Does anyone work for or has anyone worked for instacart?
I'm thinking of applying in my area, I need a little extra income, I had a couple of unexpected expenses that I had to use my credit card for and want to get it paid back off as fastest as I can. Not many mystery shops in my area lately. I think a bunch of new people are in the area doing it, as even the very low paying jobs are gone fast.

I would sign up and once approved, use the apple/google pay until you get the physical card.

It’s not as busy as it was during the pandemic, but you can still pick $500+ up a week working 25 hours.

Once you get the physical card and cooler bags you can start shopping at Costco’s and other clubs which are super easy.

I would also look at Amazon Flex and Walmart Spark. Those are delivery services where you don’t have to shop, you just pick up and delivery.

Instacart is full service and you’ll have to communicate with customers who aren’t always the happiest.

It very much depends on your area and the specific grocery stores as well. Early in the pandemic when my other incomes sources and prospects dried up, I delivered for instacart for awhile. I made about $5 an hour before mileage expenses : -( so at the IRS rate I was losing money.
I live in an area that is international and many people don’t have the culture of tipping, and the areas I delivered to were generally working class or solidly middle class. I also was slower than you probably would be in the store: back then there were often lines and protocols to follow, I’m over 40 so I need reading glasses which fogged up with my required mask, etc. Many grocery stores around me have changed the system whereby the store employees pick the items and the delivery person just comes and pays (a provided debit card only good when you are doing a job) and delivers the items. Although I don’t do it anymore (that’s when someone told me about mystery shopping), I’m pretty sure some of the same rules of thumb apply: it is lucrative work only at peak times and/or if customers tip well, and not so much otherwise. Like Uber, there’s an algorithm that sends you the job (you may or may not be more likely when you’re brand new to get work, but then you’re moved to the back of the line until you’ve done more) and you have a certain amount of time to claim it or accept it. You have to stare at your phone; I would hold it for hours sometimes before being assigned a job (I’m not even counting that time in my $5 an hour since I could listen to a podcast or an audiobook etc. Idk whether or not they have fixed the app to beep if you were sent a job.
Without getting into controversial territory, Best are places where it’s middle to upper middle class, and which are liberal or “blue” areas since the pandemic responses are to a large extent political (and class driven) and people who are still avoiding going out because of the pandemic are more likely to still give the extra pandemic tip than someone using it just for convenience.
I would try to see if you can stack some work and do a gas station shop to pay your gas and if your car is new enough, do Uber/Lyft, then also DoorDash, instacart etc. I would not count just on instacart for much unless perhaps you are in certain northeastern, California, or other lucrative areas.

I think they do a background check afair, and you also have to show them you have enough cooler bags and they mail you the debit card. You may as well sign up and try it out in your area once you’re approved and have the debit card, and once you’re signed up you can do it anywhere, even if it doesn’t work out now, in case you’re in a lucrative area or want to log in just at peak times. Like all gig work, the fees are based on supply and demand, but there's less transparency because if a customer adds a tip when they first order, then that’s added in as a total fee and I’m sure Instacart then lowers their portion somewhat. The positive is that you can get paid once a week or even faster, which will help on the daily compounded interest.
But I assume if mystery shopping is going fast in your area, other gig work will also go fast : -(

@sueac101 wrote:

Does anyone work for or has anyone worked for instacart?
I'm thinking of applying in my area, I need a little extra income, I had a couple of unexpected expenses that I had to use my credit card for and want to get it paid back off as fastest as I can. Not many mystery shops in my area lately. I think a bunch of new people are in the area doing it, as even the very low paying jobs are gone fast.

To give you an example of an order, I just opened the app (it’s been over a year since I’ve done a delivery).

My first option is a shop and deliver at Aldi. 13 items and the customer is 8.1 miles from the store. The total pay is $16.15 ($11.29 batch pay and $4.86 tip). I could shop and deliver this order in around 30 minutes.

The pros? Aldi is super easy to shop and things are rarely out of stock.

The cons? The tips are low (usually 5%) and the produce quality is hit or miss. If you have to out of stock an item, your tip goes down.

The biggest money is at the club stores. A 5% tip on an average Costco order is $15+. I generally took double batches, 20 items and the customers were nj more than 10 miles from the store.

What in the world? You must live in an area without rush hour traffic on roads or in Aldi. First of all you have to count the time and mileage driving from your house. In my area there is nearly always a 10-20 minute line at ALDIs. More at 6 pm. In my area, to go 8.1 miles takes at least 20 minutes. I mapped from my current location to Aldi’s (1.5 miles, can’t count on being that close) to a location 8.5 miles from ALDIs and it’s 25 minutes. (on a major road: more time to go to a residential area and deal with gated communities). To someone’s house add at least 5 minutes, maybe much more with speed bumps and gates. So minimum 10 minutes in line plus minimum 30 minutes driving is 40 minutes. Then there’s shopping time and communicating with customer. So probably an hour. In my area, the base pay would be less. Subtract $.625 per mile is $6.25. So $9.90 at your pay, less where I am. This is peak time (eastern and central time at least). Lower pay non-peak. This proves my point that it depends a lot on location, but also I don’t think you’re taking into account realistic time in line at Aldi’s and communicating with customer about out of stock items etc.

ETA: I logged in for first time in a long time but my physical card was expired (even tho the date wasn’t nearly expired), so I’m only able to do ones using Apple Pay. There are zero batches available to me (never did a ton but my rating was perfect) now at sort-of peak time using Apple Pay, even tho I happen to be at the local grocery store which is packed on a Friday and I know that Apple Pay is ok here.

@Capurato wrote:

To give you an example of an order, I just opened the app (it’s been over a year since I’ve done a delivery).

My first option is a shop and deliver at Aldi. 13 items and the customer is 8.1 miles from the store. The total pay is $16.15 ($11.29 batch pay and $4.86 tip). I could shop and deliver this order in around 30 minutes.

The pros? Aldi is super easy to shop and things are rarely out of stock.

The cons? The tips are low (usually 5%) and the produce quality is hit or miss. If you have to out of stock an item, your tip goes down.

The biggest money is at the club stores. A 5% tip on an average Costco order is $15+. I generally took double batches, 20 items and the customers were nj more than 10 miles from the store.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/19/2022 11:12PM by Notme2021.

The Aldi is two minutes from my apartment building. 13 items is about 8 minutes to shop, 5 to wait in line and check out. 8.1 miles is about a 15 minute drive. Add 5 minutes to get in and out of the car and deliver items and you’re a little over 30 minutes.

Yeah it’s nothing like that where I am, and the OP certainly can’t count on it being like where you are, tho my location is particularly bad. I think that my main supermarket may use only full-time instacart employees and no longer use gig workers off the app, because I no longer see it on the map unless they don’t want ic using Apple Pay for some reason. And I still think you’re not counting parking time, finding a particular house and communication about missing items. You probably know the store better than I do, I’m not sure I can find 13 items in 8 minutes. I’ve never seen only a five-minute line in any Aldi’s in the country I’ve been to, much less during the after-work rush, so you must live in an area with few shoppers or lots of cashiers.
(That’s why I personally don’t shop Aldis for myself, the lines are usually 20 minutes or more and only occasionally as short as 10 min).

Near me most residential areas that use instacart are gated and often with speed bumps. I’ve been sent much farther than 8 miles, and I can take a toll road and cut down on time and increase expenses. And on the way there’s traffic and traffic lights. Anyway, like I said it depends on the location: region, state, and local differences. Each time I’ve checked the app this evening, there are zero shops available using Apple Pay which would be the initial situation for the OP. So my location would be a complete no-go for a new shopper. There’s really no way for the OP to know without signing up and logging in once approved. In my area they’d make less than minimum wage even before counting expenses. In your area you claim $16/ half hour before expenses (then there’s the return trip home, so another 8 miles and 15 minutes that I didn’t count).

@Capurato wrote:

The Aldi is two minutes from my apartment building. 13 items is about 8 minutes to shop, 5 to wait in line and check out. 8.1 miles is about a 15 minute drive. Add 5 minutes to get in and out of the car and deliver items and you’re a little over 30 minutes.

I did InstaCart at the beginning of the pandemic when shops were on hold. I stopped when it got to the point where I had to constantly stare at my phone to select assignments. I'm not glued to it like that. I still have the card.

I signed up, will see what happens.

doordash is a lot less time/driving and just as lucrative. and you rarely have to carry huge loads of drinks up the steps.

I feel like instacart is drying up now. Walmart Spark delivery is where it's at though. I think they may be taking over some of Roadie basically because Walmart Spark delivery now has deliveries I can accept from Auto Zone. The mystery shops in my area get snatched up real quick at shitty pay. The revealed gas stations I like to do on shop metrics dropped at $12 the other day. There were around 15 of those in my small city, and now there is only 5 left. But hey if they want to stoop themselves down that low to complete these assignments for just the $12, go right ahead. I travel to complete mystery shops when pay pumps up. And work Walmart Spark full time and Instacart part time between my Walmart deliveries. But once all these new shops that just dropped within the last week start going up in pay, I travel around for basically a month clearly it all up. It's fun. Lol.

@cooldude581 wrote:

doordash is a lot less time/driving and just as lucrative. and you rarely have to carry huge loads of drinks up the steps.

When I worked for DD, I ALWAYS carried a hot bag inside the restaurant with me.. I bought a real nice bag with a side pocket for drinks and shakes.. The employees thanked me for doing that.

Sadly, (before and after COVID) I have stopped by for a bite to eat on my way to work and I have seen many many w/out a hot bag .. Are you one of those that does not carry at hot bag with you inside the restaurant??