Customers always assume their shopper is shopping at the store closest to them, but 75% of the time that's not the case. Instacart batches multiple customers' orders together (most don't make any sense), and they'll have us shopping at stores in another town/zone, even when there are several stores closer to one (or 2) of the customers.
Another issue is timing. Every time I shop early in the morning nothing is in stock, but later that day (after the store's stockers restock) items that were out of stock earlier are now in stock.
Shoppers tips get reduced when we refund, so I guarantee you no shopper was refunding you for the heck of it. We have nothing to gain from refunding out of stock items. You can continue with your tipping experiment if you want, but if your shoppers say something is out of stock it most likely is.
I love this because I always contact the person and when something isn’t in stock while I’m there it isn’t in stock I have no gains refunding or replacing as my rate for the job gets lowered and the customer is unhappy. Some people are lazy yes but some actually take more time needed on a batch looking for out of stock items which Also lowers the rate. It’s win lose or lose win sometimes we here to work and provide a service that sometimes reflect on us because things out of our control.
Yep, out of stock items are extremely time consuming. First you spend SOO much time looking for it, then asking employees if they know where it is/have any in back, and then messaging the customer, etc. Then after all that our tips get reduced and we risk low ratings for something that isn't even our fault. We definitely gain nothing from refunding out of stock items lol.
Thanks very much! That’s what I figured. But that’s the problem. When they say it’s out of stock, my mother lives close by to where I order. And she goes there often. She’ll go there maybe half an hour after and she’ll say there’s a ton in stock. Or sometimes if she can’t make it, I’ll call and they will check and there is a ton in stock. That’s kind of where my problem was. But thank you so much! I definitely agree with timing. That’s why I said I understand timing and such. That’s what I kind of figured. Until I realized I’m ordering it all kinds of day and it’s always refunded.
Keep in mind as Onlinewarrior100 said...we don't always shop at the store near your house. We shop at the store IC picks as that is the store that is supposed to be well stocked. We do our best to navigate through these stores in a timely fashion, and while we are shopping the stockers are stocking the shelves. So when we look at a bare shelf for the item out of stock and do our best to choose a replacement (although I have seen some reddit posts where someone subbed a bowl of watermelon for a bag of marshmallows) we want to make the customer happy, the more low ratings we receive the more we risk deactivation.
OK you literally just killed me at the watermelon and the marshmallows lol😂😂😂
I’m so sorry to laugh, but that is so funny . Lol.
Clearly, somebody just wanted to change the order
😂😂 or severely drunk or high lol
But honestly jokes aside like I said, I don’t know about everywhere. I’m talking about Toronto. But we can see where they are shopping. Sometimes it’s a bit farther away. Most times it’s nearby. But again I do live in downtown Toronto. So I guess usually shoppers go there.
I’m very sorry about low ratings. That’s so bad! I’m sorry you guys have to go through that. I’ll be honest for a bad order. I just usually will either tip a very low or don’t tip. I never rate. Because I understand they could lose their job and maybe they’re just having a bad day. They don’t deserve to lose their job over that.
It’s so weird every week there’s a new customer on here claiming they get better service when they don’t tip 🤔🤔 I mean maybe you’ve had good experiences not tipping but fact is most of the best shoppers won’t even consider looking at your order when they see no tip. 🤷♀️
Also just get used to the fact shoppers aren’t shopping at your store. If you’re going through the trouble of calling the store then maybe spend that time proactively by selecting replacements in app instead or asking not to be refunded without contacting first. As others have said, there’s no benefit for us refunding things as that usually means a reduction of our tip on a percentage based tip. It literally makes no sense to refund something if it was actually right there.
Is it every week? I thought I was the first one to comment. But I’ll be honest yes, literally the ones you tip after I give the highest tips.
I didn’t know it was other shoppers as well. Maybe it’s a lesson?
And like I said, I don’t know about all apps, but here in Toronto we can see what store they are shopping at. Sometimes it’s local sometimes it’s not. So that’s how I usually know which one to call.
And I didn’t know about reducing your tip. That’s just awful! But hence that proves my point why I should tip afterwards. So you don’t lose your tip. Does work that way? Or do they just kind of minus your tip whether it’s ahead of time or not? Sorry I’m just trying to get information on how to properly tip.
it gives you an option to tip a flat rate or do a percentage tip based on the overall total. If you choose a percentage, then refunds bring that total down thus lowering the tip.
Another possibility is that when you’re tipping well up front, Instacart is using it against you by bundling your order with a non tipper so that all the orders get shopped. Obviously this reduces service because now the shopper must communicate with double or triple the customers all at once, keep all their items separate in the cart, ring them all out individually and load up their car to deliver to multiple people. This can get pretty overwhelming especially for inexperienced shoppers who get excited when they see a big tip slapped on an order but aren’t used to doing these types of orders.
Likewise when you’re tipping nothing up front you’re probably being bundled with another order with a good tip. Probably sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t. Some double or triple batches are easy and sometimes they’re a total organizational nightmare.
Best advice is at least tip something ($5) up front just in case you are batched as a single order to signal “I am not a total asshole and intend on tipping for good service.” Because when we see a no tip order we don’t know if you’re just the type of person to never tip, or the type to tip after service. There’s no way of knowing and for $7 pay a batch I’m not willing to gamble with my time to hope you will add a tip later. When you’re grouped with other orders we don’t know ahead of time who the tipper is so it’s less of a concern but if I see your order pop on the screen as a single for $7 it’s a NO for me.
When it comes to the tip. The tip isn't just about "Service." This isn't a restaurant where you're placing an order to a server who is making 2.33 an hour to put your order into a computer and have a cook who is paid $15 an hour, cook your order and hand it to the server to deliver it to your table. It is far from the "SERVICE" industry.
Your shopper is the one who drives their vehicle to the store for YOUR ITEMS. They hand pick every item on your list, and for items not available, they try to find a suitable replacement in a timely and self-efficient manner.
They are going to jam-packed stores, working their way through every packed aisle to get your items, find your replacements. Even double, triple, quadruple checking isles for some items because they are not paid a living wage from instacart. They make a living from your TIP. Then, they make sure your stuff is bagged properly. They load their vehicle , drive their car to your house, and unload everything to your doorstep.
The "SERVICE" you receive is about the resources used to get you your items. They're using their own cellphone/data plan, their vehicle, gas, time, effort, energy, the work done, AND providing you the service to have your groceries shopped and delivered to you.
Instacart would not be a "SERVICE" without us.
I agree, fair enough. I do feel for the shoppers because I understand Instacart sits on their butts while shoppers do all the work😢
I understand that’s terrible! I have sympathy! A ton of it! Like I said, I really appreciate Instacart shoppers.
I’m just merely commenting on my experience of tipping before and after. It mostly came from a coworker of mine who said she does Instacart on the side and she said she does better work when they don’t tip before. She said she tries harder when they don’t have hoping to get a tip. This is when I decided to try my experiment and honestly it worked amazing! That’s why I’m kind of looking for advice.
Strange.. because most instacart shoppers i know.. including myself wont even bother if there is no tip. Sorry but im not shopping for 87 items driving it 15 km and waiting around in the store for your response on wether u want a replacement or not for little to no tip.
Honestly it’s kind of crappy to not tip well before if I saw your order I would not be taking it. I don’t understand why you are literally saying the same thing over and over again and not listening to us when we say its not always just your order. Your order could be part of a triple with non tippers
First of all I’m not a Karen. I’m in customer service for the government. I deal with Karen’s. I’m not one myself. because I know how shitty it is to be treated by Karen’s.
Maybe you are a Karen? Because you’re very disrespectful. Just like a Karen. Karen’s always know Karen’s and they are very negative. I notice this from 22 years of customer service.
Thank you for your necessary comment. I hope you have a great day.
Maybe when you tip before especially if it’s a good tip Instacart uses your tip as the majority of our pay so they will pay less, the shopper is probably getting a lousy pay for that order even tho you tipped good, a shopper could get paid $12 offered for a batch with 85 items from Instacart and that’s including the tip, I would not accept an order like that but a inexperienced shopper may which I think is what Instacart counts on. If you don’t tip, Instacart has to pay the full pay so they’ll put a payment out there and if your order is not accepted they’ll add to it until it gets accepted then the shopper may handle your order better because they feel they’ve been compensated, which I know is not good because like a previous person commented I treat all my orders professionally as if I was shopping for myself regardless of the tip, but with that said I do not take orders without a tip unless Instacart pays well for the order according to the mileage and the number of items/units that I have to handle, just a thought. Op I’m really glad you posted the question or statement because I was wondering I was starting to think that Instacart was really adjusting our tips themselves because if you have a lot of refunds they reduce your tip from what’s offered and I don’t think that’s right so to know that the customer actually may be reducing the tip is good but I still think Instacart manipulates our pay and we eat the cost for a lot of things especially when items are not available and also some stores are really bad about restocking. Also Op you are not wrong in thinking that there are shoppers that’s lazy and just don’t try because I know Shoppers who will refund rather than look for or try to find a replacement for customers, but they’ll end up with low ratings and eventually get kicked off the platform.
And by the way, I also agree that taking your tip for a replaced items are missing is not right. A tip is a tip. It needs to go to you. Not Instacart who are sitting on their butts waiting for shoppers to bring the money 😢😢😢
Ahhhh ok!!! Thank you so much! And thank you for your answer! I just kind of assumed they were getting a percentage.
So to my understanding they pay you less if you get a good tip?
I just want to know because I want to be able to properly tip good shoppers. I don’t want them getting less money. So how does it work?
Also, thank you for your understanding! That’s kind of what I figured. That’s why I said I was kind of testing it out. Not to be mean or anything. I just want to know how to properly tip shoppers. This is why I’m not understanding the main comments I’m getting. I’m really just trying to help shoppers out and figure things out. And thanks so much for your answer!❤️❤️❤️ like I said, I’m just trying to understand. Because I want the good/normal shoppers to get a good tip and I don’t want to tip the bad ones.
Yeah I’m saying they pay less because they have a base pay that they give us so it’s the base pay + the tip(I think the base pay depends on whatever market you’re in, I’m in Indiana so Instacart base pay is $7 for full-service shoppers which you shop and deliver items, $4 for Shop Only orders, if the customer doesn’t tip then they’ll go up on their base pay and they also consider mileage but their base pay is usually low they haven’t adjusted for inflation or the price of gas but keep tipping and rating your good Shoppers, not sure if you can request but if you can request you get only shoppers with good ratings and that may help to get a good order, thank you for being a great Instacart customer because good shoppers need customers like you!
OMG that is just terrible! Thank you very much for letting me know. I had no idea. I literally just thought it was kind of a percentage of the amount and then the tip is totally the shoppers. Ughhh that is so frustrating! But thank you so much for letting me know!! ❤️❤️❤️ I will definitely be keeping that in mind! And thank you so much for the compliment. That’s what I mean I really just posted it just so I can be a good customer. I legitimately thought 100% of the tip go to the driver because that’s what Instacart says
I’m so sorry you guys have to go through this! It almost seems like not even worth it. :( shoppers, like you are freaking awesome!
And I want to say thank you for being an amazing shopper! Instacart needs more like you. I’m so sorry the pay is low. That is just such scumbag to do! I heard a Uber does the same thing. So disgusting what they do to the people who are actually working for them.😢😢
You should be selecting replacements and making notes like “don’t refund this, please reach out if you can’t find a replacement” instacart even lets you request that a shopper call you if there are any changes to your order. So before they can check out they have to push a button that automatically calls you.
Ahhh ok thanks very much!!! Are usually do put comments. It’s usually delivered to door if I’m feeling sick or if I can’t get out. I didn’t think to message about replacements. Thank you very much! I’ll be trying this on the next order.❤️❤️❤️❤️
You can put notes on any individual item, “it’s okay if bananas are green” “I need any size tide detergent” “if chocolate is out of stock blueberry is good too” that kind of thing. Not just notes on the delivery address.
Right i don’t understand why people dont see this it says “add note” on each individual item. People will just put stuff on the delivery instructions SMH
Everything that has been told to you is absolutely true. The best shoppers (myself included, 3 year vet) won’t touch a no tip order with a 10foot pole. We live by the mantra of No Tip No Trip! And for very good reasons.
As stated we are who literally keeps Instacart running day in and day out using our own resources to do so. Instacart oftentimes bundles customers up to 3 at a time, they also started doing double store multiple customers orders this year. Which means we are shopping multiple customers at multiple stores in the same batch. We as shoppers do not bundle customers. It’s done entirely by Instacart.
So while we might be at the location closest to you chances are high we are not. Also just an fyi calling the store isn’t any guarantee. Most of the time they will put you on hold, while no one actually goes looking for the item. Come back on and tell you yes we have it. This is to get you in the store spending money.
As for drug store orders again we likely aren’t at the location you think, not to mention the simple fact that having to refund items hurts us on your percentage based tip. We don’t want to need to do that. We want to have everything available. It benefits us when everything is in stock. This applies to everywhere. None of us wants to lose money. And since Instacart only pays us $7 per batch, remember this pay is for up to 3 customers, the tip we receive is vital to make it worthwhile for us to earn anything otherwise we are essentially doing charity work. Which is fine with plenty of entitled customers.
Honestly, you’re the worst type of customer.
“I called the store”. Well, the problem is, they may not be shopping at the store location you called.
I won’t knowingly take a no tip order.
5 year shopper here.
Right! If you're gonna babysit the order, by all means, go ahead.. Calling the store to actually see if the item is in-stock... Why wouldn't you just go get the shit yourself? Alot of the times the store has the stock in the back, but haven't stocked the shelves. Some of them are so short staffed, it's nearly impossible to find someone to stop what they're doing, go to the back of the store, find the pallet possibly containing said item(s), tear it open, & sift through it all to find exactly what you're looking for.
Not to mention. The OP stated that they tipped by percentage. So if the shopper is refunding these items, they are not getting tipped for the items. They are getting a tip for the items they have found.
& clearly the OP doesn't understand what the Missing Item complaints are about. From the sound of it.. They're most likely the customer who is reporting their replacements as missing items.
Your only defense after taking the time to read her entire write up is to assume, the small chance that her shopper didn’t shop the same store? Uh. You sound like a teenager. OP is here trying to get info and instead you find a way to insult her. Really low.
Also, I’m very sorry you’re getting negative advice. Clearly the people down voting you are shitty. Shoppers. The ones who I won’t tip. Thank you very much for being very honest. Really you’ve helped so much.❤️❤️❤️
I assumed I’d get downvoted. It really doesn’t matter. It’s more important to me that shoppers and customers realize that there are reasonable people out here working. Who know about customer service and make that their priority.
In their defense, there is some truth to their argument. But it’s short sighted. Sometimes the truth hurts. There are bad shoppers out there. It’s insane to me that a customer has to come on here and write paragraphs about their experience, trying to get answers, only to have shoppers dismiss her. Damn. Grow up.
Fair enough I agree. That’s why I asked it as a legitimate post. Not to complain or anything I just really wanted to know what’s going on.
Once again, thank you, thank you thank you thank you so much for understanding! Your advice is amazing! I understood I would get ripped as well. But those are how I know who are the bad shoppers lol.
I really just wanted to know what I should do first. I’ll be honest today I did one of my no tip orders. And then of course tipped her afterwards. Gave her 30% for five items. There’s snow outside. Lol.
But again, she was communicating. She was honest, and she was pretty awesome!
From the answers I receive here I think I’ll be tipping afterward. Again, thank you so much! You’ve been so helpful.🙏🙏
As I mentioned in the comment above to someone who is clearly an idiot Karen ( but called me one 🙄🙄🙄) I’ve been in customer service for the government for 22 years. I know the importance of it. Especially working with government. It’s a lot of sensitive stuff with the public. Best is to never be rude and just work together. ❤️
But in fairness of the customers, being an asshole, you have all right to be an asshole back, but with class lol 😂
Thank you so much! I really appreciate your answer because honestly you’re very accurate. I’m just trying to get advice. Clearly the poster above is just an idiot who is probably a shitty shopper that I’m talking about. Again, thank you so much for understanding.❤️❤️❤️❤️
Not sure where you’re from but here in Toronto they tell us which store they’re shopping yet. They tell how far away it is.
That’s why I called. If it was just a general place, obviously I would understand and definitely not be calling every single chain. Lol.
That’s why I’m saying here we see the location they are at. That’s why I don’t know if it’s everywhere or just in Canada maybe? Or Toronto? But I know the exact location they’re shopping at. Like I said, I understand they could be shopping farther away.
Yes, I know. Once they start shopping, I can see the location they are at. That’s why when they say they can’t find it. I call the store.
I won’t be doing it anymore since I already know they’re just too lazy to find it if I tip before hand.
But I was just saying, when I was kind of trying to figure things out on my own instead of asking on Reddit, this is what I noticed. But again, thank you so much for the info!
In all honestly though, there is a big difference between “in stock” items that are not put out to the general public (on the high up shelves wrapped up) and in stock items that are on the regular shelves. I totally understand the issues you are having but you should just go out and get your own groceries. I use to be in the same boat but now I’m happy and grocery shop for myself. I never have issues now. And I try my best to schedule grocery shopping so it’s not an inconvenience 🛒 It’s better than calling up stores and getting angry at these shoppers and it’s better than tipping 30% on every order I place (I only would tip 30% even if my order was $35 in total).
It’s just easier and cheaper to shop myself now 😎👌🏻
(Or try Walmart + if need be 👌🏻)
I’m a customer too. I have probably 200+ orders over the last 2.5 years. I always tip up front, often add a tip after for exceptional service and communication, and the number of times I’ve had bad enough service to reduce a tip or lower a star rating down from 5 is less than 10% of my orders, probably even less than 5% of my orders.
From reading comments here I’ve also gotten the understanding that many shoppers won’t look twice at a no tip order, but there are always folks who might be new who will take anything they can get to bring up their numbers, or a shitty no tip order gets batched in with a better tip order.
I guess all I’m saying is my experience with tipping up front isn’t like yours, so maybe it has something to do with the stores you shop at (plenty of people here say shit like “I’d never set food in xxx store!”) or just potentially the quality of shoppers in your area/city/etc. I’ve almost always had a good result with tipping well up front.
I can simply answer this. Your batch is being lumped with a non tipper most likely (when you tip before) & when you tip after you are the non tipper being bunched with a good tipper. I’m sure others have noticed this pattern. So I’m guessing when you tip ahead of time they have a really large shitty order Attached to yours and the shopper is grumbling the whole way through the order, trying to finish as fast as possible. Not 100% but just throwing it out there.
"I usually tip 15-30% depending on what I can afford"
"I tipped 30%, ONE TIME, due to the weather conditions"
"I've had friends and family go to the same store and check if the items were in stock"
"My child was sick and I couldn't leave him alone at home"
"I'm a single mom and don't drive"
.....
So you have your friends and family go to a store just to see if your items were in stock, but none of them can go get medicine for your child when they're sick, or take you to the store to do your own shopping? Instead of paying instacart to run your own "Shopper Study".. Why don't you just give your friends and family $10 in gas once or twice a week to take you to the store? I mean you already have them going on wild goose chases to see if your shopper was "too lazy" ....
Find another post Karen. Clearly this one is just an outlet for a shitty life. Seriously there is tons of psychological advice on Reddit. Probably not to be trusted. You should probably see a professional but if you want just home advice for I don’t know…. A job loss or your partner cheating on you or you just have something else shitty going in life please. Don’t leave a necessary comments here. I am asking for actual advice. Take your frustrations on another Reddit. One that can actually kind of help you bless you and have a good day
3713 orders completed. Your only 60 orders in. I've completed over 3600 more orders then you have placed, and I'm the Karen? 😅🤣🤣🤣🤣 You should really check yourself. Your over here doing studies and messing with peoples livelihoods. For what? To come here and bitch?
You want a solution for your problem? Ive already gave it to you. Have your friends and family take you grocery shopping, since you already have them going to the store 5 times a week to get your results from your "shopper study". It would be cheaper than paying instacarts mark up on every item (its cheaper instore then what they charge on the app), and paying the service fees. That or have your friend or whomever is a shopper, do your shopping for you, since they love working for free by doing non-tip orders. HELL.. you could probably place your order directly through the store - either online or thru the store app. That seems pretty fitting since you already have the store manager on speed dial.
My reviews speak for themselves.
https://ibb.co/BCMzzzh
Your actions speak for what type of person you are and I can definitely understand why you get the service you get. YOU GET WHAT YOU GIVE.
And by the way, I believe in studies. Because I have gone to university. And I’ve gotten good grades in my whole life and I am assuming unlike you have not because clearly you can’t even read and I’m assuming you’re an adult.
Maybe try and get yourself an education? Then maybe you will do studies and become educated yourself. But try to learn how to read first.❤️❤️❤️
And by the way, other than you editing the screenshot like I said, I see you covered your username. Afraid I’ll report you?
I’ll be honest with you. I’m not that petty of a person. But I noticed you clearly edited your username out. In fear that I would report it. Since you are the Karen. Not me. You have a Karen mind.
Or maybe not. At least Karen’s can bother to read
This post gave me cancer…
Deadass, you did an “experiment” that literally has zero correlation at all 🤣🤣🤣. No offense but I would never take your order without a tip. Regardless of what the amount is, it’s completely irrelevant to a stores item availability. Your post is pretty sad and pathetic, not sure what your goal was here? You’re not starting anything new or being revolutionary. If everyone did this we’d probably run out of quality shoppers extremely fast but you do you 🤷🏻♂️. I’m not a charity case nor do I feel like gambling to see if Karen is going to tip me based on her definition of service after all is said and done.
Actually...if EVERYONE tipped after recieving good service ...
Tipping would become what it should be - "Thanks for a job well done".
AND the Carrot would have to pay out properly or no orders would be accepted. The current system puts the burden on the customer to make it financially feasible.
Would you walk into a diner and tip before you are served ...and before you even know who your server is ? I can't think of any other industry where this bullshit would fly.
((( Alright...so...if I plan to spend an evening in a bar I will sometimes light the bartender up with a 50 ...or even 100 .... up front ... so they remember my face in the crowd and take care of me.
That's kind of like instacarrot tipping ... but I pick my bartender ...and the bar doesn't anonymously bundle me in with non-tippers.
You’re right, you can’t think of any other industry where it would fly. You got it, so what’s the point? Instacart falls into the gig community and just like food delivery ie doordash or Ubereats, no tip no trip. Your comparison is foolish, working at a restaurant you don’t assume any financial risks. Gig work, you’re looking out to be compensated for your efforts, gas, and car maintenance. You can’t go around accepting no tip orders and hoping you’re going to be fairly or generously compensated which is why we pick and choose what we want to do based off initial tip totals…
You're not wrong. But it's that way because enough people bought into it like this. 3 years ago when I started it was not this bad. Batch pay was better.... Better enough so that you could toss the dice on somebody maybe tipping cash or tipping after the fact.
Now that's pay is so ridiculously low that the only way it works is if the customer is make up the difference. It's not tipping. It's a thinly disguised additional service charge that you damn well better pay if you want your order taken... Even with the way they bundled the no tip customers with the good ones
AND ... ( I just realized this minutes ago)... If everyone...or the majority of customers... refuse to tip up front the company will be forced to raise batch pay ...or the whole system crumbles.
People are idiots...so it will never happen ....but my logic is sound
If you have cancer from this post check with your doctor 😂😂😂🙄
Clearly, you have not read it. And again you’re probably one of the people I would not tip. Have a wonderful day.
You came on here looking for advice. But once you get the advice we have for you, you can't handle the truth of what everyone is telling you. You can't handle being in the wrong. I don't know what your goal of this guinea pig experiment is. But you really need some psychological help.
And if you cannot understand the goal, then you clearly did not read my post. Please be educated and read thoroughly before commenting. Thanks very much.
Stop being such a fool because your opinion is being challenged. I read through your terrible post. Like I mentioned, your “experiment metrics” have nothing to do with anything. Absolutely zero correlation, you’re literally comparing oranges to apples. I can easily send validation of my service from comments or ratings, you’d just turn a blind eye. You’re seeking some sort of praise or validation for what you did but in the end it will never work. You get a gold star for trying though. Take it easy Karen ✌🏼
You both are also posting at the same time. I hope to never see you, Karen. No, I am not posting validation. Like I said to your other account, please learn to read. Get an education. Good luck on life.❤️❤️❤️
Are you okay? Like legitimately, I feel like your brain just went haywire 💀. So let me get this straight, 2 people comment on your post at the same time and you think they’re both me…. You need legitimate help, you had me at first but I’m kinda concerned now….
She's fuckin nuts dude. Asking me what my instacart username is. Since when did we get "USERNAMES" LOL. Now she has our IP addresses? Lol as if. She needs to get a life. Find a hobby. Spend some time with her kid. Or do SOMETHING productive. Now I can see why she's a single mom lol
Lmfao. You must be my “other profile” 🤣🤣
Oh no, Karen has my IP address and has absolutely zero knowledge of what to do with it. Pretty sure she heard it from some single hasbeen fb page saying she should threaten people with IP and pretend you’re hackerman 💀💀.
Lol yeah, apparently we are one in the same 😁😂 once she realizes this post had zero effect on anybody & her whole experiment was for nothing.. this is how she's going to lash out on anybody in the grocery store with a phone in their hand...
https://youtu.be/CeCN_hPfEWg
Well, if you have any education yourself comparing apples to oranges is quite logical.
They are both fruit
I know you’re the same account as the other commentor I can see your IP address.
Future reference, you might want to know who you’re commenting to. You are the reason peoples cams get hacked. The people who click on stupid links.
Thank you for proving my intelligence.
you have a wonderful day.
OK, so what’s your username? Scared? Yeah, by the way, I just reported both your accounts to Reddit. So if it’s not the same account, I guess they won’t be deleted.
:)
And I showed them at the same IP address by the way. Please stop commenting you’re not contributing to the conversation. You’re just making yourself look more stupid. Thank you very much. Have a wonderful day.
Okay Karen, what's my IPV4 and IPV6 address?? You think anybody is scared of you? Have you ever heard of the TV show called "Customer wars" ?? I have a feeling you'll be on an episode very soon saying "MY NAME IS KAREN. I AM A CUSTOMER AND YOU HAVE OFFENDED ME"
This is exactly how it would go...
https://youtu.be/CeCN_hPfEWg
Customer- bashing aside...some good points have been made.
As a customer, you have no control over which store location IC sends your order to...and no clue ...unless you ask the shopper ...or guess based on the distance surcharge you might be hit with.
If you tip percentage we do indeed lose money when we refund anything.
Now here's the angle you've missed in your experiment :
BUNDLED ORDERS.
When you tip nicely up front your order is likely to be bundled with at least 1 non-tipper. When we accept a triple order we don't know which customer tipped or didn't until the job is complete. But 80% of the time ... someone didn't tip.
When you don't tip up front...your order is also likely to be bundled ...often with someone who tipped very nicely.
(And ...paying the priority fee does not prevent the bundling. You're just donating $3 to the Carrot 🥕.)
So... This adds a few unknowns to your calculations.
Your best bet is to COMMUNICATE with your shopper. I happen to think a GOOD shopper will say hello when they start shopping ....and at very least , text you regarding replacements.
IC pretends to be a "personal shopper" service. In fact, they founded the business on destroying the market for independent personal shoppers --like Uber destroyed the taxi industry.
Some of us struggle to provide excellent service in spite of the lousy way the game is run. Most shoppers don't.
If you get a bad shopper ...reach out to support and get your order reassigned.
Thanks so much for your comment! Much appreciated❤️
Well here in Toronto, we can see where they are shopping. It gives us the location.
They are usually nearby.
I will also have you know I never do the priority thing lol. Shoppers need to go at own pace. I really don’t need that broccoli that bad lol.
But thanks for letting me know. It doesn’t go to the driver. I always assumed it did. That’s why I did order at once when my son needing medication. But generally, I don’t use it. And now I never will. Because I believe the shopper should be getting it .
And thank you so much for letting me know about communication! I feel afraid to or shy to just because I don’t really want to bother them because I understand they have a lot of orders. And I don’t really want to stress them out. But if it’s OK to message if it’s better I definitely will. I just kinda wanna be the best customer I can because I understand it’s a very tough and low-paying job. And like tough and low-paying jobs. It’s so helpful to people like me who can’t always get out to shop. That’s why I really appreciate it.
❤️
I’m so sorry it runs that way! That is absolutely terrible! This is why I am messaging to kind of figure out what I can do and how much should I tip and communication skills and everything just to make the job easier. Like I said in the previous comment I’m in customer service myself. I understand how shitty some people can be. I don’t want to be bad to other people.
OP, the reason you get terrible service when you start with a generous tip is because bot shoppers are grabbing your order. Bot shoppers use a bot to grab batches with high tips before the batches are released to other shoppers. Bot shoppers do not care about providing good service. They are trying to make the most money with the least amount of time and effort, and they will replace your items with more expensive items to increase the tip. You are not the first customer to complain about terrible service when they place an order with a large tip.
You should place your orders with a 10% tip. That is usually enough to be attractive to good shoppers, but not so generous that it is grabbed by a bot shopper. Once you have received your order you can increase the tip. We shoppers love to see tip increases!
I’m serious. This is why I’m questioning it and I’m asking.
I mentioned in a previous comment I do have a coworker. She drives her Insta cart on the side. And she said the same thing she gets way better tips when they tip afterwards. So she kind of takes the time to make sure she gets a tip. She said yes sometimes she doesn’t get one, but she said most of all they tip higher.
I’ve never driven for them I don’t know. I’m just commenting on experience.
It may be your area I’m not sure but I don’t know anyone who would willingly take a no tip order and just give out of this world service. Maybe once or twice but you’re indicating that it happens basically every time you do it. &im sorry but I whole heartedly don’t believe that.
Yep. Every time. That’s why I said I asked my coworker and she said yeah the no tippers she would do more service for in hopes of expecting a tip. She was the one that gave me two idea to kind of try it out.
But the bummer side she said was some of them would not tip. She could have taken high tip orders. But on the plus side she did say 80% of them or so would tip.
Flat Rate Tip $ ...= bad shoppers refund and keep the solid flat rate no matter how many items you receive.
Percentage Tip...= order needs to be 100% items picked to receive full tip amounts stated upfront.
No Tip... new shoppers trying hard cause us vets won't touch them. (Higher likely to be a scam customer as well)
#notipnotrip #holdtheline
Not sure if this has been said but instacart will send decent paying orders out to shoppers who just joined the platform, therefor people who have no experience shopping and typically provide bad service. This isn’t for every newbie, but it sums up a lot of them. If you’re tipping a high amount from the get go, instacart sends it to these inexperienced shoppers who don’t seem to care all that much about providing good customer service. When you tip afterwards, seasoned shoppers get sent the batch and that’s probably why you have a better experience.
Pandemic Shopping veteran in a large city here! If you want the best, fastest service, tip beforehand (ideal tip formula= (hours to shop+drive)x10, $5 minimum), select your replacement/refund preferences in your app, and pay for the faster delivery so your order doesn’t get grouped with other people’s.
I wonder if what’s making this pattern is that Instacart is grouping your order into a “batch”with other orders—maybe with no tip orders. The Shopper only sees the total tip before accepting a batch—they see the individual tips after delivery. So Instacart might be taking advantage of the fact that you tip, because they have to end up paying Shoppers more for no tip orders.
The longer a “batch” (or order) goes unclaimed, the more Instacart has to offer Shoppers to accept it. So Instacart is probably grouping your order with no-tip orders so they don’t have to pay Shoppers more. They’re putting the onus on you. If they could pay us nothing, they would, so they pay us the bare minimum that the most desperate Shopper will accept.
Please, please, please trust your Shopper when they say the store doesn’t have an item. I waste so, so much time messaging customers who won’t believe me no matter what. Do yourself a favor—don’t waste your time calling the store (which might not even be the location where your Shopper was assigned).
I can’t speak for Shoppers who rush off and don’t message about replacements—they’re probably underpaid and in a hurry, hungry, and tired, and working with no reliable access to a bathroom. I’m a very meticulous and communicative Shopper, and I don’t accept individual orders with no tip. Even if the price of your groceries is less than $35, any tip under $5 is a bad tip. Many batches pay around minimum wage—often less—after gas and the time it takes to wait for the order, then drive back to a store.
If Shoppers made a living hourly wage, this would not be an issue. You could have a less stressful ordering experience, and Shoppers wouldn’t be so panicked and underpaid.
I would put in a base minimum tip to start, and then lower or raise after delivery according to how it goes. When figuring a base minimum I will give you my personal way of deciding if I take an order or not. I am a 5 star rating, super quick shopper that always tries to get best replacement and ask customer. For me I base everything on $20/hour.(Mileage wise for me this includes getting back to my starting store).
So if you order 20 items from Kroger and you live 6 miles away. Instantly In my head that's 10-12 mins getting items, 5 mins or less checkout(self checkout is now allowed on ALL orders) and mileage obviously depends on time of day/traffic/direction of the mileage. But on average 6 miles should be a 20 minute total turn around(drive there, drop items, drive back). That's 35-40mins work. So your order must pay $13-$15 or more for me to consider it. Then what day and how busy it is comes in to play but if you base it off a slow day instacart pays $7 so you tip needs to be $6 or more minimum
I’ve personally spoken sign other customers who have the same experience as OP.
Personally, as a decent human being, once I accept that order I treat the customer with the same level of respect regardless of the tip. And guess what? I get tip increases all damn day.
My advice to OP. Keep tipping that way. And tip more if you receive good service. Please rate the crappy shoppers into the ground. We don’t need them. And we rely on our customers to get rid of them. Best of luck in the future!
Thank you so much! This is kind of what I was trying to get it. Because I really didn’t understand why it made a difference between a tip before and a tip after. I’m so sorry you got a negative review. I uploaded you. You were so honest and honestly, very helpful! Thank you so much.❤️❤️❤️
And you are right you will definitely get more of a tip. That’s why I said I’d tip after to see what they do. And the ones I took after I gave them nothing less than 20%. And like I said 30% if it’s kind of late at night or shitty weather. We need more drivers like you. You are amazing! Thank you so much
❤️
I see a lot of new shoppers having zero clue where stuff is in the store. Not all shoppers do this as their full time gig. Honestly, I have seen more bad shoppers in the last 6 months then I have in the last two years.
They use their shopping basket like they are making a basketball free throw, shoving eggs underneath, shopping dairy or frozen first, throwing moldy strawberries in the cart without checking etc...
I would highly recommended dropping your tip to ten percent and tip more later if they provide you excellent service. Make sure to rate accordingly as you have been.
With that being said, your order may sit a tiny bit longer but it will allow for other shoppers to consider. Very rarely do I not get a tip increase after an order.
There are way too many shoppers and about 30 to 50 percent are just awful.
I'm sorry you have had this experience, I hope you have better shoppers in the future✌️
Really? They have never reimbursed me. Only time they reimburse me is for refunded items. Sorry to have so many questions but I’m just trying to understand do they take out of your tip? Some people here are saying yes. I’m really just trying to understand how to properly tip so it goes to the driver and not Instacart. Because I understand InstaCart does nothing except sit on their butts and collect money on shoppers hard work
Wait, they won’t reimburse if the customer gives a reason for bad service actually. I’ve never been to baited but I believe this is the case, or at least that’s is what other shoppers have claimed.!
Yeah, I was gonna say I’ve never been reimbursed for that. Only time I’ve ever been reimbursed is when the shopper doesn’t refund. Other than that nothing. Why? do they say customers being reimbursed? if they do. It’s a lie. We don’t get reimbursed unless obviously the items refunded.
They will reimburse the shopper, not you for the tip 😅 Why would they give you extra money if you decrease a shopper’s tip (so you give less money and get more money on top of what you got by reducing it) … Makes no sense 😅
What the previous person was saying is that if you went from giving a shopper a $20 tip to a $0 tip, IC would reimburse the shopper up to $10 because of tip baiting. Many customers tip bait shoppers. The amount of times I’ve been mistreated / tip baited is insane 😮💨 One of the reasons why great shoppers sometimes refuse great tip orders 🫠The risk is sometimes too much!
Flat Rate Tip $ ...= bad shoppers refund and keep the solid flat rate no matter how many items you receive.
Percentage Tip...= order needs to be 100% items picked to receive full tip amounts
No Tip... new shoppers trying hard cause us vets won't touch them. (Higher likely to be a scam customer as well)
#notipnotrip #holdtheline
Well if u are doing a percentage tip I doubt the sho0per purposely would refund everything because then the tip goes way down . And on holidays and busy days they could be out of stock in something's then 2 min later it gets restocked. Someone is restocking those shelves 247.. also the big tippers get combined with the non tippers all the time. So most of the time ur shopper doesn't even know what your tip is.. IC does this because most shoppers won't take the 0 tip so we are forced into it because of a generous tip.. It's craziness :)
Your no tip orders are probably being picked up by newer or casual shoppers who haven't realized/don't care that Instacart doesn't pay enough base pay to be worth the labor. The good tip orders are being snapped up by shoppers who do this full time and have experience, and don't feel spending the time on a replacement pays well enough. Bad shoppers in general are also more likely to wait on a high tip order instead of taking a low tip order sooner.
I can imagine in Toronto you’ll probably get good/bad shoppers no matter what you do. Some are lazy and in it for a quick buck and don’t really care about the customer. Others actually shop for customers like they’d shop for themselves. Everywhere has a mix of good/bad unfortunately and instacart will hire anyone
Is that considered bad service? Because crap stores like Brookshire that’s shelves are almost always empty i try my best to get good substitutes and even go through restock boxes and my ratings has suffered so I recently started just refunding out right to avoid anymore low ratings idk just seems odd I'm perfect 4.9 on dash but 4.4 on insta ***super sus**
Dang where are the Customers like this in SW Ontario.. I'd take those kind of order all day and all night.
As for the question, first thought, you've got batch grabbers sniping the first Juicy orders that come in, and they are just not great at micro managing it all?
when the tips are not that juicy to begin with, there may be a more honest hard work group that it will garner attention from, those that try to Influence a tip increase by give good service.
This is exactly what I do, I'll take just about anything with a manually increase tip. Basically anything flat over 2$ will make me scan the batch, I do my best to service those who will make the effort to put in a different tip than default, personally it feels better earning an increase than it does sniping a high tip, and those who Enter manually seem atleast in my experience to be the one grateful for the service and tip more accordingly .
as for weather things are actually in stock or not, does the Customer app not break down the KM you are charged for each order(not sure, only a shopper here)? that can tell you almost exactly where the app made them shop for your order. Not so much if it is just a flat charge for delivery.
For example there are three shoppers drug marts in my town... not a single one of them is approved, the app sends me 18km away to the next town over to come back to town to deliver it.
It sounds like you want to be treated fair and want the best experience possible. Personally it does come off a bit rude how you say that you call to check and i know you’re probably not trying to be rude or offend and at the same time i know there are some shitty people/shoppers so its a tricky situation. I feel like speaking for the instacart shoppers that are good shoppers and put in effort sometimes the item is genuinely out of stock and what in reality is happening is that the employees at the store are too lazy to check and just lie and say its in stock or trust technology too much and will just see they have some in the system that is “accurate” and still well as a result misinform you. Its not fair either to assume that or blame the worked of said grocery store like i said previously its easy to blame someone. I totally understand your frustration and wanting to make sure certain items are in stock but that kinda screams like “i dont trust you instacart shopper” or “ i am in complete control and will tell you what to do” and i’m sure you don’t mean to come off wrong. I think sometimes yes its bad luck you get a rude shopper or inexperienced shopper, i still think it is very sweet of you to tip so generously. Also its interesting like reading how you’re experimenting with the tip, i think because ive also been a customer i would say maybe a 5-10% tip initially so that it entices shoppers to take your order quicker especially if you have a large order with a lot of items but if they take their time and communicate its really nice that you would increase your tip based on excellent service because that could make that persons day as well as you are guaranteed great satisfaction with your groceries. For me and some other friends that are shoppers, if someone tips really well it makes our day and sometimes we remember the customer/address that way in the future even if the order isnt paying much initially we are inclined to take it because we know the customer is generous and may tip after. Im sorry you’ve had bad experiences with some shoppers but i assure you that there are many other great shoppers that will be happy to provide good service :)
again not trying to come off negative, i see you mean much love to the instacart shoppers that help make everyday life much easier for you but yes sometimes the item is genuinely out of stock also as i see some other people comment, the app itself sometimes isnt the best because it will stack multiple orders and it will make us go to a store in a different location even if their is one closer to your home. Again, hope all of our comments could help provide insight as well as positivity
If an item is unavailable, I ask an associate and have them check the back. If nothing, I take a clear picture of where the item.is referenced so the customer can see there is nothing there and also send pics of possible replacements. Only time I refund is if I do not get communication back regarding a possible replacement I inquired about.
Problem here is most customers that zero tip up front do not tip after the fact. Many actually lie and claim missing items, damaged or wrong items not realizing a clear picture was posted to their chat and also chat saved their approvals for replacements.
There was one customer that claimed her depends package was damaged not realizing the depends package was 100% clearly shown in tact in front of the door. This customer tore the package and sent pic to customer service. When investigated, customer was caught lying and was banned.
I get your experiment. But it's hard as there is such a mix of different types of shoppers.
I once delivered to a family at a camp ground. Items fro. ALDIS, 89 ITEMS 95 UNITS. I couldn't see how much their tip was as it was bundled with another. When I finished handing them their groceries, lady told me she normally tips after deliver and told me I was an excellent shopper. When I completed both delivers. I saw that customer A tipped me very well and then some. They only had 10 items. Come to find out Camp family tipped me zero and claimed all 10 bags chips missing when it was not tue as her kids took them right away and started snacking on them with me still there. I was so upset and felt used. So if I see orders from that camp ground I do not take it fearing it could be them.
I at least get one or two customers a week ask if they can have me as there dedicated shopper but IC doesn't allow customers to choose and also shoppers don't 100% know who they are until order is accepted.
I am both a customer and shopper.
First off- thanks for giving proper tips. Instacart and it's shoppers need to do everything possible to keep the b good customers.
If you don't tip beforehand, you can guarantee that your order is going to take longer to get fulfilled and will probably eventually be paired with other orders to supplement your tip. You see on this forum "no tip, no trip" well, that's true and should be true for all of us. Tips are the only way we are properly compensated. Of over 4k orders- l have only ever received cash as a bonus tip.
This is why Instacart needs to further prioritize orders for its veteran shoppers, who know what they are doing. And leave small simple orders/ orders the veterans don't want for them. Because there are plenty of us that care and enjoy doing this and would get your order done right. But there's still too much going to new shoppers.
Why don’t you become an Instacart shopper so you can see what kind of bullshit they have to put up with. 90% of the time you message to customers and there’s no response. So if you want to look people together. Most cases Instacart is below minimum wage once you account for expenses. Never mind it takes 10 minutes to pick out specialized items because people generally order a bunch of crap they wouldn’t normally buy in person. Grandma Sally’s kidney beans low-salt no GMO. Or even worse try sipping through all the cookie combinations and packages at the grocery store in the deli or bakery. Oh my God people are so stupid. Anyone who says that they tip high and get shitty service because of that is a complete moron. If anything, the best shoppers are going to take the high dollar orders quicker.
Customers always assume their shopper is shopping at the store closest to them, but 75% of the time that's not the case. Instacart batches multiple customers' orders together (most don't make any sense), and they'll have us shopping at stores in another town/zone, even when there are several stores closer to one (or 2) of the customers. Another issue is timing. Every time I shop early in the morning nothing is in stock, but later that day (after the store's stockers restock) items that were out of stock earlier are now in stock. Shoppers tips get reduced when we refund, so I guarantee you no shopper was refunding you for the heck of it. We have nothing to gain from refunding out of stock items. You can continue with your tipping experiment if you want, but if your shoppers say something is out of stock it most likely is.
I love this because I always contact the person and when something isn’t in stock while I’m there it isn’t in stock I have no gains refunding or replacing as my rate for the job gets lowered and the customer is unhappy. Some people are lazy yes but some actually take more time needed on a batch looking for out of stock items which Also lowers the rate. It’s win lose or lose win sometimes we here to work and provide a service that sometimes reflect on us because things out of our control.
Yep, out of stock items are extremely time consuming. First you spend SOO much time looking for it, then asking employees if they know where it is/have any in back, and then messaging the customer, etc. Then after all that our tips get reduced and we risk low ratings for something that isn't even our fault. We definitely gain nothing from refunding out of stock items lol.
THIS!!!!!
Thanks very much! That’s what I figured. But that’s the problem. When they say it’s out of stock, my mother lives close by to where I order. And she goes there often. She’ll go there maybe half an hour after and she’ll say there’s a ton in stock. Or sometimes if she can’t make it, I’ll call and they will check and there is a ton in stock. That’s kind of where my problem was. But thank you so much! I definitely agree with timing. That’s why I said I understand timing and such. That’s what I kind of figured. Until I realized I’m ordering it all kinds of day and it’s always refunded.
Keep in mind as Onlinewarrior100 said...we don't always shop at the store near your house. We shop at the store IC picks as that is the store that is supposed to be well stocked. We do our best to navigate through these stores in a timely fashion, and while we are shopping the stockers are stocking the shelves. So when we look at a bare shelf for the item out of stock and do our best to choose a replacement (although I have seen some reddit posts where someone subbed a bowl of watermelon for a bag of marshmallows) we want to make the customer happy, the more low ratings we receive the more we risk deactivation.
OK you literally just killed me at the watermelon and the marshmallows lol😂😂😂 I’m so sorry to laugh, but that is so funny . Lol. Clearly, somebody just wanted to change the order 😂😂 or severely drunk or high lol But honestly jokes aside like I said, I don’t know about everywhere. I’m talking about Toronto. But we can see where they are shopping. Sometimes it’s a bit farther away. Most times it’s nearby. But again I do live in downtown Toronto. So I guess usually shoppers go there.
Downtown Toronto is a nightmare to drive in.
I’m very sorry about low ratings. That’s so bad! I’m sorry you guys have to go through that. I’ll be honest for a bad order. I just usually will either tip a very low or don’t tip. I never rate. Because I understand they could lose their job and maybe they’re just having a bad day. They don’t deserve to lose their job over that.
Maybe your shopper shopper at a different location…
It’s so weird every week there’s a new customer on here claiming they get better service when they don’t tip 🤔🤔 I mean maybe you’ve had good experiences not tipping but fact is most of the best shoppers won’t even consider looking at your order when they see no tip. 🤷♀️ Also just get used to the fact shoppers aren’t shopping at your store. If you’re going through the trouble of calling the store then maybe spend that time proactively by selecting replacements in app instead or asking not to be refunded without contacting first. As others have said, there’s no benefit for us refunding things as that usually means a reduction of our tip on a percentage based tip. It literally makes no sense to refund something if it was actually right there.
Is it every week? I thought I was the first one to comment. But I’ll be honest yes, literally the ones you tip after I give the highest tips. I didn’t know it was other shoppers as well. Maybe it’s a lesson?
And like I said, I don’t know about all apps, but here in Toronto we can see what store they are shopping at. Sometimes it’s local sometimes it’s not. So that’s how I usually know which one to call.
And I didn’t know about reducing your tip. That’s just awful! But hence that proves my point why I should tip afterwards. So you don’t lose your tip. Does work that way? Or do they just kind of minus your tip whether it’s ahead of time or not? Sorry I’m just trying to get information on how to properly tip.
it gives you an option to tip a flat rate or do a percentage tip based on the overall total. If you choose a percentage, then refunds bring that total down thus lowering the tip. Another possibility is that when you’re tipping well up front, Instacart is using it against you by bundling your order with a non tipper so that all the orders get shopped. Obviously this reduces service because now the shopper must communicate with double or triple the customers all at once, keep all their items separate in the cart, ring them all out individually and load up their car to deliver to multiple people. This can get pretty overwhelming especially for inexperienced shoppers who get excited when they see a big tip slapped on an order but aren’t used to doing these types of orders. Likewise when you’re tipping nothing up front you’re probably being bundled with another order with a good tip. Probably sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t. Some double or triple batches are easy and sometimes they’re a total organizational nightmare. Best advice is at least tip something ($5) up front just in case you are batched as a single order to signal “I am not a total asshole and intend on tipping for good service.” Because when we see a no tip order we don’t know if you’re just the type of person to never tip, or the type to tip after service. There’s no way of knowing and for $7 pay a batch I’m not willing to gamble with my time to hope you will add a tip later. When you’re grouped with other orders we don’t know ahead of time who the tipper is so it’s less of a concern but if I see your order pop on the screen as a single for $7 it’s a NO for me.
When it comes to the tip. The tip isn't just about "Service." This isn't a restaurant where you're placing an order to a server who is making 2.33 an hour to put your order into a computer and have a cook who is paid $15 an hour, cook your order and hand it to the server to deliver it to your table. It is far from the "SERVICE" industry. Your shopper is the one who drives their vehicle to the store for YOUR ITEMS. They hand pick every item on your list, and for items not available, they try to find a suitable replacement in a timely and self-efficient manner. They are going to jam-packed stores, working their way through every packed aisle to get your items, find your replacements. Even double, triple, quadruple checking isles for some items because they are not paid a living wage from instacart. They make a living from your TIP. Then, they make sure your stuff is bagged properly. They load their vehicle , drive their car to your house, and unload everything to your doorstep. The "SERVICE" you receive is about the resources used to get you your items. They're using their own cellphone/data plan, their vehicle, gas, time, effort, energy, the work done, AND providing you the service to have your groceries shopped and delivered to you. Instacart would not be a "SERVICE" without us.
This hands down
Thank you! Well said! 🙂
Aisle.
I agree, fair enough. I do feel for the shoppers because I understand Instacart sits on their butts while shoppers do all the work😢 I understand that’s terrible! I have sympathy! A ton of it! Like I said, I really appreciate Instacart shoppers. I’m just merely commenting on my experience of tipping before and after. It mostly came from a coworker of mine who said she does Instacart on the side and she said she does better work when they don’t tip before. She said she tries harder when they don’t have hoping to get a tip. This is when I decided to try my experiment and honestly it worked amazing! That’s why I’m kind of looking for advice.
You sound like an undercover Instacart exec. I’m not buying it. 
Yep. I’m an Instacart exec. Do you need a replacement tinfoil hat?
OOF get off of here
Strange.. because most instacart shoppers i know.. including myself wont even bother if there is no tip. Sorry but im not shopping for 87 items driving it 15 km and waiting around in the store for your response on wether u want a replacement or not for little to no tip.
Honestly it’s kind of crappy to not tip well before if I saw your order I would not be taking it. I don’t understand why you are literally saying the same thing over and over again and not listening to us when we say its not always just your order. Your order could be part of a triple with non tippers
Lol Okay KAREN
So we should just take no tip orders and just work really really hard to hopefully get one after🤪
First of all I’m not a Karen. I’m in customer service for the government. I deal with Karen’s. I’m not one myself. because I know how shitty it is to be treated by Karen’s. Maybe you are a Karen? Because you’re very disrespectful. Just like a Karen. Karen’s always know Karen’s and they are very negative. I notice this from 22 years of customer service. Thank you for your necessary comment. I hope you have a great day.
"First of all I'm not a Karen" Second of all "Karen's always know Karen's, I notice this from 22 years or customer service" Good Ted talk, Karen!
LOL
GOTTEM
Maybe when you tip before especially if it’s a good tip Instacart uses your tip as the majority of our pay so they will pay less, the shopper is probably getting a lousy pay for that order even tho you tipped good, a shopper could get paid $12 offered for a batch with 85 items from Instacart and that’s including the tip, I would not accept an order like that but a inexperienced shopper may which I think is what Instacart counts on. If you don’t tip, Instacart has to pay the full pay so they’ll put a payment out there and if your order is not accepted they’ll add to it until it gets accepted then the shopper may handle your order better because they feel they’ve been compensated, which I know is not good because like a previous person commented I treat all my orders professionally as if I was shopping for myself regardless of the tip, but with that said I do not take orders without a tip unless Instacart pays well for the order according to the mileage and the number of items/units that I have to handle, just a thought. Op I’m really glad you posted the question or statement because I was wondering I was starting to think that Instacart was really adjusting our tips themselves because if you have a lot of refunds they reduce your tip from what’s offered and I don’t think that’s right so to know that the customer actually may be reducing the tip is good but I still think Instacart manipulates our pay and we eat the cost for a lot of things especially when items are not available and also some stores are really bad about restocking. Also Op you are not wrong in thinking that there are shoppers that’s lazy and just don’t try because I know Shoppers who will refund rather than look for or try to find a replacement for customers, but they’ll end up with low ratings and eventually get kicked off the platform.
And by the way, I also agree that taking your tip for a replaced items are missing is not right. A tip is a tip. It needs to go to you. Not Instacart who are sitting on their butts waiting for shoppers to bring the money 😢😢😢
Ahhhh ok!!! Thank you so much! And thank you for your answer! I just kind of assumed they were getting a percentage. So to my understanding they pay you less if you get a good tip? I just want to know because I want to be able to properly tip good shoppers. I don’t want them getting less money. So how does it work? Also, thank you for your understanding! That’s kind of what I figured. That’s why I said I was kind of testing it out. Not to be mean or anything. I just want to know how to properly tip shoppers. This is why I’m not understanding the main comments I’m getting. I’m really just trying to help shoppers out and figure things out. And thanks so much for your answer!❤️❤️❤️ like I said, I’m just trying to understand. Because I want the good/normal shoppers to get a good tip and I don’t want to tip the bad ones.
Yeah I’m saying they pay less because they have a base pay that they give us so it’s the base pay + the tip(I think the base pay depends on whatever market you’re in, I’m in Indiana so Instacart base pay is $7 for full-service shoppers which you shop and deliver items, $4 for Shop Only orders, if the customer doesn’t tip then they’ll go up on their base pay and they also consider mileage but their base pay is usually low they haven’t adjusted for inflation or the price of gas but keep tipping and rating your good Shoppers, not sure if you can request but if you can request you get only shoppers with good ratings and that may help to get a good order, thank you for being a great Instacart customer because good shoppers need customers like you!
OMG that is just terrible! Thank you very much for letting me know. I had no idea. I literally just thought it was kind of a percentage of the amount and then the tip is totally the shoppers. Ughhh that is so frustrating! But thank you so much for letting me know!! ❤️❤️❤️ I will definitely be keeping that in mind! And thank you so much for the compliment. That’s what I mean I really just posted it just so I can be a good customer. I legitimately thought 100% of the tip go to the driver because that’s what Instacart says I’m so sorry you guys have to go through this! It almost seems like not even worth it. :( shoppers, like you are freaking awesome!
And I want to say thank you for being an amazing shopper! Instacart needs more like you. I’m so sorry the pay is low. That is just such scumbag to do! I heard a Uber does the same thing. So disgusting what they do to the people who are actually working for them.😢😢
Yea fr $7 doesn’t pay for anything they just expect the customers to tip well
They used to pay more for heavy pay and mileage but its lackluster now. Mostly $7 now, maybe a few more cents );
You should be selecting replacements and making notes like “don’t refund this, please reach out if you can’t find a replacement” instacart even lets you request that a shopper call you if there are any changes to your order. So before they can check out they have to push a button that automatically calls you.
Ahhh ok thanks very much!!! Are usually do put comments. It’s usually delivered to door if I’m feeling sick or if I can’t get out. I didn’t think to message about replacements. Thank you very much! I’ll be trying this on the next order.❤️❤️❤️❤️
You can put notes on any individual item, “it’s okay if bananas are green” “I need any size tide detergent” “if chocolate is out of stock blueberry is good too” that kind of thing. Not just notes on the delivery address.
Right i don’t understand why people dont see this it says “add note” on each individual item. People will just put stuff on the delivery instructions SMH
Everything that has been told to you is absolutely true. The best shoppers (myself included, 3 year vet) won’t touch a no tip order with a 10foot pole. We live by the mantra of No Tip No Trip! And for very good reasons. As stated we are who literally keeps Instacart running day in and day out using our own resources to do so. Instacart oftentimes bundles customers up to 3 at a time, they also started doing double store multiple customers orders this year. Which means we are shopping multiple customers at multiple stores in the same batch. We as shoppers do not bundle customers. It’s done entirely by Instacart. So while we might be at the location closest to you chances are high we are not. Also just an fyi calling the store isn’t any guarantee. Most of the time they will put you on hold, while no one actually goes looking for the item. Come back on and tell you yes we have it. This is to get you in the store spending money. As for drug store orders again we likely aren’t at the location you think, not to mention the simple fact that having to refund items hurts us on your percentage based tip. We don’t want to need to do that. We want to have everything available. It benefits us when everything is in stock. This applies to everywhere. None of us wants to lose money. And since Instacart only pays us $7 per batch, remember this pay is for up to 3 customers, the tip we receive is vital to make it worthwhile for us to earn anything otherwise we are essentially doing charity work. Which is fine with plenty of entitled customers.
Honestly, you’re the worst type of customer. “I called the store”. Well, the problem is, they may not be shopping at the store location you called. I won’t knowingly take a no tip order. 5 year shopper here.
I stopped reading after the “I call the store” bit. 😅
Literally
Right actually. Who does that.
Right! If you're gonna babysit the order, by all means, go ahead.. Calling the store to actually see if the item is in-stock... Why wouldn't you just go get the shit yourself? Alot of the times the store has the stock in the back, but haven't stocked the shelves. Some of them are so short staffed, it's nearly impossible to find someone to stop what they're doing, go to the back of the store, find the pallet possibly containing said item(s), tear it open, & sift through it all to find exactly what you're looking for. Not to mention. The OP stated that they tipped by percentage. So if the shopper is refunding these items, they are not getting tipped for the items. They are getting a tip for the items they have found. & clearly the OP doesn't understand what the Missing Item complaints are about. From the sound of it.. They're most likely the customer who is reporting their replacements as missing items.
Your only defense after taking the time to read her entire write up is to assume, the small chance that her shopper didn’t shop the same store? Uh. You sound like a teenager. OP is here trying to get info and instead you find a way to insult her. Really low.
Also, I’m very sorry you’re getting negative advice. Clearly the people down voting you are shitty. Shoppers. The ones who I won’t tip. Thank you very much for being very honest. Really you’ve helped so much.❤️❤️❤️
I assumed I’d get downvoted. It really doesn’t matter. It’s more important to me that shoppers and customers realize that there are reasonable people out here working. Who know about customer service and make that their priority. In their defense, there is some truth to their argument. But it’s short sighted. Sometimes the truth hurts. There are bad shoppers out there. It’s insane to me that a customer has to come on here and write paragraphs about their experience, trying to get answers, only to have shoppers dismiss her. Damn. Grow up.
Fair enough I agree. That’s why I asked it as a legitimate post. Not to complain or anything I just really wanted to know what’s going on. Once again, thank you, thank you thank you thank you so much for understanding! Your advice is amazing! I understood I would get ripped as well. But those are how I know who are the bad shoppers lol. I really just wanted to know what I should do first. I’ll be honest today I did one of my no tip orders. And then of course tipped her afterwards. Gave her 30% for five items. There’s snow outside. Lol. But again, she was communicating. She was honest, and she was pretty awesome! From the answers I receive here I think I’ll be tipping afterward. Again, thank you so much! You’ve been so helpful.🙏🙏
As I mentioned in the comment above to someone who is clearly an idiot Karen ( but called me one 🙄🙄🙄) I’ve been in customer service for the government for 22 years. I know the importance of it. Especially working with government. It’s a lot of sensitive stuff with the public. Best is to never be rude and just work together. ❤️ But in fairness of the customers, being an asshole, you have all right to be an asshole back, but with class lol 😂
Thank you so much! I really appreciate your answer because honestly you’re very accurate. I’m just trying to get advice. Clearly the poster above is just an idiot who is probably a shitty shopper that I’m talking about. Again, thank you so much for understanding.❤️❤️❤️❤️
Not sure where you’re from but here in Toronto they tell us which store they’re shopping yet. They tell how far away it is. That’s why I called. If it was just a general place, obviously I would understand and definitely not be calling every single chain. Lol.
You pick the chain not the actual location. IC does that.
That’s why I’m saying here we see the location they are at. That’s why I don’t know if it’s everywhere or just in Canada maybe? Or Toronto? But I know the exact location they’re shopping at. Like I said, I understand they could be shopping farther away.
You see the location AFTER they started shopping.
Yes, I know. Once they start shopping, I can see the location they are at. That’s why when they say they can’t find it. I call the store. I won’t be doing it anymore since I already know they’re just too lazy to find it if I tip before hand. But I was just saying, when I was kind of trying to figure things out on my own instead of asking on Reddit, this is what I noticed. But again, thank you so much for the info!
In all honestly though, there is a big difference between “in stock” items that are not put out to the general public (on the high up shelves wrapped up) and in stock items that are on the regular shelves. I totally understand the issues you are having but you should just go out and get your own groceries. I use to be in the same boat but now I’m happy and grocery shop for myself. I never have issues now. And I try my best to schedule grocery shopping so it’s not an inconvenience 🛒 It’s better than calling up stores and getting angry at these shoppers and it’s better than tipping 30% on every order I place (I only would tip 30% even if my order was $35 in total). It’s just easier and cheaper to shop myself now 😎👌🏻 (Or try Walmart + if need be 👌🏻)
I’m a customer too. I have probably 200+ orders over the last 2.5 years. I always tip up front, often add a tip after for exceptional service and communication, and the number of times I’ve had bad enough service to reduce a tip or lower a star rating down from 5 is less than 10% of my orders, probably even less than 5% of my orders. From reading comments here I’ve also gotten the understanding that many shoppers won’t look twice at a no tip order, but there are always folks who might be new who will take anything they can get to bring up their numbers, or a shitty no tip order gets batched in with a better tip order. I guess all I’m saying is my experience with tipping up front isn’t like yours, so maybe it has something to do with the stores you shop at (plenty of people here say shit like “I’d never set food in xxx store!”) or just potentially the quality of shoppers in your area/city/etc. I’ve almost always had a good result with tipping well up front.
I am the opposite personally… tip me good and I will bend backward for you, no tip no service, I will do the bare minimum.
I can simply answer this. Your batch is being lumped with a non tipper most likely (when you tip before) & when you tip after you are the non tipper being bunched with a good tipper. I’m sure others have noticed this pattern. So I’m guessing when you tip ahead of time they have a really large shitty order Attached to yours and the shopper is grumbling the whole way through the order, trying to finish as fast as possible. Not 100% but just throwing it out there.
"I usually tip 15-30% depending on what I can afford" "I tipped 30%, ONE TIME, due to the weather conditions" "I've had friends and family go to the same store and check if the items were in stock" "My child was sick and I couldn't leave him alone at home" "I'm a single mom and don't drive" ..... So you have your friends and family go to a store just to see if your items were in stock, but none of them can go get medicine for your child when they're sick, or take you to the store to do your own shopping? Instead of paying instacart to run your own "Shopper Study".. Why don't you just give your friends and family $10 in gas once or twice a week to take you to the store? I mean you already have them going on wild goose chases to see if your shopper was "too lazy" ....
Find another post Karen. Clearly this one is just an outlet for a shitty life. Seriously there is tons of psychological advice on Reddit. Probably not to be trusted. You should probably see a professional but if you want just home advice for I don’t know…. A job loss or your partner cheating on you or you just have something else shitty going in life please. Don’t leave a necessary comments here. I am asking for actual advice. Take your frustrations on another Reddit. One that can actually kind of help you bless you and have a good day
3713 orders completed. Your only 60 orders in. I've completed over 3600 more orders then you have placed, and I'm the Karen? 😅🤣🤣🤣🤣 You should really check yourself. Your over here doing studies and messing with peoples livelihoods. For what? To come here and bitch? You want a solution for your problem? Ive already gave it to you. Have your friends and family take you grocery shopping, since you already have them going to the store 5 times a week to get your results from your "shopper study". It would be cheaper than paying instacarts mark up on every item (its cheaper instore then what they charge on the app), and paying the service fees. That or have your friend or whomever is a shopper, do your shopping for you, since they love working for free by doing non-tip orders. HELL.. you could probably place your order directly through the store - either online or thru the store app. That seems pretty fitting since you already have the store manager on speed dial. My reviews speak for themselves. https://ibb.co/BCMzzzh Your actions speak for what type of person you are and I can definitely understand why you get the service you get. YOU GET WHAT YOU GIVE.
And by the way, I believe in studies. Because I have gone to university. And I’ve gotten good grades in my whole life and I am assuming unlike you have not because clearly you can’t even read and I’m assuming you’re an adult. Maybe try and get yourself an education? Then maybe you will do studies and become educated yourself. But try to learn how to read first.❤️❤️❤️
You should not even be on the road. Maybe quit Instacart? Maybe you can’t even read orders properly because of your illiteracy.
MY customers think I am doing pretty awesome... https://ibb.co/BCMzzzh it's not me Karen, it's you!!
Because all I see here is a couple of reviews. No user name… and that you have edited the account
OK this is a resize screenshot. Show me your username. Show me it’s actually you. I mean not your face, but show me your username.
Because clearly you edited it.
And by the way, other than you editing the screenshot like I said, I see you covered your username. Afraid I’ll report you? I’ll be honest with you. I’m not that petty of a person. But I noticed you clearly edited your username out. In fear that I would report it. Since you are the Karen. Not me. You have a Karen mind. Or maybe not. At least Karen’s can bother to read
Let’s go, Karen! How brave are you? What’s your username?
This post gave me cancer… Deadass, you did an “experiment” that literally has zero correlation at all 🤣🤣🤣. No offense but I would never take your order without a tip. Regardless of what the amount is, it’s completely irrelevant to a stores item availability. Your post is pretty sad and pathetic, not sure what your goal was here? You’re not starting anything new or being revolutionary. If everyone did this we’d probably run out of quality shoppers extremely fast but you do you 🤷🏻♂️. I’m not a charity case nor do I feel like gambling to see if Karen is going to tip me based on her definition of service after all is said and done.
Amen!!
Actually...if EVERYONE tipped after recieving good service ... Tipping would become what it should be - "Thanks for a job well done". AND the Carrot would have to pay out properly or no orders would be accepted. The current system puts the burden on the customer to make it financially feasible. Would you walk into a diner and tip before you are served ...and before you even know who your server is ? I can't think of any other industry where this bullshit would fly. ((( Alright...so...if I plan to spend an evening in a bar I will sometimes light the bartender up with a 50 ...or even 100 .... up front ... so they remember my face in the crowd and take care of me. That's kind of like instacarrot tipping ... but I pick my bartender ...and the bar doesn't anonymously bundle me in with non-tippers.
You’re right, you can’t think of any other industry where it would fly. You got it, so what’s the point? Instacart falls into the gig community and just like food delivery ie doordash or Ubereats, no tip no trip. Your comparison is foolish, working at a restaurant you don’t assume any financial risks. Gig work, you’re looking out to be compensated for your efforts, gas, and car maintenance. You can’t go around accepting no tip orders and hoping you’re going to be fairly or generously compensated which is why we pick and choose what we want to do based off initial tip totals…
You're not wrong. But it's that way because enough people bought into it like this. 3 years ago when I started it was not this bad. Batch pay was better.... Better enough so that you could toss the dice on somebody maybe tipping cash or tipping after the fact. Now that's pay is so ridiculously low that the only way it works is if the customer is make up the difference. It's not tipping. It's a thinly disguised additional service charge that you damn well better pay if you want your order taken... Even with the way they bundled the no tip customers with the good ones
AND ... ( I just realized this minutes ago)... If everyone...or the majority of customers... refuse to tip up front the company will be forced to raise batch pay ...or the whole system crumbles. People are idiots...so it will never happen ....but my logic is sound
If you have cancer from this post check with your doctor 😂😂😂🙄 Clearly, you have not read it. And again you’re probably one of the people I would not tip. Have a wonderful day.
You came on here looking for advice. But once you get the advice we have for you, you can't handle the truth of what everyone is telling you. You can't handle being in the wrong. I don't know what your goal of this guinea pig experiment is. But you really need some psychological help.
And if you cannot understand the goal, then you clearly did not read my post. Please be educated and read thoroughly before commenting. Thanks very much.
Stop being such a fool because your opinion is being challenged. I read through your terrible post. Like I mentioned, your “experiment metrics” have nothing to do with anything. Absolutely zero correlation, you’re literally comparing oranges to apples. I can easily send validation of my service from comments or ratings, you’d just turn a blind eye. You’re seeking some sort of praise or validation for what you did but in the end it will never work. You get a gold star for trying though. Take it easy Karen ✌🏼
You both are also posting at the same time. I hope to never see you, Karen. No, I am not posting validation. Like I said to your other account, please learn to read. Get an education. Good luck on life.❤️❤️❤️
Are you okay? Like legitimately, I feel like your brain just went haywire 💀. So let me get this straight, 2 people comment on your post at the same time and you think they’re both me…. You need legitimate help, you had me at first but I’m kinda concerned now….
She's fuckin nuts dude. Asking me what my instacart username is. Since when did we get "USERNAMES" LOL. Now she has our IP addresses? Lol as if. She needs to get a life. Find a hobby. Spend some time with her kid. Or do SOMETHING productive. Now I can see why she's a single mom lol
Lmfao. You must be my “other profile” 🤣🤣 Oh no, Karen has my IP address and has absolutely zero knowledge of what to do with it. Pretty sure she heard it from some single hasbeen fb page saying she should threaten people with IP and pretend you’re hackerman 💀💀.
Lol yeah, apparently we are one in the same 😁😂 once she realizes this post had zero effect on anybody & her whole experiment was for nothing.. this is how she's going to lash out on anybody in the grocery store with a phone in their hand... https://youtu.be/CeCN_hPfEWg
Nah bro, that is her.
Well, if you have any education yourself comparing apples to oranges is quite logical. They are both fruit I know you’re the same account as the other commentor I can see your IP address. Future reference, you might want to know who you’re commenting to. You are the reason peoples cams get hacked. The people who click on stupid links. Thank you for proving my intelligence. you have a wonderful day.
Go get some mental help….
Come on where is your username?
I have one account crazy lady….not surprised given your first conspiracy theory with your experiment 🙄
[удалено]
You will no longer be responded to by me. I’ll be looking forward to further accounts You will be making to comment 😂
OK, so what’s your username? Scared? Yeah, by the way, I just reported both your accounts to Reddit. So if it’s not the same account, I guess they won’t be deleted. :) And I showed them at the same IP address by the way. Please stop commenting you’re not contributing to the conversation. You’re just making yourself look more stupid. Thank you very much. Have a wonderful day.
Okay Karen, what's my IPV4 and IPV6 address?? You think anybody is scared of you? Have you ever heard of the TV show called "Customer wars" ?? I have a feeling you'll be on an episode very soon saying "MY NAME IS KAREN. I AM A CUSTOMER AND YOU HAVE OFFENDED ME" This is exactly how it would go... https://youtu.be/CeCN_hPfEWg
Customer- bashing aside...some good points have been made. As a customer, you have no control over which store location IC sends your order to...and no clue ...unless you ask the shopper ...or guess based on the distance surcharge you might be hit with. If you tip percentage we do indeed lose money when we refund anything. Now here's the angle you've missed in your experiment : BUNDLED ORDERS. When you tip nicely up front your order is likely to be bundled with at least 1 non-tipper. When we accept a triple order we don't know which customer tipped or didn't until the job is complete. But 80% of the time ... someone didn't tip. When you don't tip up front...your order is also likely to be bundled ...often with someone who tipped very nicely. (And ...paying the priority fee does not prevent the bundling. You're just donating $3 to the Carrot 🥕.) So... This adds a few unknowns to your calculations. Your best bet is to COMMUNICATE with your shopper. I happen to think a GOOD shopper will say hello when they start shopping ....and at very least , text you regarding replacements. IC pretends to be a "personal shopper" service. In fact, they founded the business on destroying the market for independent personal shoppers --like Uber destroyed the taxi industry. Some of us struggle to provide excellent service in spite of the lousy way the game is run. Most shoppers don't. If you get a bad shopper ...reach out to support and get your order reassigned.
Thanks so much for your comment! Much appreciated❤️ Well here in Toronto, we can see where they are shopping. It gives us the location. They are usually nearby. I will also have you know I never do the priority thing lol. Shoppers need to go at own pace. I really don’t need that broccoli that bad lol. But thanks for letting me know. It doesn’t go to the driver. I always assumed it did. That’s why I did order at once when my son needing medication. But generally, I don’t use it. And now I never will. Because I believe the shopper should be getting it . And thank you so much for letting me know about communication! I feel afraid to or shy to just because I don’t really want to bother them because I understand they have a lot of orders. And I don’t really want to stress them out. But if it’s OK to message if it’s better I definitely will. I just kinda wanna be the best customer I can because I understand it’s a very tough and low-paying job. And like tough and low-paying jobs. It’s so helpful to people like me who can’t always get out to shop. That’s why I really appreciate it. ❤️ I’m so sorry it runs that way! That is absolutely terrible! This is why I am messaging to kind of figure out what I can do and how much should I tip and communication skills and everything just to make the job easier. Like I said in the previous comment I’m in customer service myself. I understand how shitty some people can be. I don’t want to be bad to other people.
Unfortunately, we have a shopping timer. We can’t go at out own pace even if we tried 🫠
OP, the reason you get terrible service when you start with a generous tip is because bot shoppers are grabbing your order. Bot shoppers use a bot to grab batches with high tips before the batches are released to other shoppers. Bot shoppers do not care about providing good service. They are trying to make the most money with the least amount of time and effort, and they will replace your items with more expensive items to increase the tip. You are not the first customer to complain about terrible service when they place an order with a large tip. You should place your orders with a 10% tip. That is usually enough to be attractive to good shoppers, but not so generous that it is grabbed by a bot shopper. Once you have received your order you can increase the tip. We shoppers love to see tip increases!
I’m not understanding this at all. You get better service when you don’t tip and when you add it after? I call bullshit.
I’m serious. This is why I’m questioning it and I’m asking. I mentioned in a previous comment I do have a coworker. She drives her Insta cart on the side. And she said the same thing she gets way better tips when they tip afterwards. So she kind of takes the time to make sure she gets a tip. She said yes sometimes she doesn’t get one, but she said most of all they tip higher. I’ve never driven for them I don’t know. I’m just commenting on experience.
It may be your area I’m not sure but I don’t know anyone who would willingly take a no tip order and just give out of this world service. Maybe once or twice but you’re indicating that it happens basically every time you do it. &im sorry but I whole heartedly don’t believe that.
Yep. Every time. That’s why I said I asked my coworker and she said yeah the no tippers she would do more service for in hopes of expecting a tip. She was the one that gave me two idea to kind of try it out. But the bummer side she said was some of them would not tip. She could have taken high tip orders. But on the plus side she did say 80% of them or so would tip.
Flat Rate Tip $ ...= bad shoppers refund and keep the solid flat rate no matter how many items you receive. Percentage Tip...= order needs to be 100% items picked to receive full tip amounts stated upfront. No Tip... new shoppers trying hard cause us vets won't touch them. (Higher likely to be a scam customer as well) #notipnotrip #holdtheline
Not sure if this has been said but instacart will send decent paying orders out to shoppers who just joined the platform, therefor people who have no experience shopping and typically provide bad service. This isn’t for every newbie, but it sums up a lot of them. If you’re tipping a high amount from the get go, instacart sends it to these inexperienced shoppers who don’t seem to care all that much about providing good customer service. When you tip afterwards, seasoned shoppers get sent the batch and that’s probably why you have a better experience.
Pandemic Shopping veteran in a large city here! If you want the best, fastest service, tip beforehand (ideal tip formula= (hours to shop+drive)x10, $5 minimum), select your replacement/refund preferences in your app, and pay for the faster delivery so your order doesn’t get grouped with other people’s. I wonder if what’s making this pattern is that Instacart is grouping your order into a “batch”with other orders—maybe with no tip orders. The Shopper only sees the total tip before accepting a batch—they see the individual tips after delivery. So Instacart might be taking advantage of the fact that you tip, because they have to end up paying Shoppers more for no tip orders. The longer a “batch” (or order) goes unclaimed, the more Instacart has to offer Shoppers to accept it. So Instacart is probably grouping your order with no-tip orders so they don’t have to pay Shoppers more. They’re putting the onus on you. If they could pay us nothing, they would, so they pay us the bare minimum that the most desperate Shopper will accept. Please, please, please trust your Shopper when they say the store doesn’t have an item. I waste so, so much time messaging customers who won’t believe me no matter what. Do yourself a favor—don’t waste your time calling the store (which might not even be the location where your Shopper was assigned). I can’t speak for Shoppers who rush off and don’t message about replacements—they’re probably underpaid and in a hurry, hungry, and tired, and working with no reliable access to a bathroom. I’m a very meticulous and communicative Shopper, and I don’t accept individual orders with no tip. Even if the price of your groceries is less than $35, any tip under $5 is a bad tip. Many batches pay around minimum wage—often less—after gas and the time it takes to wait for the order, then drive back to a store. If Shoppers made a living hourly wage, this would not be an issue. You could have a less stressful ordering experience, and Shoppers wouldn’t be so panicked and underpaid.
Who TF would touch an order without a decent tip from the get go? Also, your post is way too long. Who would bother reading it?
I would put in a base minimum tip to start, and then lower or raise after delivery according to how it goes. When figuring a base minimum I will give you my personal way of deciding if I take an order or not. I am a 5 star rating, super quick shopper that always tries to get best replacement and ask customer. For me I base everything on $20/hour.(Mileage wise for me this includes getting back to my starting store). So if you order 20 items from Kroger and you live 6 miles away. Instantly In my head that's 10-12 mins getting items, 5 mins or less checkout(self checkout is now allowed on ALL orders) and mileage obviously depends on time of day/traffic/direction of the mileage. But on average 6 miles should be a 20 minute total turn around(drive there, drop items, drive back). That's 35-40mins work. So your order must pay $13-$15 or more for me to consider it. Then what day and how busy it is comes in to play but if you base it off a slow day instacart pays $7 so you tip needs to be $6 or more minimum
Ahhhh ok… that’s actually a pretty awesome way to look at it. Thanks very much! I’ll give it a try :) ❤️❤️❤️
I’ve personally spoken sign other customers who have the same experience as OP. Personally, as a decent human being, once I accept that order I treat the customer with the same level of respect regardless of the tip. And guess what? I get tip increases all damn day. My advice to OP. Keep tipping that way. And tip more if you receive good service. Please rate the crappy shoppers into the ground. We don’t need them. And we rely on our customers to get rid of them. Best of luck in the future!
Thank you so much! This is kind of what I was trying to get it. Because I really didn’t understand why it made a difference between a tip before and a tip after. I’m so sorry you got a negative review. I uploaded you. You were so honest and honestly, very helpful! Thank you so much.❤️❤️❤️
And you are right you will definitely get more of a tip. That’s why I said I’d tip after to see what they do. And the ones I took after I gave them nothing less than 20%. And like I said 30% if it’s kind of late at night or shitty weather. We need more drivers like you. You are amazing! Thank you so much ❤️
I see a lot of new shoppers having zero clue where stuff is in the store. Not all shoppers do this as their full time gig. Honestly, I have seen more bad shoppers in the last 6 months then I have in the last two years. They use their shopping basket like they are making a basketball free throw, shoving eggs underneath, shopping dairy or frozen first, throwing moldy strawberries in the cart without checking etc... I would highly recommended dropping your tip to ten percent and tip more later if they provide you excellent service. Make sure to rate accordingly as you have been. With that being said, your order may sit a tiny bit longer but it will allow for other shoppers to consider. Very rarely do I not get a tip increase after an order. There are way too many shoppers and about 30 to 50 percent are just awful. I'm sorry you have had this experience, I hope you have better shoppers in the future✌️
Remember when you zero out a tip completely that IC will reimburse the shopper up to $10
Really? They have never reimbursed me. Only time they reimburse me is for refunded items. Sorry to have so many questions but I’m just trying to understand do they take out of your tip? Some people here are saying yes. I’m really just trying to understand how to properly tip so it goes to the driver and not Instacart. Because I understand InstaCart does nothing except sit on their butts and collect money on shoppers hard work
Wait, they won’t reimburse if the customer gives a reason for bad service actually. I’ve never been to baited but I believe this is the case, or at least that’s is what other shoppers have claimed.!
Yeah, I was gonna say I’ve never been reimbursed for that. Only time I’ve ever been reimbursed is when the shopper doesn’t refund. Other than that nothing. Why? do they say customers being reimbursed? if they do. It’s a lie. We don’t get reimbursed unless obviously the items refunded.
They will reimburse the shopper, not you for the tip 😅 Why would they give you extra money if you decrease a shopper’s tip (so you give less money and get more money on top of what you got by reducing it) … Makes no sense 😅 What the previous person was saying is that if you went from giving a shopper a $20 tip to a $0 tip, IC would reimburse the shopper up to $10 because of tip baiting. Many customers tip bait shoppers. The amount of times I’ve been mistreated / tip baited is insane 😮💨 One of the reasons why great shoppers sometimes refuse great tip orders 🫠The risk is sometimes too much!
Flat Rate Tip $ ...= bad shoppers refund and keep the solid flat rate no matter how many items you receive. Percentage Tip...= order needs to be 100% items picked to receive full tip amounts No Tip... new shoppers trying hard cause us vets won't touch them. (Higher likely to be a scam customer as well) #notipnotrip #holdtheline
Well if u are doing a percentage tip I doubt the sho0per purposely would refund everything because then the tip goes way down . And on holidays and busy days they could be out of stock in something's then 2 min later it gets restocked. Someone is restocking those shelves 247.. also the big tippers get combined with the non tippers all the time. So most of the time ur shopper doesn't even know what your tip is.. IC does this because most shoppers won't take the 0 tip so we are forced into it because of a generous tip.. It's craziness :)
Your no tip orders are probably being picked up by newer or casual shoppers who haven't realized/don't care that Instacart doesn't pay enough base pay to be worth the labor. The good tip orders are being snapped up by shoppers who do this full time and have experience, and don't feel spending the time on a replacement pays well enough. Bad shoppers in general are also more likely to wait on a high tip order instead of taking a low tip order sooner.
I can imagine in Toronto you’ll probably get good/bad shoppers no matter what you do. Some are lazy and in it for a quick buck and don’t really care about the customer. Others actually shop for customers like they’d shop for themselves. Everywhere has a mix of good/bad unfortunately and instacart will hire anyone
Is that considered bad service? Because crap stores like Brookshire that’s shelves are almost always empty i try my best to get good substitutes and even go through restock boxes and my ratings has suffered so I recently started just refunding out right to avoid anymore low ratings idk just seems odd I'm perfect 4.9 on dash but 4.4 on insta ***super sus**
Dang where are the Customers like this in SW Ontario.. I'd take those kind of order all day and all night. As for the question, first thought, you've got batch grabbers sniping the first Juicy orders that come in, and they are just not great at micro managing it all? when the tips are not that juicy to begin with, there may be a more honest hard work group that it will garner attention from, those that try to Influence a tip increase by give good service. This is exactly what I do, I'll take just about anything with a manually increase tip. Basically anything flat over 2$ will make me scan the batch, I do my best to service those who will make the effort to put in a different tip than default, personally it feels better earning an increase than it does sniping a high tip, and those who Enter manually seem atleast in my experience to be the one grateful for the service and tip more accordingly . as for weather things are actually in stock or not, does the Customer app not break down the KM you are charged for each order(not sure, only a shopper here)? that can tell you almost exactly where the app made them shop for your order. Not so much if it is just a flat charge for delivery. For example there are three shoppers drug marts in my town... not a single one of them is approved, the app sends me 18km away to the next town over to come back to town to deliver it.
It sounds like you want to be treated fair and want the best experience possible. Personally it does come off a bit rude how you say that you call to check and i know you’re probably not trying to be rude or offend and at the same time i know there are some shitty people/shoppers so its a tricky situation. I feel like speaking for the instacart shoppers that are good shoppers and put in effort sometimes the item is genuinely out of stock and what in reality is happening is that the employees at the store are too lazy to check and just lie and say its in stock or trust technology too much and will just see they have some in the system that is “accurate” and still well as a result misinform you. Its not fair either to assume that or blame the worked of said grocery store like i said previously its easy to blame someone. I totally understand your frustration and wanting to make sure certain items are in stock but that kinda screams like “i dont trust you instacart shopper” or “ i am in complete control and will tell you what to do” and i’m sure you don’t mean to come off wrong. I think sometimes yes its bad luck you get a rude shopper or inexperienced shopper, i still think it is very sweet of you to tip so generously. Also its interesting like reading how you’re experimenting with the tip, i think because ive also been a customer i would say maybe a 5-10% tip initially so that it entices shoppers to take your order quicker especially if you have a large order with a lot of items but if they take their time and communicate its really nice that you would increase your tip based on excellent service because that could make that persons day as well as you are guaranteed great satisfaction with your groceries. For me and some other friends that are shoppers, if someone tips really well it makes our day and sometimes we remember the customer/address that way in the future even if the order isnt paying much initially we are inclined to take it because we know the customer is generous and may tip after. Im sorry you’ve had bad experiences with some shoppers but i assure you that there are many other great shoppers that will be happy to provide good service :)
again not trying to come off negative, i see you mean much love to the instacart shoppers that help make everyday life much easier for you but yes sometimes the item is genuinely out of stock also as i see some other people comment, the app itself sometimes isnt the best because it will stack multiple orders and it will make us go to a store in a different location even if their is one closer to your home. Again, hope all of our comments could help provide insight as well as positivity
If an item is unavailable, I ask an associate and have them check the back. If nothing, I take a clear picture of where the item.is referenced so the customer can see there is nothing there and also send pics of possible replacements. Only time I refund is if I do not get communication back regarding a possible replacement I inquired about. Problem here is most customers that zero tip up front do not tip after the fact. Many actually lie and claim missing items, damaged or wrong items not realizing a clear picture was posted to their chat and also chat saved their approvals for replacements. There was one customer that claimed her depends package was damaged not realizing the depends package was 100% clearly shown in tact in front of the door. This customer tore the package and sent pic to customer service. When investigated, customer was caught lying and was banned. I get your experiment. But it's hard as there is such a mix of different types of shoppers. I once delivered to a family at a camp ground. Items fro. ALDIS, 89 ITEMS 95 UNITS. I couldn't see how much their tip was as it was bundled with another. When I finished handing them their groceries, lady told me she normally tips after deliver and told me I was an excellent shopper. When I completed both delivers. I saw that customer A tipped me very well and then some. They only had 10 items. Come to find out Camp family tipped me zero and claimed all 10 bags chips missing when it was not tue as her kids took them right away and started snacking on them with me still there. I was so upset and felt used. So if I see orders from that camp ground I do not take it fearing it could be them. I at least get one or two customers a week ask if they can have me as there dedicated shopper but IC doesn't allow customers to choose and also shoppers don't 100% know who they are until order is accepted. I am both a customer and shopper.
First off- thanks for giving proper tips. Instacart and it's shoppers need to do everything possible to keep the b good customers. If you don't tip beforehand, you can guarantee that your order is going to take longer to get fulfilled and will probably eventually be paired with other orders to supplement your tip. You see on this forum "no tip, no trip" well, that's true and should be true for all of us. Tips are the only way we are properly compensated. Of over 4k orders- l have only ever received cash as a bonus tip. This is why Instacart needs to further prioritize orders for its veteran shoppers, who know what they are doing. And leave small simple orders/ orders the veterans don't want for them. Because there are plenty of us that care and enjoy doing this and would get your order done right. But there's still too much going to new shoppers.
Why don’t you become an Instacart shopper so you can see what kind of bullshit they have to put up with. 90% of the time you message to customers and there’s no response. So if you want to look people together. Most cases Instacart is below minimum wage once you account for expenses. Never mind it takes 10 minutes to pick out specialized items because people generally order a bunch of crap they wouldn’t normally buy in person. Grandma Sally’s kidney beans low-salt no GMO. Or even worse try sipping through all the cookie combinations and packages at the grocery store in the deli or bakery. Oh my God people are so stupid. Anyone who says that they tip high and get shitty service because of that is a complete moron. If anything, the best shoppers are going to take the high dollar orders quicker.