We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.
If you live in the United States or Canada, you can make money off Instacart.
Wikipedia
Instacart is an American company that operates a grocery delivery and pick-up service in the United States and Canada with headquarters in San Francisco. The company offers service via a website and mobile app in 5,500 cities in all 50 U.S. states and Canadian provinces in partnership with over 350 retailers that have more than 25,000 grocery stores including Albertsons, Aldi, Costco and more
It’s not one of the hustles that I suggested here but you can make $2000 as a newbie and even much more if you put your back into it. It is a delivery job so you can put that master’s degree back underneath your pillow. You won’t be needing it for this one. It is also very easy to get onto Instacart so this makes it a premium opportunity considering the amount of money you can make here. It is easier to get into the Instacart hustle than to get into those other low paying transcribing hustles and the likes. You do not need any startup capital and unlike most hustles, you start making money right away.
The economy is tanking, brick and mortar businesses are being shut down left, right and center. So, what do you have to lose?
The writing is on the wall:
The coronavirus pandemic continues to hit the US economy, with another 5.2 million Americans seeking unemployment benefits last week.
We Forum
More than 20 million Americans have applied for benefits in the last month.
Economists believe that the U.S. economy contracted at its sharpest rate since World War II in the first quarter of the year.
Another 5.2 million more Americans sought unemployment benefits last week, lifting total filings for claims over the past month above an astounding 20 million, which would underscore the deepening economic slump caused by the novel coronavirus outbreak
Read and find out if this gig is for you. Instacart is booming because of the ‘current situation’. People are afraid to go outside so if you have a mask, and have always wanted to be the star in an apocalyptic movie, then this is your chance.
Instacart Google Play Review
Tap a button, get your groceries.
With Instacart, you can shop online and get groceries delivered from stores in your neighborhood in as fast as 1 hour. Or you can choose to pick up your order at the store, where it’ll be waiting for you.
Google Play
Just enter your zip code, choose a store, and add items to your cart—then relax as someone handpicks your groceries and household items with care.
And you have complete control with Instacart. If something is out of stock, or you need to make an update, you can chat with your Shopper right in the app
Instacart delivers in cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Chicago, Austin, Washington D.C, Houston, Atlanta, and many more throughout the U.S.
Instacart offers the groceries, produce, beer, wine, spirits, and other household items you want from more than 20,000 retailers in North America, including Aldi, Publix, Costco, H-E-B, Wegmans, Lucky, Smart & Final, Safeway, Stater Bros, Petco, CVS—and we’re always adding more.
With Instacart, you can also:
Enjoy exclusive coupons and deals on the products you love
Create shopping lists and reorder items from previous purchases
View nutrition info and filter by gluten-free, organic or vegan diets
Tag favorite items for easier shopping
Use Group Carts to easily shop together with friends, family & co-workers
Instacart has good reviews on Google Play, with a rating of 4.5 from about 77 000 reviews. So don’t worry, it’s not a scam. Instacart is in high demand and plans to hire about 250 000 more shoppers. This business looks like it will remain viable even after the ‘current situation’. After all, Instacart has been around since 2012. If you want to be a part of the team, stay tuned for details on how you can get that money.
A Day In The Life Of An Instacart Shopper
To succeed with Instacart you have to gain a reputation as a reliable person. You have to be willing to have early mornings and long days. Think about your own shopping habits. Do you have a specific time at which you want to shop? Probably not, people shop at any time of the day. Now, consider the fact that you are at the mercy of hundreds of people in your area and they can call on you anytime to shop for them. Yes, that should give you an idea of the level of activity that is involved here.
Whether you are on foot, which is not advisable, or you are in a car. Make sure that you are wearing your mask and gloves. You are probably wondering how the payments go. Don’t worry, you will not use your money to buy the groceries. When you purchase from one of the Instacart approved stores, you use Instacart’s virtual Apple Pay card. You get the groceries, Instacart gets the charge. There are a few stores that do not accept Apple Pay and for those, Instacard will give you an Instacart Mastercard to make the purchase with. This is sweet, right? Minimal issues for you while you hustle to get this pandemic cash.
Now, I know what you are thinking. What about if you use the Instacart Mastercard to buy a snack for yourself? My advice, don’t do that. You do not want to get deactivated for doing something silly. In the case that you make a mistake and purchase something for yourself using the Mastercard. Go back to the store within 24 hours, get a refund, and then use your own money.
The funny thing is a lot of people have made this ‘mistake’ and no one has reported being penalized for it. The worst I heard was that Instacart took a Shopper’s tip as payment. I would also write an email to Instacart after reversing the purchase, just in case. Instacart is exploding. Instacart is now bigger than Walmart when it comes to online grocery shopping.
When you get to one of the approved grocery stores, you open the application and start shopping. To make life easy for you the app lists the groceries for you including the aisle in which you can find the groceries. This is pretty slick as it saves time meaning more money for you, and Instacart. It is a game of time and numbers. Move through the aisles faster than The Flash – pick a product, scan it with the app. When the app confirms that it is the right product, you place it in your basket and you move on. The faster you work, the more orders you can take in during the day.
The Instacart business model is flexible. When you find an item out of stock, you can look for an alternative. There is a chat facility in the application that allows you to communicate with the customer to make things happen. You can either send a text message within the app, or you can make a call. The downside to this is that if you fail to find an item, your tip will become smaller. In the same vein, the customer will get a refund for the item that was not purchased.
When you are done shopping up someone else’s storm, load your car up and hit the road. There is an opportunity to make some extra money as a happy customer can tip you again when you deliver the groceries. Most of the time, people do not come out to greet you so I hope that you are not the needy type.
Get to the door, leave the groceries, take a picture for the app, knock on the door, and bounce! Do not wait for anyone to show up!
So, How Much Can You Make On Instacart?
Let’s start with a few testimonials from third parties
One New Jersey shopper told Fox Business that she’d been making up to $120 per day, and while a Minneapolis driver boasted to The Ride Share Guy about earnings over $2000 per week, the bulk of their earnings came from tips — and in the case of the New Jersey shopper, she was also earning performance-based “promotions,” which are offered in certain regions at certain times (via Medium).
Mashed
Other Instacart employees, however, paint a very different picture. A Massachusetts employee who works as both a driver and a shopper left a review on Indeed in mid-April at the height of the COVID-19 stay-at-home shopping boom stating that their “pay has gone down drastically over the past year and a half I have worked. Tips are going down, batch incentive pay is as well,” while a mid-May 2020 review from a New Jersey Instacart employee says “the pay as an in-store shopper is poor with no incentives for excellent customer service.” The Los Angeles Times even reports the sad tale of an Instacart driver who earned less than $30 for about five hours of work — which is less than the minimum wage.
As you can see, there are two sides to every coin. Some are making it big, and some are not. At the end of the day. it comes down to you. Do you have the mindset, the grit, and the willpower to make Instacart work for you? Instacart is not a get rich quick scheme. Instacart is a business, like any other business, and it requires hard work and dedication. One thing I can guarantee you is that most of the Shoppers are not extraordinary. So be just that, extraordinary, and you will make it with Instacart.
The lady who is making $120 a day, is making $3720 a week. The Minneapolis driver is making $8000 – $10000 a month. That is more than a lot of people that are in office jobs. When you find yourself making that much money, come back here and discover how else you can make more money from that initial capital.
The Costs Of Being An Instacart Shopper
It’s not all money bags. You have bills to pay as an Instacart shopper. Let me run you through a few that I can think of.
- Data plan – whether prepaid or postpaid. You need to have a healthy balance of data as the app does not run on oxygen
- Power bank – Doing business on your phone all day means you need to have a charge for at least 12 hours
- Vehicle maintenance – Tyre and oil changes will be some of the things you will be looking at here
- Fuel – The smaller the car, the better
- Taxes – Here you can finesse the IRS by inflating expenses – Don’t come to me when you get arrested
Stuff You Have To Know About Instacart
You have to be 18 and above to signup for the Instacart application. If you are 16 and above and you have a driver’s license. I won’t call the cops on you for signing up.
However, you have to be 21 and above to take orders that have alcohol in them.
In my opinion, this is a legitimate business opportunity that demands that you treat it as such. Practice good customer service, be efficient and you will gain a reputation that will see people send you orders galore. If you slack, you won’t eat.
So, what do you think about the Instacart side hustle? Is it worth a shot? Any money is better than no money at all. Give it a go.
2 thoughts on “The Instacart Hustle Is Worth Looking At”
Comments are closed.
Thank you for this review. People who cry that they are jobless must start with something like this. There is no easy money in this world. One needs to work hard.
In India, there is a similar service called dunzo but they pay peanuts.
You are welcome Prav
That is very true. There is always an option if you are willing to try.
I will take a look at Dunzo, for interest’s sake. Thanks for that.