwwe72 said:


> I got my debit card today no hours available for the rest of this week and the only day available next week was Sunday afternoon which is prime Uber driving hours here in Boston so will have to see what else becomes available


Damn we posted pretty much the same message at the same time. From what Ive heard blocks are harder to come by then the other delivery gigs.


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## KMANDERSON (Jul 19, 2015)

The shopping and looking for food stop me from even considering this app.


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## uberboy1212 (Jan 10, 2017)

KMANDERSON said:


> The shopping and looking for food stop me from even considering this app.


I know what you mean. I'm willing to do it though if the pay is significantly higher. If not then I'm going to just stick to food delivery


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## Woohaa (Jan 15, 2017)

Instacart USED to be a good deal for drivers. Back when I drove for them they had a $10 hourly guarantee & there was many a day where I would spend an entire 8 hour shift on the couch without an order and still clear $80.

Tips were good back then too, especially in San Marino. Instacart got rid of its hourly guarantee but still demanded drivers be on standby all day meaning you could spend an entire 8 hour shift without any orders and make $0. Plus, they started to do mass hirings so getting hours became difficult. Then they lowered pay for drivers. I stopped driving for them about a year ago but I hear you can't make money there anymore once you factor in what you pay out of your own pocket like gas, etc.


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## uberboy1212 (Jan 10, 2017)

Woohaa said:


> Instacart USED to be a good deal for drivers. Back when I drove for them they had a $10 hourly guarantee & there was many a day where I would spend an entire 8 hour shift on the couch without an order and still clear $80.
> 
> Tips were good back then too, especially in San Marino. Instacart got rid of its hourly guarantee but still demanded drivers be on standby all day meaning you could spend an entire 8 hour shift without any orders and make $0. Plus, they started to do mass hirings so getting hours became difficult. Then they lowered pay for drivers. I stopped driving for them about a year ago but I hear you can't make money there anymore once you factor in what you pay out of your own pocket like gas, etc.


I appreciate the insight. I probably wont be trying Instacart anytime soon since I finally got into Flex. Got the email yesterday and just waiting for the background check. I really hope it works out Ive been waiting almost a year for a response. I may wind up tryin IC just to see how it is if I find a decent block


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## Woohaa (Jan 15, 2017)

uberboy1212 said:


> I appreciate the insight. I probably wont be trying Instacart anytime soon since I finally got into Flex. Got the email yesterday and just waiting for the background check. I really hope it works out Ive been waiting almost a year for a response. I may wind up tryin IC just to see how it is if I find a decent block


I do Flex too. You'd be better off focusing on that than on Instacart. When compared against Flex you're gonna find you do twice as much work on Instacart for less than half the pay.


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## uberboy1212 (Jan 10, 2017)

Woohaa said:


> I do Flex too. You'd be better off focusing on that than on Instacart. When compared against Flex you're gonna find you do twice as much work on Instacart for less than half the pay.


Yea Im def going to focus on FLex and get as many blocks as I can. Flex was always my first choice and the first gig I signed up for. None of these gigs are perfect but I hear the least amount of negative things about flex. I'll still be doing UE whenever I cant get a block


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## Sgt_PaxHauler (Oct 21, 2016)

I'm not sure if Instacart works differently in other locales, but here in central Texas the drivers who deliver to the door don't do the shopping in stores. The shopping is taken care of by a separate group of Instacart workers who get W2 wages to stay at supported stores, shop for customers' orders and place them in storage for 1099 drivers to pick up and take to customers' front doors. In fact, when I applied at Instacart, I was asked if I wanted to be a shopper or a driver.


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## jack badly (Apr 13, 2016)

LauraC said:


> I do instacart. Schedules are done Sundays for early access and Wednesday for non early access. This is for the following week, not upcoming week. Hours also become available throughout the week. Can only work if scheduled. Requirements for early access is 90 hours in the past 3 weeks or 25 hours past 3 weekends. You get early access for about 1 month when you 1st start. Hours are hard to come by.
> 
> When you 1st start you are given a guarantee for 1st 20 hours, then no guarantee after. How much depends on area. I average $11/hr non guarantee. Tips are worse then food delivery, you do so much more, you'd think people would tip, I haven't got a tip my last 10 deliveries. I guess instacart service is already expensive before tips, I don't know.
> 
> I've never done grocery delivery with any other services, so can't compare with those but I personally like it. For me it's less stress, headaches, frustration then Flex, food deliveries or rideshare, and less wear and tear on my vehicle also. Thus I keep doing despite it being the lowest avg pay of all the side gigs I do.


instacart is known to steal tips from shoppers. they are in a lawsuit now. according to the first class action lawsuit, some shoppers are getting a paycheck from all the tip money they stolen from.


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## MuhKayRuh (Apr 5, 2017)

Don't waste your time



Sgt_PaxHauler said:


> I'm not sure if Instacart works differently in other locales, but here in central Texas the drivers who deliver to the door don't do the shopping in stores. The shopping is taken care of by a separate group of Instacart workers who get W2 wages to stay at supported stores, shop for customers' orders and place them in storage for 1099 drivers to pick up and take to customers' front doors. In fact, when I applied at Instacart, I was asked if I wanted to be a shopper or a driver.


Wrong . They do both sometimes


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