In a trending TikTok video, an Instacart shopper shares her experience from start to finish shopping for an order with a $1 tip.
Creator Jessica Higgs (@jessicahiggs3) films from inside her car before going out to fulfill a grocery order. In the clip, the Instacart shopper explains that she took an order that only had a $1 tip to see if the person would end up tipping more once the items were delivered to them.
“It’s really slow, and I kinda just took this out of curiosity to see if maybe it would go up. If not, it’s not too big of a deal,” Higgs says.
Higgs shops for the order at Kroger, a popular supermarket. The order isn’t too extensive. Higgs picks up green beans, chicken breasts, oat creamer, oat milk, and ice cream cups. The total comes out to about $32 for all of the items.
@jessicahiggs3 ♬ original sound – Jessica Higgs
She checks back in with her TikTok viewers after delivering the order, stating, “that wasn’t too bad.” She adds that the customer, who Higgs presumed to be a college student, was already outside waiting for her.
At the end of the video, the TikToker broke down her earnings, stating that she made $8 from the order—$7 from Instacart and $1 from the tip.
“I’ll let you know if it changes in the comments, but I won’t be upset if it doesn’t change,” Higgs concludes. “She was nice, it was quick, and she was already outside ready for me.”
The video has garnered more than 100,000 views and over 250 comments as of Tuesday afternoon.
The top commenter said that it was “so sweet” of Higgs to go out of her way to grab the customer the green beans from the back row—since food in the back of a row is usually fresher and has a later expiration date—despite knowing she wasn’t getting a large tip.
“I treat every order like I’m picking for my grandma,” Higgs replied.
While several commenters shared their personal tipping etiquette, from having a $10 tip minimum to tipping up to 20% of the order, one person gave context for why tipping can be difficult for people like her and potentially the customer Higgs was shopping for.
“I have Foodstamps and had a huge surgery recently. Had to get groc delivery. I could only afford $2 tip and felt so bad. They were very understanding,” they wrote.
Another person said that while they put a low tip amount on the app, they usually give the rest of it in cash.
Still, others stated that they wouldn’t have accepted the customer’s order.
“$1 ain’t even enough for me to open my car door,” one commenter said.
“I would be so embarrassed, leaving a one dollar tip,” another wrote.
The Daily Dot reached out to Higgs and Instacart via email.
