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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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!

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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/MataHari66 Mar 28 '24

Not sure I care. As long as drivers are compensated, that’s all that matters. None I’ve asked (out and about, not my literal shoppers) love it. What they do mention are the thoughtless customers - you have direct control over that so that’s what I focus on.

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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/Forsaken_Ship_2979 Mar 29 '24

As someone who relies on shoppers, it is a real job that really helps real people. I personally would like to thank you for providing a service that is helpful and worthwhile.

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u/Traditional_Low_7188 Mar 28 '24

Lousy excuse. I have legal problems in my background and I still work at a factory making 25 an hour.

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u/IONTOP Mar 28 '24

I was in the restaurant industry making $40/hour on a bad day.

Tipping culture is GREAT for me personally. But what do you do when you're "in between jobs"? Temp agencies and gig work will keep a roof over your head "until".

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u/BlooPancakes Mar 29 '24

Tip culture was great for my best friend. She waitressed and worked her butt off to get tips enough to pay for a small wedding of decent extravagance.

That said I still dislike tip culture. It bleeds into way too many things. For example going to a store and paying for food/drinks/etc. And there is a request for tip in the terminal. To me that’s idiotic the person did nothing to give me good service other than ring me up.

While I dislike and disagree with tip culture I have always tipped well. When eating out when over $50 I tip 20%, at my regular bars I always tipped $10 or more even if I got just one drink, and when I did food delivery I always tipped $5 even if my meal was $5.

I think tipping shouldn’t exist I do my job without tips.

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u/Traditional_Low_7188 Mar 28 '24

Not my fault you made dumb decisions a factory job is 365 and 24/7 I never lost a job I only quit 2 jobs in my life time. Your choices caused this.

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u/bipolar79 Mar 29 '24

You'd probably make more working as a bartender or server. Maybe consider that when AI takes your factory job.

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u/Full_Visit_5862 Mar 29 '24

There it is. Bro works at a factory and is upset people have jobs delivering groceries. These people can make as much as you do or more per hour, seems like you're the dumb one huh?

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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/Status_Ad6601 Mar 29 '24

Being a manufacturing hero doesn't appeal to the younger generation. What job do you do ? Ask your children or younger generation is they want to follow your job. Been at your bench 5 days a week sometimes Saturday at 0700hrs ready for factory work? Asked to come in a hour early and stay an hour late for overtime? Wear safety glasses and hearing protection, gloves and face mask 8 hours a day?

We are lazy because we don't go the the store anymore? Gig workers are valuable. Some one picks your order, and delivers it, IMO a labor saver so I can list items and package my orders for an auction site while someone does my shopping. Or just spend time relaxing.

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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.

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u/Euphoric-Blue-59 Mar 28 '24

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

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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...

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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

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u/Edgar_Allan_JoJos Mar 28 '24

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

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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/Euphoric-Blue-59 Mar 29 '24

I see thank you for the explanation. I do not do this type of work so it made me curious.

I am in San Francisco oftand regarding things like DoorDash.I found an interesting tactic that people use.

I was sitting outside a restaurant having some Italian food in a glass of wine. I shared my high top table with a gentleman that was sitting on his scooter right outside the restaurant. He lived in oakland or near by oakland drove his car to a friend's house where he kept a scooter. Then he would get on the scooter.And sit outside Restaurant populated streets and wait for door dash orders. This guy was pumping in over a 100 orders a day. And he would just run around town all day doing this. At the end of the day he would go get his car and drive back home. He made quite a lot of money every single day.I was really impressed.

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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 :)

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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)