Instacart has allowed everyday people the convenience of getting groceries delivered with just a few taps on their phones.
While this may sound nice on its surface, the reality for both customers and the shoppers who work with Instacart occasionally presents a different story. Customers have complained about everything from shoppers adding items to their order for themselves to bizarre substitutions, whereas shoppers have noted incidents of tip-baiting and overly-picky customers.
One issue that’s consistent amongst shoppers is that of pay. Now, a user on TikTok has sparked discussion after sharing their own story dealing with an Instacart order.
In a clip with over 99,000 views, TikTok user Lindsey Lee (@staywild_moon_child) recounts an experience she had shopping for the platform.
According to Lindsey, a customer requested numerous heavy items, including flour, milk jugs, and 26 six-packs of soda. The customer also continually added items, causing Lindsey to travel back and forth throughout the store.
Owing to this, she says the entire shopping process lasted 2 and a half hours and resulted in 3 full shopping carts.
When all was said and done, Lindsey was paid just $20 from Instacart—and a $2.50 tip from the customer.
“Worst Instacart experience yet,” she writes in the caption.
@staywild_moon_child Worst Instacart experience yet. I fully understand I should have double checked the “heavy pay” items and the amount of items in this order. But wow, this was a LOT of extra work with NO reward. I guess all you can do is keep pushing through even when people suck. #instacartshopper #instacartstorytime #badexperience #fyp #storytime #sad #emotionaldamage #neveragain #ineedanap #momtok #shopper #dobetter #instacarttips ♬ original sound – Lindsey Lee
While Lindsey notes in the video that she should have studied the order more carefully before accepting it, she says that her area was slow with orders at the time and did not want to risk waiting for hours without receiving an order.
Regardless of why she accepted the order, Lindsey claims her pay, in the end, was not commensurate with the amount of work she put in.
“I went above and beyond, added things that weren’t there, spent extra time looking for discounted meats that she wanted,” Lindsey recalls. “I was super friendly. I unloaded the entire car…She sat in her doorway with her kid and let me walk up all her steps and hand her every one of those 26 packs of drinks…Do better, people. God.”
In the caption, Lindsey added, “I fully understand I should have double-checked the “heavy pay” items and the amount of items in this order. But wow, this was a LOT of extra work with NO reward. I guess all you can do is keep pushing through even when people suck.”
Lindsey spoke with the Daily Dot via Instagram direct message. According to her, she attempted to resolve the issue with Instacart but has not succeeded.
“I reached out to Instacart via chat. They were less than helpful,” she said. “They explained that there was nothing they could do. I asked for it to be escalated to a supervisor and they responded they’d email within 24 hours regarding the situation. They still have yet to do so.”
Back on TikTok, commenters were quick to side with Lindsey, with some offering tips for how the Instacart service could be improved for shoppers.
“There should be a minimum tip requirement based on order total,” wrote a user.
“@Instacart you need to start implementing higher tips for huge orders,” shared another. “And if they don’t tip, they don’t get their stuff picked up like door dash does.”
“Or maybe instacart needs to charge the customer more and pay the independent contractors more instead of pushing it to the [customers],” responded a third.
“Insta cart needs to pay the drivers so much more then 20$ for such a big order,” declared a further TikToker. “that stinks.”
Lindsey agreed in a message to the Daily Dot.
“I would like fair pay for the amount of hours and physically hard labor I put into this batch,” she stated. “A payment of $20 for 2.5 hours, 3 cartloads, and an $800 order is insanely low. Way below minimum wage here.”
“Long term, I think Instacart needs to limit the orders to a reasonable amount of items or weight. Asking one shopper to push 3 carts around a store and deliver that themselves isn’t reasonable,” she continued. “I also think minimum tips or batch pay should be required on orders of this size.”
Other users on TikTok shared their Instacart stories.
“I feel so bad asking them to bring me 2 cases of water and I always tip $10 or more,” stated a user.
“This is wild because every now and again i order a couple hundred worth and i feel so bad i tip $30-$40 in cash,” noted a second commenter. “people have no shame.”
“I used to do [instacart] too,” alleged an additional commenter. “it hardly pays and I was averaging 5 dollars an hour with these kind of trips and gas.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Instacart via email.
