In a Reddit thread, an Instacart customer called out his driver for texting them about tipping etiquette and sharing their Venmo account.
The post was created by user u/Saint_Body for the r/InstacartShoppers subreddit. In the post, the person explained that they live in the Atlanta metro area and placed an Instacart order. Once assigned a shopper, u/Saint_Body got an unusual text message from the Instacart shopper.
The person first asks that the customer leave a 5-star review if they feel they got “exceptional” service. If not, he asks they communicate any unmet expectations so he can correct any errors to avoid a lower rating.
This is the part u/Saint_Body seemed to find most unusual:
“Please note it is common courtesy to tip between 10%-25% of your entire food total. Thank you for supporting first-line workers and I’ll see you soon, thank you,” the shopper writes before leaving their Venmo account information for direct tips.
The Redditor was taken aback by the message.
“Someone tell me this is NOT the norm? I’m on a few apps and would never DREAM of being this tacky. And unprofessional! Anyone else send out texts like this?” the user asked their fellow Redditors.
In a comment reply, the Redditor shared that their order was only for one item and that they live in a house, so the shopper didn’t have to go searching for them in an apartment complex.
For small to medium orders, Your Gig Economist recommends tipping a minimum of $5 for orders with one to nine items that aren’t heavy and total less than $100, $8-$10 for orders with 10 to 20 items, and a minimum of $10 for one to nine items at big box stores like Costco and BJ’s.
The post has garnered about 45 upvotes and nearly 100 comments as of Wednesday morning.
“Brian W. Is gonna get deactivated soon. Any mention of Venmo or Cash app flags the chat for review,” the top commenter pointed out.
Several people agreed that the message was unusual.
“I agree everyone should tip but this is a little overboard,” one person said.
“I’ve never done that. Some people are weird and think it’s okay. Comes off as desperate and cringy,” another wrote.
Another person shared that while the delivery driver suggested customers tip based on the order total, they tip “according to the size and difficulty of the order, rather than a percentage of the total.”
“I increase the tip when the store is far away, or it’s a peak shopping time and I know it will be busy, or I have hard-to-find items in my order, or if I order something heavy, etc. But I just tip a flat dollar amount, generally between $10-$20, not a percentage,” they shared.
The Daily Dot reached out to the Redditor via comment and to Instacart via email.
