Work hard for little money - Instacart Full Service Shopper Instacart Employee Review

2.0
Mar 21, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I worked as a shopper for 3 months in 2019 to pay off a credit card as a supplement to my normal FT job in IT. Weekly pay. Set own hours. Newbies get priority. Most of the time it was fine, just shopping and delivering groceries. But all in all I could work when I wanted and made in 3 months FT shopping, = what I made in just 2 weeks working in IT.

Cons

They send you shops that if you turn down 3 in a row you get booted out of your shift and if you do that a few shifts in a row you get suspended. This forces shoppers to take low paying crappy shops no matter what...perpetuating long drive/low pay/tip dependency and enabling Karens everywhere. Later in 2019 instacart settled a lawsuit and I got a settlement check for about 1/3 of what I origially made. BECAUSE THEY ARE SHADY and a lawsuit was the only reason they made good.

Explore other reviews about Instacart

5.0
Jun 3, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Flexible schedule and independent work environment with good earning potential during busy hours.

Cons

Pay can vary by day and vehicle expenses like gas and maintenance add up quickly.

2.0
Jun 21, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Fun going out and talking to people. You will interact with people everyday. You control how much you get paid. Lots of flexibility in the time between accepting an order and traveling to the store and beginning to shop. It isn't pedal to the metal to get to the store like DoorDash is. You can also cancel batches after accepting as long as you keep your rate under 15%. This is different from DoorDash where your rankings will suffer if g.t. 2% cancellation rate.

Cons

There's a learning curve and it takes a while to learn each chain of stores' items. Once you become proficient at one store, the algorithm will lowball your offers relative to other less-experienced Instacart shoppers. Overall, Instacart shoppers likely get paid similar or less than the store's regular employees.

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