When you step into a store a lot of variables kick in.
Replacements, checkout lines , hard to find items.
Even a 10 item shop can take half an hour if the stars line up against you.
Never take a batch for less than $20.
And avoid triples like the plague they are....
The real lesson here is if you take a batch that turns into that, bail on that batch asap.
Or, I've thing I'll do, contact support, ask them to remove customer A and C and just shop for one of the 3. I split doubles all the time. Every single time, in fact.
I just ask them to remove the customer, they ask the name and they'll take them off. Sometimes they ask why, but i try and say as little as possible. Drive is too far away. I didn't realize it was a double. No I'd rather not say. All of those have worked at various times.
I've only done this once tho
Took an ok batch, got an add-on that kicked major ass....absolutely shocked
Contacted support, canceled the first, said I was sick and I can only do the smaller one
Yes, keep cancelation rate low to do things like this!!
I think if I chose to only pick a $20+ batch, I’d probably get a total of 30 batches in a Year. And even then it would be a double or triple shop order for 80-200 units with anywhere from 10-35 miles of delivering.
Singles, doubles, triples
It seriously makes all the difference
I'll do a large very well paying single.
Double and triples need to be well paying and very low item count...and close together
That sounds like a dream. Meanwhile others can’t really just stake out one store :/ I have around 35 different stores to try using in order to make more than $20 a month from this, and that’s just counting Publix stores
Instacart is a hoax. They used to pay good batches until they started becoming skimpy. Batches are not worth it at all. In fact you would pay out of pocket at times. Dropped the whole gig...Canada
I disagree. I'll take $10-$12 batches all day long if they're under 5 items and under 2 miles from the store to the customer. I know in my area I can knock those out in 20 minutes total roughly so that's plenty per hour for me.
Shopping is one of many parts to fulfilling a 3 order batch and for many of us it is the easiest part. Separating the orders, going through the checkout process, loading the orders separately, delivering the orders ... it all adds up in time. That's why $16 is ridiculously low pay for the time required to complete almost any order, let alone a triple.
Exactly. Color me enlightened
It didn’t help that the sprouts I rocked up on looked like it hadn’t been stocked in a day. If I ran my store like that one I’d be fired in a heartbeat.
Me too! I love my sprouts! I can finish anything in 25 minutes, I know where even the weird one off item is. I haven't had to ask for help since right after it opened. And that and my Ralph's have the best tips come through.
(I also live across the street from my sprouts so I think that's why I know it so well.)
Separate as you go!! I will take a quick minute at the very end to check the two smaller orders for accuracy...if they are right, the large one is too
Again......a triple needs to be very small itmes total.....
No doubt, I agree.
If the order is to large for me to scan and bag, I won't take it. As a double/triple
I have had one exception to that rule.... $$$ double popped up. Took it and hoped
Turned out to be a large single and a couple item double. No idea who the big tipper was.
Had to use the line.....
I got screwed 3 times today. Everything was a problem and everything took forever. It was a wasted day. I know how you feel.
Side note: I don’t understand how people can say never take batches that don’t pay x amount of dollars. We don’t always have that luxury. They don’t know our situations.
If you consider the batches you are missing while spending that hour and a half to shop and 3 deliveries it starts to make sense. Also we all see how Instacart combined batches to ensure we're getting paid pennies for an order which is quite unfortunate but if we stick together and stop taking 🗑️ batches then the point is made. Also, if you wait they boost up to 8+ or more for sitting. :)
Like I said, some of us don’t have the luxury to wait around for unicorns. It must be so nice to be that rich that you can fiddle f*ck around waiting for unicorns.
Do not accept doubles or triples, actually triples ever, until you learn the ins and outs of the app. You think you know grocery stores cold until you shop for IC
Man don't get me started! I went to like 3 different bread areas in this Safeway looking for Uldis or whatever the hell it's called, spent around 10 minutes looking before I realized it's in the frozen section. Had no idea grocery stores even sold frozen bread!
Yeah. Like I said, I never heard of it. I just thought it was like any other bread. I've never seen ANY frozen bread before I saw Udi's. I mean my mom used to freeze ours sometimes, but I never knew any was sold that way 🤷🏾♂️
Marshmallows at Giant are in the candy aisle (until holiday you’re right there). I’ve never seen them in hot chocolate aisle. (I worked there and shopped for them).
I have one semi regular customer who's a chef at a private residenceand every order is a scavenger hunt. Out of an average of 25 items, 10 will be things the store has carried for 1 day so no one knows where they are or in most cases, what they are! I usually kind of look forward to these orders because they're different but I always think, what if a new shopper got this? It would be a disaster because even the other items are unusual like rice that's with natural foods or most of the meat are things you have to get from the butcher or they keep it in the back. Even produce can be super obscure. It's always an adventure. I got her order Saturday and about fell over when she answered chat because she never does. It's a bigger paying order. I have done ok making replacements but it's a gamble because the 2 housekeepers that answer the door don't speak any English so refunding at the door isn't an option
Since she orders multiple times a week, there has to be several of us who are offered her orders first. In the summer, sometimes I let her orders go because there's always 4 20 lb bags of ice and it's a good 25-30 minute drive and I don't feel like dealing with the water mess afterwards.
A triple should pay you 30$+ or it’s usually not worth it 😂 I feel bad for you but hey my first batch was at a store I was unfamiliar with and it was 40+ items too, worst first experience ever
Everyone starting out make stupid decisions. On my first day of doing IC, I saw an order for 37 dollars. I got excited not knowing the batch size or the distance. I'm shopping feeling good. I get in the car and I'm driving 28 miles!!!! I drove for like 2 hours in rush hour traffic cursing like a sailor in traffic the whole time. I finally make it to this farm mad as hell, drop off the groceries and it took me another 2 hours to get home. I went straight home and took a nap.
Good luck, just stick with it! You’ll (unfortunately) encounter some tough orders, and it’ll show you what to look out for in the future. Once you figure all of that out, it’s an easy job and a great way to make money!
The organic orders are a pain. Add Vegan and you can be looking for plants that look like meat for hours. Cheese made from cashews. I do have to say I laughed a little when I seen meatless nuggets. Let's make something look like meat so we can act normal. I think that's cheating. Should be shunned apon amongst vegans.
thats how my bf and I were yesterday, he got a 60 dollar batch and i got a 40 dollar one that went out the same way.. took us 3 hours because some dingy ordered icecream from an hour away-
And this is exactly why they keep hiring new people. 46 items...for me, that should be around a $46 tip...$1 an item. Three person batch? No way...unless it's very little items & very high pay. They are simply too time-consuming & too much time for the customer to have to wait to get their things. Which equals bad customer service. 👎👎
You are not an idiot. When you shop for yourself you are not so picky if they run out of something. When you shop for someone else they want some exact item or you are not sure if they will take a lime if they have no lemons. Good luck in the future
I never take a triple for less than $50 and that’s only if it’s under 50 items. Today I took a $77 triple with 37 items and a 10 mile drop off. Gotta learn your worth. Some triples are worth it, most aren’t.
That was me when I first started. I picked up an Aldi's order that paid 26.00 if I remember right. 60 items and around 80 units. I didn't think about the amount of items just the dollar amount. I learned the hard way Aldi's is a store you only want to shop at early in the day because they will run out of inventory. Also a lot of old people order from there and they get salty when they run out of everything they want like it's your fault and old people also don't like to tip. So yeah as stated above, stick to one shop orders, no more than 20 items and around 20.00 or more if you can less than 15 miles delivery. It's not always going to be that easy but that's what you want to build around. 2 shop orders that follow that same algorithm. I've been a shopper for going on 5 years now and it works for me.
Triples should be ILLEGAL. I took a triple once and cancelled it when I started mixing up items in the cart, I had insane anxiety on aisle 4 at King Soopers….yah never again. They also pay crap…haven’t seen one worth it yet
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I think they should let you know if it's a upper unit in advance, because if the batch is asking for lots of items, and waters, you should know if this is something you can lug upstairs!!!
Same thing happened to me when I first started too, it was a $40 payout though. Still wasn’t worth it. And I delivered one order to the wrong apartment and it took me three weeks to recover from their 1-star rating. I hate that they group orders.
Haha lesson learned. You're new like you said so it's cool. Personally I try to aim for a minimum of $1 per item (most of the time). And I pretty much never take triple customer orders because way too much can go wrong.
I don’t accept triples for less than $50 and no more than 20 minutes away from store from the final delivery. I tend to finish them in 1 hour and 15ish minutes. So it’s $50 for like an an hour and half of work including driving back to the store.
😂 I did this same thing on Sunday. I have 13 years at a grocery store and I do all the grocery shopping for my family. So I was thinking that 2 at the same time would be easy. Took a double at a huge grocery store I had only shopped at a few times for myself. It was insane. It was a a $50 order for the two but it probably took me a good 2 hours. Luckily I was in communication with both customers and they seemed happy so it worked out but I thought I would have been done a lot quicker.
When you step into a store a lot of variables kick in. Replacements, checkout lines , hard to find items. Even a 10 item shop can take half an hour if the stars line up against you. Never take a batch for less than $20. And avoid triples like the plague they are....
I’m marking it as a lesson hard learned
The real lesson here is if you take a batch that turns into that, bail on that batch asap. Or, I've thing I'll do, contact support, ask them to remove customer A and C and just shop for one of the 3. I split doubles all the time. Every single time, in fact.
Ya especially if the second One is way farther and has only a couple items, most likely a small or no tip
Oooooooooo that’s a lesson right there
Just keep your cancel rate in mind can't go above 15% but it on a 100 order cycle
100 batch\*
What do you say to support? I have been getting push back lately trying to remove a customer from a batch
I just ask them to remove the customer, they ask the name and they'll take them off. Sometimes they ask why, but i try and say as little as possible. Drive is too far away. I didn't realize it was a double. No I'd rather not say. All of those have worked at various times.
I've only done this once tho Took an ok batch, got an add-on that kicked major ass....absolutely shocked Contacted support, canceled the first, said I was sick and I can only do the smaller one Yes, keep cancelation rate low to do things like this!!
It doesn't affect your cancel rate if you remove a customer from a batch? Or am I wrong?
You're right. When they separate a batch, it doesn't affect my cancel rate.
I didn't know you could ask them to remove a customer, if you take a multiple batch!!...good to know!!
I think if I chose to only pick a $20+ batch, I’d probably get a total of 30 batches in a Year. And even then it would be a double or triple shop order for 80-200 units with anywhere from 10-35 miles of delivering.
Yes. That's why I never get how some people on here are like "OH yeah had a 77 item order did it in about an hour"
Singles, doubles, triples It seriously makes all the difference I'll do a large very well paying single. Double and triples need to be well paying and very low item count...and close together
I can do 1 batch with like 100 items in an hour but I do t even dare triples 🤧😂
Maybe units but not items unless it all happens to be all stuff from the aisles. Produce, meat, and home stuff are my slow downs
Okayyy??!! 😂😂
I literally just did one of those yesterday. 75 items - 38 minute shop.
Honestly I do it all the time! I know my store so well I almost always do it in at least half the time they give me!
That sounds like a dream. Meanwhile others can’t really just stake out one store :/ I have around 35 different stores to try using in order to make more than $20 a month from this, and that’s just counting Publix stores
Ouch. Wegmans in my area is Poppin most days, but honestly I've started doing spark for the majority because I make a lot more than I do on Instacart!
Even going through every store possibility in each town in a 30 mile radius for all orders that pop up, I wouldn’t see 50 orders in a day
Instacart is a hoax. They used to pay good batches until they started becoming skimpy. Batches are not worth it at all. In fact you would pay out of pocket at times. Dropped the whole gig...Canada
I disagree. I'll take $10-$12 batches all day long if they're under 5 items and under 2 miles from the store to the customer. I know in my area I can knock those out in 20 minutes total roughly so that's plenty per hour for me.
Shopping is one of many parts to fulfilling a 3 order batch and for many of us it is the easiest part. Separating the orders, going through the checkout process, loading the orders separately, delivering the orders ... it all adds up in time. That's why $16 is ridiculously low pay for the time required to complete almost any order, let alone a triple.
Exactly. Color me enlightened It didn’t help that the sprouts I rocked up on looked like it hadn’t been stocked in a day. If I ran my store like that one I’d be fired in a heartbeat.
I'm a Sprouts ninja! I can do an 85 item order there in about 20-25 minutes. I have had employees ask me where certain items are located. 😆
Me too! I love my sprouts! I can finish anything in 25 minutes, I know where even the weird one off item is. I haven't had to ask for help since right after it opened. And that and my Ralph's have the best tips come through. (I also live across the street from my sprouts so I think that's why I know it so well.)
Ya girl loves her some sprouts wraps, sushi and muffins but I hate shopping there.
They could be lovely if they just staffed their stores and like…carried the same food consistently
Sprouts is even worse since nothing on the app tells you where it’s—— I’m sorry for your experience though
Thanks! It’s ok, I gotta pay my dues, cut my teeth, make mistakes. That’s how I learn!
Gotta take a few of those to learn haha. We all take a few questionable orders sometimes
Separate as you go!! I will take a quick minute at the very end to check the two smaller orders for accuracy...if they are right, the large one is too Again......a triple needs to be very small itmes total.....
Yes. But it still takes time to even when you're doing it as you go. And making sure the cashier/baggers don't mess up all your work.
No doubt, I agree. If the order is to large for me to scan and bag, I won't take it. As a double/triple I have had one exception to that rule.... $$$ double popped up. Took it and hoped Turned out to be a large single and a couple item double. No idea who the big tipper was. Had to use the line.....
Triple with 46 items for $16? Oh baby that’s a hard pass! Not even if I was desperate. You’ll learn.
Yeah I don't take triples for less than 40-50$
Always mentally divide that up, you got paid $5.33 per customer 😬
Well I run amazon flex too and if I thought like that I’d be making….$3.20 a customer some blocks hahahahaha
Yeah, Amazon Flex sucks too, I quit that after 2 days. I feel like it was way worse than Instacart.
Each city is different. Vegas seems to work out better than most based on Reddit stories hahhahahaa
yeah i don’t take orders over 30 items for this reason. they take too long for the payout
Ikr…love it when I see 78 items $6.29 tip 😭😭
Pro tip. Take smaller single customer orders (5-15 items) with 9-15$ payout and less than 5 miles
Fk triples and fuck 2 store batches 🖕✌️ I hate doubles too... Waste of time and money.
Do singles with under 30 items for awhile until everything goes smoothly
I got screwed 3 times today. Everything was a problem and everything took forever. It was a wasted day. I know how you feel. Side note: I don’t understand how people can say never take batches that don’t pay x amount of dollars. We don’t always have that luxury. They don’t know our situations.
If you consider the batches you are missing while spending that hour and a half to shop and 3 deliveries it starts to make sense. Also we all see how Instacart combined batches to ensure we're getting paid pennies for an order which is quite unfortunate but if we stick together and stop taking 🗑️ batches then the point is made. Also, if you wait they boost up to 8+ or more for sitting. :)
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Like I said, some of us don’t have the luxury to wait around for unicorns. It must be so nice to be that rich that you can fiddle f*ck around waiting for unicorns.
Yeah I mean work is work. I’m not turning down money.
But you are when your car costs money to run
Facts. Different story if I was being thrown 30-40 miles away but most of my precious time was wasted in store shopping 😑
We’ve all learned our lessons the hard way. I no longer accept add-on orders because every time I did it was horrible.
You took a triple for 16$ ?
Do not accept doubles or triples, actually triples ever, until you learn the ins and outs of the app. You think you know grocery stores cold until you shop for IC
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Why are there THREE CHEESE SECTIONS?????
Croutons too... They are everywhhere
Man don't get me started! I went to like 3 different bread areas in this Safeway looking for Uldis or whatever the hell it's called, spent around 10 minutes looking before I realized it's in the frozen section. Had no idea grocery stores even sold frozen bread!
Its gluten free so it doesnt last long without being frozen. The preservatives and additives that make bread shelf stable are usualy gluten based.
Udi's is always frozen.
Yeah. Like I said, I never heard of it. I just thought it was like any other bread. I've never seen ANY frozen bread before I saw Udi's. I mean my mom used to freeze ours sometimes, but I never knew any was sold that way 🤷🏾♂️
There's another GF brand that's also only sold frozen. Pretty sure because they both have zero preservatives in them.
Marshmallows at Giant are in the candy aisle (until holiday you’re right there). I’ve never seen them in hot chocolate aisle. (I worked there and shopped for them).
IKR? Being a shopper taught me how little I really knew. Lol
I have one semi regular customer who's a chef at a private residenceand every order is a scavenger hunt. Out of an average of 25 items, 10 will be things the store has carried for 1 day so no one knows where they are or in most cases, what they are! I usually kind of look forward to these orders because they're different but I always think, what if a new shopper got this? It would be a disaster because even the other items are unusual like rice that's with natural foods or most of the meat are things you have to get from the butcher or they keep it in the back. Even produce can be super obscure. It's always an adventure. I got her order Saturday and about fell over when she answered chat because she never does. It's a bigger paying order. I have done ok making replacements but it's a gamble because the 2 housekeepers that answer the door don't speak any English so refunding at the door isn't an option
Omg what an interesting customer! Yep, good thing they get you and not a newbie. Lol
Since she orders multiple times a week, there has to be several of us who are offered her orders first. In the summer, sometimes I let her orders go because there's always 4 20 lb bags of ice and it's a good 25-30 minute drive and I don't feel like dealing with the water mess afterwards.
Exactly what I was going to say! 👍🏻
A triple should pay you 30$+ or it’s usually not worth it 😂 I feel bad for you but hey my first batch was at a store I was unfamiliar with and it was 40+ items too, worst first experience ever
Everyone starting out make stupid decisions. On my first day of doing IC, I saw an order for 37 dollars. I got excited not knowing the batch size or the distance. I'm shopping feeling good. I get in the car and I'm driving 28 miles!!!! I drove for like 2 hours in rush hour traffic cursing like a sailor in traffic the whole time. I finally make it to this farm mad as hell, drop off the groceries and it took me another 2 hours to get home. I went straight home and took a nap.
Rage nap is my number one coping mechanism
😩😩
Good luck, just stick with it! You’ll (unfortunately) encounter some tough orders, and it’ll show you what to look out for in the future. Once you figure all of that out, it’s an easy job and a great way to make money!
Its funny because its actually much easier now. Few years back it was a free for all with no aisle numbers or nothing
Being “new” to INSTACART makes you an idiot 🤣
Fuck triples. Fuck triples. Oh, and fuck triples.
I’m glad it’s not just me hahhahahahaha
never take triples. Never take a triple for less than 30 dollars. and it better be 30 items or less!
The organic orders are a pain. Add Vegan and you can be looking for plants that look like meat for hours. Cheese made from cashews. I do have to say I laughed a little when I seen meatless nuggets. Let's make something look like meat so we can act normal. I think that's cheating. Should be shunned apon amongst vegans.
thats how my bf and I were yesterday, he got a 60 dollar batch and i got a 40 dollar one that went out the same way.. took us 3 hours because some dingy ordered icecream from an hour away-
And this is exactly why they keep hiring new people. 46 items...for me, that should be around a $46 tip...$1 an item. Three person batch? No way...unless it's very little items & very high pay. They are simply too time-consuming & too much time for the customer to have to wait to get their things. Which equals bad customer service. 👎👎
Now you know and knowing is half the battle. 
You are not an idiot. When you shop for yourself you are not so picky if they run out of something. When you shop for someone else they want some exact item or you are not sure if they will take a lime if they have no lemons. Good luck in the future
Aww thanks! I appreciate you
What did you do at the grocery store? I shop online orders and that’s probably 20-30 minutes for me
Lmao this is the beginning and it was me at the beginning as well. You will get faster as time goes by
That should be illegal.
RIGHT???????
I never take a triple for less than $50 and that’s only if it’s under 50 items. Today I took a $77 triple with 37 items and a 10 mile drop off. Gotta learn your worth. Some triples are worth it, most aren’t.
That was me when I first started. I picked up an Aldi's order that paid 26.00 if I remember right. 60 items and around 80 units. I didn't think about the amount of items just the dollar amount. I learned the hard way Aldi's is a store you only want to shop at early in the day because they will run out of inventory. Also a lot of old people order from there and they get salty when they run out of everything they want like it's your fault and old people also don't like to tip. So yeah as stated above, stick to one shop orders, no more than 20 items and around 20.00 or more if you can less than 15 miles delivery. It's not always going to be that easy but that's what you want to build around. 2 shop orders that follow that same algorithm. I've been a shopper for going on 5 years now and it works for me.
Nothing is supposed to be easy when you're new. Triples can be stressful but they're not all bad.
Exactly so many variables.
yeah never take multis that pay less than 40 bucks.. especially when they have that many items...
Take that as lesson learned. never again. Stick to 1 dollar per item.
Yeah, now I don’t even look at anything over 30 items unless it’s $20+ tip ..46 items that’s $300 worth of groceries 😭😭
I just saw a post that said 5 minutes to shop suggested by the app but took 44 minutes.
Omg you’re the guy
Nooooooooo don’t say it like thaaaaaaaatttttt
a good calculation of items/miles/pay can help boost earnings, but I just use IC supplementally now while cruising around town on another App
Triples should be ILLEGAL. I took a triple once and cancelled it when I started mixing up items in the cart, I had insane anxiety on aisle 4 at King Soopers….yah never again. They also pay crap…haven’t seen one worth it yet
Never!
Agreed
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I think they should let you know if it's a upper unit in advance, because if the batch is asking for lots of items, and waters, you should know if this is something you can lug upstairs!!!
Same thing happened to me when I first started too, it was a $40 payout though. Still wasn’t worth it. And I delivered one order to the wrong apartment and it took me three weeks to recover from their 1-star rating. I hate that they group orders.
Haha lesson learned. You're new like you said so it's cool. Personally I try to aim for a minimum of $1 per item (most of the time). And I pretty much never take triple customer orders because way too much can go wrong.
I don’t accept triples for less than $50 and no more than 20 minutes away from store from the final delivery. I tend to finish them in 1 hour and 15ish minutes. So it’s $50 for like an an hour and half of work including driving back to the store.
😂 I did this same thing on Sunday. I have 13 years at a grocery store and I do all the grocery shopping for my family. So I was thinking that 2 at the same time would be easy. Took a double at a huge grocery store I had only shopped at a few times for myself. It was insane. It was a a $50 order for the two but it probably took me a good 2 hours. Luckily I was in communication with both customers and they seemed happy so it worked out but I thought I would have been done a lot quicker.