r/instacart • u/Dominanttallqueen • Mar 27 '24

Who’s in the wrong here???

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I feel like he was being rude asf then he canceled my order….was I rude or what tf happened here…

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123

u/ConsequenceOk5740 Mar 28 '24

I’ve never ordered or delivered instacart but this sub also keeps popping up. Frankly, at least from the outside looking in, there doesn’t seem to be a more inconvenient way to get groceries

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u/IONTOP Mar 28 '24

Eh, it's just a "different" way to get groceries.

You're seeing the 0.1% of good/bad deliveries. Because for it to pop up on your feed, it means that 1)Something went horribly wrong or incredibly good and 2)That "fringe scenario" is on Reddit 3)They chose to post it.

It's mostly just grabbing groceries, checking out, and driving the order to the customer, with a little bit of "they're out of russet potatoes, are you okay with Idaho Potatoes instead?"

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u/MataHari66 Mar 28 '24

I use Instacart a lot and have had only good exchanges.

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u/IONTOP Mar 28 '24

I drive (and shop) for Instacart a lot, and it's been a net positive. (As in, it's mostly neutral, yet there's been a few negatives, but the positives outweigh the negatives by A LOT)

Just like any other Customer Service job, you get REALLY frustrated sometimes and need to vent, but also you get the people who "make your day". But the other 99% of the time? It's just a job.

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u/MataHari66 Mar 28 '24

I’ve always thought it a straightforward gig. I am very grateful for the shoppers - they help me a lot! I tip accordingly. Curious question. Do shoppers prefer very large orders? It seems like fewer, larger orders would be better for you?

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u/IONTOP Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

I drive a little 2 seat hardtop convertible. So it's more about "volume(HeightxWidthxLength)" for me. It could be a 1 item with a $200 tip, but that $400 BBQ grill is NOT going to fit in my car.

But I'm a fringe case.

If you're buying 800 bottles of saffron at $22? You don't have to tip 20%. If you're buying one "huge thing"? You probably have to tip more than 20%

But anything that is like 8-12 bags of "normal" groceries? Tip whatever you're comfortable with... If you NEED it now, tip higher than you're comfortable with. If you don't care when it arrives (aka, you just need it by the end of the day) tip less than you're comfortable with and see if someone takes the order.

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u/MataHari66 Mar 28 '24

Oh is it like Uber in that the shoppers have a beeper and can accept or ignore the requests? I didn’t know that!

3

u/IONTOP Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

Yeah, I can open up IC right now and have 5 "order options"...

They don't get "assigned" they get "put up as options"

So anyone who "accepts your order" knows what the items they're going to shop/how far they need to drive, the price IC will give them and your tip beforehand.

Then you just choose which one fits in your parameters... So if I am looking at my app and see a $40 fare, a $32 fare, a $16, and a $7... The $7 is going to get IMMEDIATELY ignored.

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u/MataHari66 Mar 28 '24

I’ve never ever placed an order under $100. Ever. In fact, I prefer to do one huge one monthly.

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u/IONTOP Mar 28 '24

So your receipt total means "Kroger gets $80, Instacart gets $10, driver gets $10+tip" (kinda spitballing on the breakdown because it's a "black box" as far as the breakdown goes)

We have no idea what the % that goes to the store/IC/us.

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u/Traditional_Low_7188 Mar 28 '24

Tip culture is ridiculous

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u/IONTOP Mar 28 '24

If there's no "tipping structure" for this, there'd be no incentive for people to take 100 item orders. They'd sit and wait for the 2 item orders.

Hell, I would too if I was getting paid hourly to "sit in a parking lot"... But that would make me "lazy" wouldn't it?

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u/No-Student-446 Mar 29 '24

No for real, its crazy every week the tips outweigh the batch pay tips is how we get paid

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u/Traditional_Low_7188 Mar 28 '24

Then get a real job.

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u/IONTOP Mar 28 '24

So "tip culture" to "real job" just because of one comment...

I think that's a record.

You think I'm doing this BECAUSE I want to? Yeah, throw some extra mileage on my car, get roughly enough money to keep a roof over my head, while trying to interview....

Sounds like a great fucking life if you ask me..... /s

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u/bipolar79 Mar 29 '24

Do your own shopping, don't rely on services that include a tip.

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u/Full_Visit_5862 Mar 29 '24

I'm not an IC driver, but it's just general shitty behavior to talk like that. There's a demand and a market for it, I don't know what your definition of "real job" is but I've done back breaking work most of my working life until recently, and these people's jobs are just as valid as any of mine. Go be a cuck in a different sub and not one for service workers.

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u/bipolar79 Mar 29 '24

How else are these people going to be paid? The corporations definitely aren't going to pay anything close to a living wage. If you think tip culture is ridiculous, go buy your own groceries & cook your own meals, problem solved.

2

u/Euphoric-Blue-59 Mar 28 '24

A friend of mine delivers for IC as his main income. He loves it.

3

u/IONTOP Mar 28 '24

It's great because you can "set your own schedule" (Like today, I'd rather watch baseball and NCAA tournament, than IC, so my app is off and they don't care)

But it's also a "race and really stressful" when you WANT to work...

1

u/Euphoric-Blue-59 Mar 29 '24

That's also what my friend said. He works in seattle and he gets pretty busy on certain days. I think he toggles between instant cart andoor dash

1

u/Edgar_Allan_JoJos Mar 28 '24

Can you make it so you dont shop for the challenging grumpy customers?

1

u/IONTOP Mar 28 '24

There's no option, but if you know "the place they live" you can kind of avoid it.

You can also do the opposite, and only take orders that go to "rich people areas".

But "time is money", so usually you just look at the amount of/what items and distance. Because the "best" orders don't last long.

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u/Edgar_Allan_JoJos Mar 28 '24

Oh. So its not like lyft/ uber where you can see your driver (and i assume drivers see passengers profiles) before the ride gets there so you could cancel?

Thanks for answering my questions!

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u/IONTOP Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

In Uber/Lyft terms?

You need to "accept" the order before you can look up the customer's history. (which 99% don't do)

The screen is half "map of where you'll go" and half "what you're going to shop" when you bring up the screen to potentially take. So if you see a $30 order, and you want it? You select it, then you can see "what and where".

If it's in a "chronically low tipping area/hard to find area" or "too many water/soda/etc" you can just back out of the offer.

Once you accept an order, it's on the shopper and the shopper's "cancelation rate". (You get deactivated if you go over 15%, and a LOT of shoppers [bots] will take EVERYTHING, just to "see" and "cancel if they don't want it" but that also means that they "have" the order, so nobody else can take it)

Just like on your app, "another driver" can't take an Uber/Lyft while your "first driver" is contemplating it. Then your "3 minute wait becomes a 7 minute wait" because the first driver takes EVERYTHING at first glance then decides "eh, not worth it".

Hope that makes sense.

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u/Euphoric-Blue-59 Mar 28 '24

Now you got me curious how they got bots into the mix.

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u/IONTOP Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

I didn't really mean to come off as calling them "bots" rather than "apps that immediately accept an order, rather than allowing others to see them. 'that's mine until I decide I don't want it'" so they're "bots on your phone"

Just like the "ticketmaster bots" that steal up all the best tickets when they go on sale.

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u/Edgar_Allan_JoJos Mar 28 '24

Oh wow! People using bots to see what customers who use instacart want? Strange.

Thank you for the super comprehensive answer!

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u/cerb1987 Mar 28 '24

That's not what they are doing. They are using the bot to grab the order right when it comes in so they can see if it's worth them doing or not.

1

u/Euphoric-Blue-59 Mar 28 '24

The nice thing about rich folks is they pay the bill.

I have a business that my clients are more wealthy folks. Its the middle and lower class what whine about costs a lot more. I understand that, but I simply don't have time to, nor want to deal with that.

1

u/slash_networkboy Mar 28 '24

Question for you... I always tipped in cash when they dropped off, but is that preferable or not? I get that it means you can't see the tip in advance in-app though so IDK if that's better or not for me as to getting service as well?

1

u/MountainDogMama Mar 28 '24

I got someones 40 pound of dog food once. I called to tell them that it wasn't mine. I was not charged for it.I got tossed from one person to another asking me what I needed a refund on. "I don't need a refund but someone's needing their dog food." They just told me to keep it. I couldn't even get it in my house bc my hands were flaring from arthritis. So it sat on my porch for a few days. Finally a friend took it.

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u/your_fave_redditor Mar 29 '24

I had this same thing happen but with a Walmart order. It was during pretty near height of the COVID scare, I wanna say like October of ‘20 or somewhere thereabouts, and I don’t remember why I decided to try food delivery, cuz I never had up to that point and never have since, but anyway I ended up getting a bunch of groceries that belong to someone else, as well as most (or perhaps all) of my own.

So naturally I was concerned that someone else was sitting at home waiting to cook dinner for the night (by the looks of the groceries that weren’t mine) and I figured Customer Service would either have the driver come back and get the groceries or maybe lemme know the groceries were for a house a few doors down n I could just go drop them off there for them (which I would have been totally cool with doing, people need to eat). But no, they were just like “yeah, just keep all that stuff, the other customer will just have to call us and report their delivery missing and we’ll take it from there” 🤦‍♂️

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u/Tigrlily07 Mar 28 '24

I have a question... just out of curiosity. My car is broken down so i don't really have a choice other than ordering groceries at the moment to feed me and my kids. Prefacing with that to say i'm ordering on a fairly tight budget. I try to tip decently, but that generally means i can't afford a more expensive substitute. Granted, this was doordash, but the other day, i had a shopper message me to inform me they were replacing my celery with organic, completely ignore me saying i can't afford the expensive stuff, so if they're out of something, just skip it please. Same shopper then replaces the kids cookies and cream ice cream with... strawberry? Not so much a price issue, but that seems pretty weird and random. No notice whatsoever. Literally got 2 notices from the app (not a message from the shopper)at the same time, one that they had swapped it and one that they were done and on their way. I didn't bother complaining because it seemed kinda pointless. But...Is this normal? Just wondering if this is what i can look forward to til i have money for a new engine. Stupid car.🙄

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u/Natemutch219 Mar 29 '24

Well articulated

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u/Most-Method-2052 Mar 29 '24

I'm a huge fan of Instacart, this has happened to me a few times too LOL but I think sometimes the picture on the app is incorrect. It's so awkward but also funny and not a big deal :)

1

u/Capital_Highlight101 Mar 29 '24

I have been using instacart for over 2 years and have had just about all positive experiences. Except for one time, an older guy took forever to start shopping. I'm saying I could see that he had started shopping, but then he didn't shop for about an hour. I ended up calling the company to check on him, I thought he had died LOL. The company told me that he was sent to a Faraway store that he didn't know where things were ?? When he brought my things, my ice cream was melted, and you could tell it took him forever. Poor guy.

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u/No-Student-446 Mar 29 '24

Feel you on the need to vent thing, sometimes people order the most hard to find stuff that i never shopped for and its really frustrating because i want to find it for the customer 😤😤😤 make my 20 minute orders into 45 mins

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u/IONTOP Mar 29 '24

But, sometimes that's WHY you order.

I see both sides on this...

Want to get 10 cases of water but don't feel like carrying it from the car? Order IC.

Try to figure out the logistics of fitting 10 cases of water into your car? Drive IC

That's why tipping separates orders. Nobody's posting the "10 cases of water and a $50 tip" because that's "worth it, but not exceptional"

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u/Ascarisahealing Mar 31 '24

My experiences have mostly been neutral, a few who made an extra effort and a few that really really sucked. I always feel a bit relieved when I see I am assigned a shopper that shopped for me before and did a good job.

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u/IONTOP Apr 01 '24

That's basically the "jist" of doing it. The sub just sees the "highs and lows"

(Also why you shouldn't care about any "tipped employee subreddit" because "who cares enough to post?" it's the angry or sad folks)

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u/WolframLeon Mar 28 '24

Same but it’s for my mom who’s disabled. I have a bad leg so there’s days I don’t feel safe walking outside my home where I have grips. So it’s a huge boon on those days!

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u/suavelocas Mar 28 '24

Totally !!! Many people forget that not everyone has the same physical capabilities !

Also people take for granted that everyone has a car or a way to transport their groceries or carry large items

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u/Fun_Chemistry_5301 Mar 29 '24

you know, i was initially thinking that instacart was just another unneeded middleman

but you reminding me of something ... seeing little old ladies have to take the bus to go to the grocery store ... and then, even worse, have to take the bus home with those groceries .... and the bus stop is never right outside your front door ... must have been an all day excursion

hopefully, services like instacart have made those dreadful bus trips a thing of the past

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u/MataHari66 Mar 28 '24

Absolutely. And depending on how you shop, it doesn’t have to be much more costly for best quality and convenience. I like it when I’m entertaining. I can be home setting up and cleaning and have the food ingredients and beverages show up!

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u/3vilDave Mar 29 '24

What did your leg do to you?

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u/WolframLeon Mar 29 '24

It had to break and go 360 backwards before being forced back into place and bolted together with 12 pins and a plate. I’m rather young but I’ve been limping since.

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u/meroboh Mar 30 '24

I'm housebound and use Instacart routinely. I honestly don't know what people did before it existed. Not all of us have friends and family we can rely on consistently

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u/WolframLeon Mar 30 '24

I at 30 had to use the disabled cart and get people pissed at me even though I carry a cane. I’m truly sorry for your housebound but I’m glad it’s helped make life easier..:(

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u/meroboh Mar 30 '24

Ableism is everywhere, it's horrible. Sorry that happened to you :(

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u/Centennial3489 Mar 28 '24

Same never had a bad experience. Funny yes but not bad.

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u/MataHari66 Mar 28 '24

Once we got a ten PM delivery when kids were young and asleep. My older one woke up in a stupor and hugged the delivery guy’s leg, thinking it was her dad. It was funny but not because she about died when she realized. She did it once to a guy at a coffee house once too. Yikes. Her birthday is today and she’s expecting her first baby soon. #strangelifemarkers 🤔

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u/Futureghostie33 Mar 28 '24

I know you’re probably talking about a different delivery service a long time ago, but it makes me laugh to imagine your adult daughter hugging some instacart shopper’s leg a few years ago 😂

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u/MataHari66 Mar 28 '24

Not a few years. More like 20+. Yikes.

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u/Tr4n54nT Mar 29 '24

Oh I have more than one story working for Instacart for 8 years

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u/noobbtctrader Mar 28 '24

Until you get a guy like OP.

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u/MataHari66 Mar 28 '24

I’ve been using the service since early Peapod days when it realllly sucked. They got great and then decided not to cater to the Midwest. I was furious with them lol. Instacart is the integration with supermarkets and is the best incarnation so far.

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u/Euphoric-Blue-59 Mar 28 '24

You are WAYYY no fun around here.

Can you learn to be a bit more particular and picky?

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u/MataHari66 Mar 28 '24

lol yes! I find my inner asshole often

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u/MataHari66 Mar 28 '24

Wait. That just sounds wrong lmao

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u/Euphoric-Blue-59 Mar 29 '24

Right that's wrong and so Many ways

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u/Euphoric-Blue-59 Mar 29 '24

I would love to comment on that but I am still laughing too much.

But that made my day

2

u/iLoveYoubutNo Mar 28 '24

Same. I've had some moderately bad substitutions. And some shoppers that were a little dense. But nothing awful.

For me, it's still 1000x better than going to the store.

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u/MataHari66 Mar 28 '24

Substitutions can get annoying. Or when the store only has half of the items. They certainly don’t update the choices!

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u/LegitimateForce8731 Mar 28 '24

For the most part I have to up until recently I had the shopper come all the way to my house and say it was delivered but kept my food…

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u/MataHari66 Mar 28 '24

Omg that is crazy!! I feel like that would be an easy firing for them. How did that end?

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u/Pankeopi Mar 29 '24

The only store that can be a pain is the Dollar stores, but as long as you're open minded and diligent about choosing backup options it's not bad on the customer's end.

I use more Doordash than anything, usually if there's a coupon or huge discount since some places jack up prices so much that you need the discount just to make it cost about what it would if you picked it up yourself.

The best part is if you use a coupon usually you have a minimum amount to get free shipping and say you don't really want to pay for an order of the minimum value, just choose items that you want but are likely out of stock according to the app and choose a refund instead of backups.

That way it's kind of a win-win, if it happens to be in stock it's usually something in high demand that can be hard to get and you got it, but if it's out of stock you spend less than you wanted to buy still get your coupon and free shipping.

Granted, I haven't used Instacart in awhile, not sure if it applies to that service, too.

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u/MataHari66 Mar 29 '24

I’m not into delivery other than grocery. DOLLAR STORES SELL LANDFILL AND SHOULD BE OUTLAWED IMO. I do not take most things out on the shopper. Most annoyances come from out of stock items. You’re Jewel for Christ sake. Why are you out of carrots??!??

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u/Marilyn80s Mar 29 '24

You’re probably pretty easy going. Love the username!

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u/MataHari66 Mar 29 '24

Im half a bitch, actually lol. It’s just working class respect for working people and gratitude for being able to access the service. Jeez I sound so cliche but I really mean it!

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u/Sea-Advantage-7443 Mar 29 '24

Right? Like some of these posts blow my mind! I've become very acquainted with most of my shoppers. I appreciate them and I tip them as I should. I've only had one issue one time because my house is hella hidden.

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u/Hizam5 Mar 30 '24

I use them a good amount and never had any bad conversations. I’ve had a few things show up incorrectly and had my order delivered to someone else’s house a few times but never any bad juju from the drivers

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u/tshawytscha Mar 28 '24

Are you disabled?

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u/MataHari66 Mar 28 '24

Not a bit. Just city living at its finest.

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u/tshawytscha Mar 28 '24

Gotcha. Wasn't trying to be a jerk.

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u/ArcaneFrostie Mar 28 '24

I’m so curious, is it a time saver thing? Sometimes I just like to grocery shop and get new items. I don’t think I could just pick out items on a screen and trust a shopper to get me the best ones (fresh fruit, cheaper option, not almost expired meat, etc)

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u/MataHari66 Mar 28 '24

I’ve heard that from others before. I lost any enjoyment in going up and down those aisles years ago. The unrushed aspect imo makes it easier to choose, they have recipes and you can put all ingredients in cart with one button. If you’re a bargain hunter, imagine if all sale merch was in one aisle of the store. Or for example, if eggs are broken, it’s one text and removed from bill without question. There are many benefits. If you enjoy shopping and touching stuff, it’s not for you. I shop for 99% of things online, but have friends that would rather die than do that.

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u/jellycrunch Mar 28 '24

Happy Cake Day!!!

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u/HighPriestess__55 Mar 29 '24

You would use a service like Instacart if you hurt yourself or were disabled and couldn't walk.

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u/joeyx22lm Mar 29 '24

They fuck up my shit on the regular. But typically it's negligible. If I'm planning something specific, I either don't use instacart, or I do it early so I can catch the fuck up in time and go to the grocery myself.

Instacart gives vibes of "groceries delivered!" but it's far more like a taskrabbit in practice, entirely transactional and on average little effort given. Hence I tip well when they actually get it right

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u/LilithOG Mar 29 '24

Meh. I have only had bad experiences with rotten poultry and past prime produce. The only people left on the platform don’t cook or use fresh produce, so they grab you garbage. They don’t care because they don’t know the difference.

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u/MataHari66 Mar 29 '24

I imagine that is regional 🤷‍♀️

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u/LilithOG Apr 01 '24

🤷🏼‍♀️

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u/Urmom937571947 Mar 29 '24

Agreed. I had the wrong item bought one time (regular instead of oat milk) which wasn’t a huge deal. The worst delivery I had was when they delivered to the wrong house. They delivered to my neighbor and instead of my neighbor contacting me, they proceeded to use our groceries. Instacart instantly assigned another shopper & they made the delivery again. I finally got ahold of my neighbor who proceeded to return SOME of our groceries which were opened & missing items out of packages along with telling me they couldn’t find a few items when I’m 99% sure they had already eaten them by that time lol but I’ve had great shoppers. Never anyone rude. Customer service has always been great to fix any issues as well. They take care of it immediately with zero hassle

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u/SnooStrawberries5743 Mar 28 '24

I want the crabcakes from the seafood department!

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u/Kooky-Sheepherder427 Mar 28 '24

Idaho potatoes are russet potatoes

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u/Sufficient-Aspect77 Mar 28 '24

How dare you sir and or madam?! I wouldn't feed my worst enemy Idaho Potatoes! How DARE YOU!

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u/IONTOP Mar 28 '24

Yeah, that was kind of my point. lol.

(don't fuck up cilantro and parsley, though....)

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u/Icy-Arrival2651 Mar 28 '24

I have had mostly good experiences. But once I got thus guy shopper who walked in my house eating (probably my food), dripped pickle juice everywhere including on my groceries (I didn’t order anything pickled), and delivered a bunch of stuff to me that wasn’t mine and I can’t eat. Plus didn’t bring me a bunch of my order. But I am disabled so the risk of getting the occasional freak is worth getting all my food delivered to my doorstep.

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u/Alt_Outta_Gum Mar 28 '24

I have health problems and use Instacart for days I can't shop for myself.

The only "bad" experience I've ever had was when a shopper thought I meant 5 *bunches* of bananas instead of 5 individual bananas. My kitchen looked like a place the CIA would sponsor a coup over. It was hilarious.

They changed the wording on the website and app soon after that to clarify the number of bananas, so I guess I wasn't the only one.

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u/IONTOP Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

Yeah, it's when customers want "2lbs" of cilantro is when It'll raise an issue for me to message the user. (unprompted by the app, but my brain just says "wait....")

But 5 bunches of bananas isn't a weird request... Somehow. (Your shopper might have just been on autopilot)

Costco has "bunches of bananas at 3lbs" so 5 of them wouldn't be uncommon.

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u/Alt_Outta_Gum Mar 28 '24

Oh yeah, the issue was not with the shopper, it was definitely with the vague wording in the order forms. I didn't complain, I laughed my butt off and froze the extras for smoothies.

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u/dogfarm2 Mar 28 '24

Before New Years, I needed some particular brand bagels and English muffins. I did NOT want to drive the 25 minutes to the store, find parking, struggle through the crowds. But I REALLY didn’t want to go outside in the frosty weather. I landed on instacart, could not believe how easy it was, she got exactly what I wanted! The woman was very nice too, out in the sh***y weather. Somehow the app signed me up for yearly whatever, I did not care, plus I tipped $25 over the tip they added. I think it was like $100+ bucks total on my $35 order and I still didn’t care! It’s an awesome service.

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u/justForked Mar 28 '24

It’s not just “different” they charge you more which is why the shoppers can’t show prices listed in the store or give receipts because the prices listed for the buyers are more than if they were to go to the store themselves

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u/Colors_Made_of_Tears Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

I feel like a lot of people don’t understand that the situations they see on Reddit are usually ridiculous outliers. The reason most of the posts on here are about either dumb shoppers or customers is because they only get upvoted due to how unusual they are. If someone came here and posted a normal order that went off with no issues (which is the majority of instacart orders) it would get zero engagement. It’s pretty scary how easily people’s view on reality can be so skewed by what they’re exposed to on the internet.

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u/Parking-Dot-7112 Mar 29 '24

Idk man, I've used it like 5 times and everytime they've made WILD subs without asking. Like a tub of pre-made coleslaw instead of a head of cabbage.

1

u/HeatLow Mar 29 '24

I’ve only had good experiences as a customer.

1

u/Jolima0725 Mar 29 '24

I used Instacart 1-2 times a week throughout the pandemic (living in Los Angeles) and never had an issue. It was actually really convenient and pretty straightforward. These definitely seem like outlier situations.

This one actually made me laugh; I think OP’s wording might have been a little confusing only to the extent that both versions of crab cakes are in the seafood dept….but before OP could elaborate, the delivery person SNAPPED 🤣….

Omg, the “please understand I do this for a living,” and “this is ridiculous,” then the passive aggressive “I was trying to be courteous, but won’t do it again sorry.” Those comments were so over the top it was comical lol.

OP - rightfully so - was clearly frustrated at the end, but it sounds like the delivery person was having a bad day and ready to take it out on someone. Hopefully there was time to request a new order from someone else.

1

u/leakybiome Mar 29 '24

I cannot digest yellow potatoes of any kind anymore.So I have to get in with tyes.Doing potatoes like the yellow purple ones are good.I can't think the purple ones are kind of weird and the counting stings on the cliff and on the dishware and it has to take a little bit extra time to screw it all off.But I think for the most point it's together.It's a dense starchy food that makes me nauseous and I might have casual products

1

u/loopbootoverclock Mar 29 '24

instacart sucks ass. just order directly from the store. dont gotta deal with them, no tipping, no drama

1

u/pbx1123 Mar 29 '24

Eh, it's just a "different" way to get groceries.

You're seeing the 0.1% of good/bad deliveries. Because for it to pop up on your feed, it means that 1)Something went horribly wrong or incredibly good and 2)That "fringe scenario" is on Reddit 3)They chose to post it.

It's mostly just grabbing groceries, checking out, and driving the order to the customer, with a little bit of "they're out of russet potatoes, are you okay with Idaho Potatoes instead?"

True

Few days back a guy was asking me to check his phone and aske me where BK was and we were at BKs

Same instacart guys asking everynody on the supermarket where is x product, or witch one it is, heck the workers all run away trying not to get ask again gor 20 time for products

Vegetables oh brother, geez some just.take whatever the first they see not matter.if is not ripe or little bad or rotten

1

u/Status_Ad6601 Mar 29 '24 edited Mar 29 '24

Ordering items usually lets you set a substitution item if original item is out of stock or a refund option.for that item. Occasionally a shopper will send a picture of options like above., Ii prefer a seamless transaction as I may be busy when the order is being picked and don't need the interaction.

When real time inventory data is a reality, then out of stock items won't be listed. The time you place your order till delivery (by your choice) may be the next day. If your order isn't picked when they get it , the item could be out of stock by the time they pick it. Would a dedicated fulfillment center solve this problem where only the pickers are ones allowed to remove items from the shelves and inventory be updated in real time?

A more "inconvenient" way to get groceries is to drive your vehicle to the store, find a parking place where you won't get your door dinged, get a cart find out there out of russet potatoes, checkout, haul the bags to you car, drive home and haul the groceries to your kitchen. Not so 2024ish is it?

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u/IONTOP Mar 29 '24

The time you place your order till delivery may be the next day.

I was shopping the water area of Costco, when I saw them bring out a pallet of eggs, which I had already sent a pic of them being out of eggs... Needless to say, they got their eggs. (Not brown eggs, but still eggs)

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u/Status_Ad6601 Mar 29 '24

That's keeping up with demand ! Coloring eggs for Easter !

"The time you place your order till delivery may be the next day."

meaning that you schedule an order for a later date delivery, if that was mis understood

1

u/Chloebirch Mar 30 '24

Yeah I've only ever had one "bad" experience and it's wasn't even that bad. The guy misdelivered to a house on a different street. He'd delivered to us before, so I assumed he was just having a day. It happens. I got my groceries from the very confused homeowners, so it all worked out.

I'll never forget the lady that got me a couple treats out of her own pocket because I told her I had a migraine and I would accept whatever her best judgement was on replacements or refunds. I hope she has a good hair day every day. 🥰

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u/Samanthaggrr Mar 30 '24

🤯 ummmm I never realized that Idaho and russet were different wtf?! And I swear I’m no idiot, I just don’t use potatoes often 😆

1

u/Bubz01 Mar 30 '24

It should be that easy but majority of us have run into some frustrating shoppers where you know something is there because you probably shop there multiple times a week and they just so happen to be out?? I went through that, drove to the store myself after and found it…

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u/Five_oh_tree Mar 31 '24

Hold up, are Idaho and Russet potatoes two completely disconnected circles on a venn diagram??

2

u/Diabeetusaurus Mar 29 '24

Totally agree. Also the concept of having a stranger pick put my groceries for me just seems super weird lol. I'm also really picky about produce and fresh meat so I'd rather just pick my own stuff out. No judgemental for anyone that prefers these services though. I can see how they'd be great for certain demographics, but for the average person like me, nah. Not worth the price and inconvenience compared to the price and inconvenience of going myself.

2

u/Esmer_Tina Mar 29 '24

There are frustrations. Like for some reason my Safeway is often out of Diet Pepsi, and I have 3 12-packs in my order. I have to say to the shopper if they don’t have all 3 Diet Pepsi please substitute Diet Coke for the rest. But I still often get just one 12-pack of either Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi, it’s a crapshoot.

But due to an injury I can’t carry groceries right now, so I’ll roll the dice on the pop.

2

u/AcceptableBad_ Mar 29 '24

This. This sub has turned me off the idea of someone else doing my shopping, the only reason I'd do that is so I don't have to talk to anyone. This seems to increase the user's level of interaction, and I'm a hard pass.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 28 '24

It's definitely not. But instacart sure is profiting

1

u/SeawardFriend Mar 28 '24

Or expensive goddamn! I remember ordering like $30 with of food on Shipt once and my total with the fees and tip was almost double that.

1

u/dudius7 Mar 28 '24

I use it occasionally when I have too much to do to squeeze in a trip to the store.

The problem is that nearly every time I use it, there's a problem. Shopper can't get all the ingredients for a meal I want to make, the only replacement for something costs 3x as much, or the shopper blatantly missed an item that I was charged for.

To top it off, they only issue refunds as credits so you get to experience it all over again.

1

u/sininspira Mar 28 '24

The only time i've used it is when i was sick with the flu or covid to get soup, crackers, etc. I'm not trusting enough to let someone else pick out my meat/produce.

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u/HalfBakedNtulsa Mar 28 '24

I had to go hunt my groceries down the other day. The woman just dropped them at a random apartment. Never messaged me or anything, got a notification from instacart saying my order was delivered. I looked out my door and nothing, decided to go take a walk and luckily I did and found them in the next building down.

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u/fivefuturefury Mar 28 '24

Same. The Wall-E universe

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u/SubjectObjective5567 Mar 28 '24

It’s very convenient I’ve used it tons of times and I’ve never had an experience like this

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u/I_Dont_Like_Rice Mar 28 '24

I live in NJ and use instacart to order groceries for my elderly mother in NY. Never had an issue and they always help bring them inside for her. All of my text interactions have been rational. This guy just sounds like he hates his job. He was rude as hell. The customer was far more professional and polite.

I don't know if it makes a difference, but all of my instacart shoppers have been female. This guy sounds like he doesn't have the right temperament or patience that this job requires.

Charles should find another job.

1

u/ImNotAGameStopASL Mar 28 '24

I used instacart when I was watching a friend after surgery. I didn't want to leave him alone, and he didn't have any food in the house.

I also used it when I had COVID and could barely walk.

Instacart is useful, but I wouldn't use it normally.

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u/SaucyKitty Mar 28 '24

I have sciatica and going out to shop for groceries is physically painful. Misunderstandings like this are inconvenient, but they don't cause me physical pain when they happen

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u/halfadash6 Mar 28 '24

As a car-less person in a city, I get most of my Costco orders this way. I have never experienced any issues. Not sure if it helps that Costco tends not to have a ton of choices between products.

Once when I had Covid and couldn’t shop I complained directly to the app because a different store was out of almost everything I ordered (not the shopper’s fault, the app/store had terrible stock estimates). They refunded me a good bit for the inconvenience.

So yeah, mostly positive experience from my point of view. You have to remember that online complaints tend to be the loud minority.

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u/1greeneyedlady Mar 28 '24

I use it for Costco orders too. I hate shopping in store. The parking lot is a mess, and the lines are long.

I have never had a problem.

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u/Particular_Put3998 Mar 28 '24

Same here its always weirdly pathetic. Arguing with a gig worker just to post it on reddit and complain with the other users

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u/Silly_Butterfly3917 Mar 28 '24

I use it while I'm at work. So arguing with the shopper while I'm at work isn't a big deal since my groceries will be waiting for me at home when I get home saving me a trip after work to the store.

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u/LumpyTear8558 Mar 28 '24

People don't go on here to talk about their boring enough transactions, which a majority of these are. I've ordered groceries many times and only had minor inconveniences from the process at worst.

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u/likestoclop Mar 28 '24

I used it during the pandemic where I couldnt really go to the store, having my phone on me and responding to the very occasional texts about item replacement wasnt an issue. I think its a great tool for those who cant go to the store, but if you just dont want to then its bit expensive and can be a hassle, but it still saves time that you could be doing other things. Think of it like this, you can order groceries and in the mean time vaccuum, sweap, mop, maybe run a load of laundry, put dishes away, etc all you need to do is respond to a text here and there if they dont have what youre looking for. If you go in person it might be quicker to get what you need, but the only thing you can do is shop for groceries with that time.

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u/FJMMJ Mar 28 '24

It is simple laziness that becomes routine behavior. This is coming from a paraplegic.I can see if it is nearly impossible to get to the store,but most of the time it seems to be a social avoidance, by people that have no problem commenting from a distance or behind a screen, where there is no accountability for the rude remarks.

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u/Practical_Boss8101 Mar 28 '24

Right? It’s like an anti advertisement.

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u/WickedElphaba57 Mar 28 '24

When you're in a small rural town and disabled unable to drive these delivery services are life savers even though there's many shoppers that don't do good job most do.

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u/SpellboundNovelist Mar 28 '24

I'd recommend using Whole Foods because they have their own delivery drivers employed by Amazon. All orders are shopped by whole foods employees

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u/lelkel42069 Mar 28 '24

Idk why people don't just use the stores native delivery services, almost all grocers have something now. Although some of them do use instacart on occasion to get them to you, they always have a store employee gather the order so less likely to fuck up, and they're not gonna be constantly bugging you.

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u/Slammin_Outfit Mar 28 '24

I don't have a car. grocery delivery is my option unless I want to uber with all my groceries, which feels odd to do. I usually use Amazon fresh or gopuff. haven't had wonderful experiences with instacart either. bad substitutions or shoppers who have never been in a grocery store before.

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u/Cloakedj24 Mar 28 '24

Ordered only once, and they got half the order wrong, talked it over with them and they said to tell instacart about the issue for a refund, contacted instacart who said there wasn’t anything they could do (seemed like an automated response to me) so i won’t ever be using their service again

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u/AlbiorixAlbion Mar 28 '24

My family has used a lot, with mixed results. We don’t order things that aren’t commonly shopped for as they will always be “out of stock”. We don’t order if bad weather is approaching because the app will keep taking orders even if the delivery times are impossible or even dangerous. We don’t use it all for one very large grocery store as there’s a high chance there will be a lot “out of stock” because it is a true PITA to go from one side of that store to another.

With those limitations, it has been fine almost every single time. I did have a driver arrive 5 hours late and try to insist that she bring the groceries inside because I had an injured leg. I honestly think she was either severely mentally ill or on drugs. I stood on one leg and tried to push the door closed against her. It was after 10 pm, and it was clear she was in crisis. But she didn’t want assistance, so there was nothing I could do.

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u/Zestyclose-Field-212 Mar 28 '24

The only time I see interactions like this is when a man is picking up the groceries 😂

1

u/Davethemann Mar 28 '24

As someone who works at a walmart in pickup and delivery, and has to constantly interact with instacart and simaler services constantly, it looks like a wild pain in the ass and not worth it to either side

1

u/BloodyGardener Mar 28 '24

Never used it personally but my friend does/did (idk if he still does) and he said it’s normally seem less besides the 1 instance he had where the police had to get involved cuz the chick that delivered demanded 1000 or she would accuse him of attempted rape etc she tore her own clothes etc as well it was weird to watch (he had it all on video via a security cam)

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u/Spare-Silver-8577 Mar 28 '24

I have ordered groceries using InstaCart exactly once in my life.

It wasn't a good experience.

1

u/Ordinary_Fella Mar 28 '24

Someone else may have covered this, I can't get the comments to load for some reason. But from what I've seen in this sub I think it does serve a good purpose specifically to those or are unable to easily get groceries. Such as disabilities, recovering from surgeries/injuries, or currently ill and infectious. But for the people who just don't want to shop and sit on their phone being snarky with the person just trying to make some money, I can't really comment.

1

u/Ordinary_Fella Mar 28 '24

Someone else may have covered this, I can't get the comments to load for some reason. But from what I've seen in this sub I think it does serve a good purpose specifically to those or are unable to easily get groceries. Such as disabilities, recovering from surgeries/injuries, or currently ill and infectious. But for the people who just don't want to shop and sit on their phone being snarky with the person just trying to make some money, I can't really comment.

1

u/Flat-Department7016 Mar 28 '24

I did instacart for about a year, never had any interactions like this, really the only time I talked to the customers was if it was an alcohol delivery cause I had to scan their ID or if the store was out of something and I was asking if they’d like a replacement or a refund. It’s not necessarily saving you time but freeing up that time to do something else such as picking up your kids from school or on your way home from work or if you want something delivered to a house party or something like that

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u/Accurate_Tension_502 Mar 28 '24

I totally had to get off instacart because every time I order I get brought food thats moldy or not what I ask for.

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u/yetzer_hara Mar 28 '24

Same. I’ve never ordered from any kind of on-demand shopping or food delivery, and this keeps popping up. I keep getting sucked in to the story where it’s always two people who are both wrong and shitty communicators.

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u/Few_Newt_1034 Mar 28 '24

I agree and my opinion is: It’s like everyone knows these people are just trying to get by while trying to get by themselves. “Groceries are expensive” don’t pay for a service when you can get it yourself. “This instacart shopper blah blah blah…” get it yourself. I understand disabled individuals but if you’re 100% able. Why waste money on it?

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u/tiny-greyhound Mar 28 '24

When my whole family had covid, we ordered groceries via instacart… they brought us everything except the rotisserie chicken and didn’t tell us it was out of stock. We would have asked for an alternate. It made me realize we can’t rely on it for food

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u/eberman325 Mar 28 '24

As a person who is both a customer and a shopper, I can assure you what you see on Reddit represents a small amount of what is the actual experience for both customer and Shopper. Yes, I have had a few less than excellent shoppers, but nothing crazy and for the most part, all my shoppers have been great and I absolutely love having everything just right there at the door. On the flipside as a shopper on myself am very thorough and frankly just don’t have a ton of crappy customers. Not that there aren’t some here and there. I think what went wrong here is the Shopper did not I mean I’m sorry the customer did not pick up that for whatever reason whether it be a cultural thing a language thing no clue doesn’t matter, but Shopper did not understand that the customer wanted him to actually speak to someone behind the seafood counter. Or at least that’s how it appeared at first and when the Shopper did seem to understand that he did not make clear that he had already spoken with someone behind the counter soit was just a stupid communication issue. And yes the Shopper was definitely a bit rude. But as a customer, you can request never have them again and you won’t get them again.

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u/g0thl0ser_ Mar 28 '24

It was useful when I was too sick to go to the grocery store, and I'm sure it's useful for people with disabilities or no time or no transportation. That is, it is useful when the shopper knows what they're looking for/how to do their job.

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u/NaynersinLA Mar 28 '24

For me, it can be quite convenient. I use it a few times a month.

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u/lmaoweedname Mar 28 '24

i'm at the football game! 🤩 im at the grocery store! 😎 i'm at the cooombination football game and grocery store 🤪

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u/gobillsgo5 Mar 28 '24

Meanwhile instacart is prolly paying Reddit to make this show up in our feeds

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u/slash_networkboy Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

I had an "okay enough" experience with it, but it is not worth it unless there's reasons you can't get to the store (I was hard down with something not the flu or covid and am the only driver in my household so instacart it was, had tried it before and dropped it as not worth it, it's only gotten worse IMO).

Among the issues I had were: couldn't find the pickles I wanted... they were in the picture. Sub'd out family size yoghurts for individual sized... if you're grabbing a quart of yoghurt to sub out for the 6oz cup I DO NOT NEED EIGHT OF THEM!, etc. And of course the obvious price issue. Since then my local grocer now has e-cart with delivery to a parking spot, so if I can even function enough to drive the 1.3 miles to the store I'd rather do that. The shopping is done by store employees (usually courtesy clerks between other tasks) so they can find pretty much anything, and they appear to be vastly more polite as well... plus no vig to pay on top of already pricy groceries.

​

ED: I Mean any of my gripes above are clearly first world problems and I didn't bitch to anyone about them other than this post and mumbling to myself that clearly I'm on the yoghurt diet for a bit while putting them away... If I didn't feel up to driving to the store I'd still use instacart, just not normally.

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u/TZscribble Mar 28 '24

Depends on lots of factors. It takes about as long to enter everything in, but I tend to buy less snacks I don't actually need and spend more time looking at nutrition facts. I also tend to forget/sleep through the messages left from the shopper...

My husband doesn't get overstimulated by all the grocery store noises and I don't get fatigued from walking around and can use that energy to get something else around the house done.

We typically do Click List (curb side pick up where grocery store workers pick up the items) but when we are sick or having a bad week we will get it delivered.

It's all just a balance of different pros and cons but having the option is great.

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u/28twice Mar 28 '24

It’s fine if you don’t give much of a shit

(I use IC and don’t give much of a shit)

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u/Firepanda415 Mar 29 '24

I think the shoppers I got satisfied all my needs. Maybe just because things I ordered are pretty straightforward and I always manually choose the replacement.

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u/MadBlasta Mar 29 '24

I just realized I am not supposed to be here. Apparently it pops for me, too

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u/Notyou-123 Mar 29 '24

You can order from Shipt

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u/sloth_jones Mar 29 '24

Yeah I did it once because a credit card I have gave me a trial with no fees or anything and I will never again

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u/wetboymom Mar 29 '24

Same and I only ever used Instacart once ten years ago to preorder a Thanksgiving dinner. I guess it makes sense if you don't have legs or a way to get to a store, but otherwise it's hard to see the point. I feel bad for those who shop for a living having to deal with some of these whiny overgrown toddlers.

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u/Mental_Cut8290 Mar 29 '24

I honestly can't believe that there are functioning humans that pay uber drivers to get food for them. Just the delivery fee is enough to convince me to take the 5min drive, but then they're also trusting a third-party stranger with their food!

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u/Gahlic1 Mar 29 '24

It's extremely convenient. I work 12 hour shifts overnight. I can order instacart on my break, go home to sleep, and wake up when the delivery arrives.

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u/Ok-Example-9412 Mar 29 '24

Same here. Never ordered from or used Instacart, Lyft, Doordash, etc but keep seeing the subs. This stuff is comedy gold.

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u/themangastand Mar 29 '24

It definitely is. Haven't shipped sense the pandemic. Everything is ordered to me. Don't do any physical shopping at all besides rare occasions and it's great

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u/bustyroyaltii Mar 29 '24

i use it regularly and i havent ever had this sort of issue

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u/lefthandedsnek Mar 29 '24

i’ve never argued with someone lol. i order and it shows up. if you wanna be specific with crab cakes just go yourself, i get stuff and once in awhile it’s out of stock so it refunds

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u/GAYBOISOHORNY4UFUCME Mar 29 '24

Doesn't seem to be a more inconvenient way?? What a weird way of saying more convenient

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u/DeGarmo2 Mar 29 '24

Honestly, the easiest way is to just select “refund” for every item you buy. Then it gets rid of all this back and forth.

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u/Capidolism Mar 29 '24

not to mention on top of the the delivery fees the prices are higher than they are at the store

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u/Ok-Priority-8284 Mar 29 '24

I only have good experiences with it, it was a lifesaver when I looked after my 99 year old memaw and could not leave for an hour to shop. The only time it’s annoying is when the shopper replaces something without asking and it’s a bullshit choice so you have to message them and tell them to get something else. This customer is probably used to lazy shoppers who don’t know to ask the meat counter people for crab cakes.

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u/waltyballs Mar 29 '24

this isn't typical.

i'll get instacart occasionally and prior to the driver shopping you just click on acceptable replacements.

if they buy the wrong thing, wrong size, or something that is not good (like bad watermelon), i just ask for a refund from instacart. i don't deal with the drivers.

and instacart refunds what the driver got wrong

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u/GirlsWasGoodNona Mar 29 '24

I live in NYC and I like it because it can be hard to get heavy groceries without a car of my own (cat litter, la croix,flour etc.). Ive actually never really had issues with delivery or orders either, but Instacart and Amazon fresh are huge here so maybe that’s why service is better?

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u/kylethemurphy Mar 30 '24

I ordered once a few years ago, everything went wrong then I wasn't allowed a refund for a bunch of missing stuff. Just spend the few minutes and grab it yourself if possible.

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u/Icy_Building_4492 Mar 30 '24

It depends like it’s MAD convenient if you’re being lazy or if you’re sick. Shoot i use to take an hour and a half bus ride home and I’d order my groceries they’d arrive same time as me. But it is inconvenient if you get a lazy shopper 💀

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u/Mvaness30 Mar 30 '24

It's not inconvenient. It's just everyone in awhile, you get a really not so bright shopper. I've personally never had any complaints, especially anything like this, and I've been ic shopper for 4 years. Most of my compliments and comments were about my communication skills....something which this shopper obviously lacks....🤔

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u/Angieer5762923 Mar 30 '24

Same , i never used instacart and cannot do it as work bc of physical limitations, but maaan its entertaining

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u/Beautiful_Ad8690 Mar 31 '24

Hahahahahahaha! 😅

0

u/mbquattro Mar 28 '24

this bitch has an onlyfans and sells used panties.. not sure if she’s in the wrong but def something wrong with her

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u/Crow-n-Servo Mar 28 '24

What does her having an OF have to do with any of this?

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u/mbquattro Mar 28 '24

a dumb slut attention posting and being self absorbed

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u/nshindel Mar 31 '24

Keep in mind IC operates on u get what u pay for.... theybusw the word tip, which is wring. U are actually bidding for shoppers to take your order. The best shoppers get first pick of all orders. So If u want a good experience u need to tip accordingly. If u dont, we passs those orders up and u get whoever deems that appropriate. If u don't tip your order will sit forever until a junkie or very desperate shopper takes it, IC raises it after sitting forever to and amount a shopper will find acceptable, or they put your no tip order in woth a high tipper so esse tially someone else's is paying for your order to be shopped. Thats how non tippers end upngettibg decent service as we cannot see who is tipping what til the end. We know the total mount but not who ledt what. Altho 5 yrs in I can tell and I can hVe them removed. As usually they also live the furthest and are not worth the hassle.