As Instacart has grown in popularity, customers have begun to notice that the app’s online prices are sometimes higher than the real in-store price.
In a viral TikTok video, an Instacart shopper confirmed public suspicions about the upcharging and said the company makes shoppers hide the proof by not giving customers the in-store receipt.
The TikTok by Nicole Beckermeister (@nicccyb) starts off with a stitch of an Instacart customer sharing that, for the first time ever, they got a receipt in their delivery bag.
Beckermeister, who was an Instacart shopper for 2 and a half years, reveals that most customers don’t ever get to see their actual receipt from the store because Instacart would “pretty much threaten” to deactivate a shopper’s account—cutting off their income source—if they left the receipt in the customer’s bag.
“A lot of people know this, but a lot of people also don’t, so I’m just making people aware. They upcharge the sh*t out of you on every single item,” Beckermeister said.
She explains that the company uses deceptive tactics to make people think they’re getting a good price, like listing an item for $10 and putting it “on sale” for $8.99 when in the store, it actually costs $5.
“It’s very deceiving,” Beckermeister says.
She also adds that any priority fee a customer is paying, like for rush delivery, is just a waste of money. Beckermeister revealed that shoppers don’t ever see that information. At least, she never did.
“That is totally just like a money grab from them,” Beckermeister says.
Sometimes, customers would get mad if their delivery wasn’t made in the window of time they paid extra for, but Beckermeister said shoppers have no clue when customers pay for those requests.
Beckermeister acknowledged that people order Instacart for a variety of reasons. For many people, the service bridges an accessibility gap or is significantly more convenient.
@nicccyb #stitch with @sophia koko #instacartshopper #insta ♬ original sound – Nicole Beckermeister
“I used to love Instacart as someone who has a disability and can’t drive but I’ve noticed a real change since 2020 and the fees are crazy,” a customer shared.
“The only reason I used instacart was because they took klarna and that was the only way I could afford groceries for a while,” another wrote.
“See I know this, and I hate it, but I don’t have a car and live miles away from affordable grocery stores,” a commenter said.
Beckermeister suggested that if a person has the time to shop in-store, they’ll save on grocery shopping.
The TikTok has more than 400,000 views and over 500 comments as of Thursday morning.
This is not the first time The Daily Dot has reported on this issue. We covered the original stitched video in which the Instacart customer shared that her receipt showed a whopping $77 difference between what she paid online and what the groceries actually cost in the store.
The Daily Dot reached out to Beckermeister for comment via Instagram direct message and to Instacart via email but did not immediately hear back.
