If you want a job with flexible hours, daily cash out feature, cash back on gas, and you enjoy grocery shopping; you might want to sign up as a Instacart Shopper!
As a Instacart Shopper, you get to be a personal grocery shopper! I love grocery shopping. I could easily spend far too long in a grocery store browsing the new items or spend hours making a meal plan. Rewriting a grocery list until it was absolutely perfectly organized by department.
At first, I was intimated by signing up as a Instacart Shopper and shopping for someone else's groceries. I would become overwhelmed by thoughts of messing up their order, not getting everything they wanted, etc. I also signed up for this gig during the 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic and that alone was scary enough. I jumped in feet first into a side gig I had little knowledge of and guess what?! The only thing I wish I would of done differently is started sooner!
Instacart is a great way to earn extra money or even make it a part-time job! Click Here To Become A Instacart Shopper! or use my referral code at sign up: JZIEFLE9315D
If you don't want to sign up as a shopper but want to use the Instacart Grocery App to have a shopper shop your groceries, Click Here To Shop & Get $10 Worth of Free Groceries! or use my referral code at checkout: JZIEFLE159164
A perk to being a Instacart Shopper is getting money back on gas by using the app: GetUpside. You'll earn an extra amount off of your first four fill ups. Anyone can use the GetUpside App! You'll earn an average of .45 cents per gallon back!!! Click Here To Get An Additional 15 cents Back Per Gallon & use my referral code: JACLYN87626
Reasons Why I Chose To Become A Instacart Shopper
I signed up to be a Instacart Shopper early summer of 2020 during the pandemic. Long story short, I made the decision to leave my self-employed at home job. I had to because the business wasn't able to supply us with enough work to meet my average earnings. A few job changes happened before I finally started doing Instacart as my main income in Fall of 2020.
It Got Me Out of The House:
I have been a stay at home mother / work from home mother for 6.5 years. I love being a stay at home mother, being able to be the classroom mom, and being able to drop everything to see my kids play softball and t-ball. Being a mother is the only thing I knew for sure that I wanted out of life. Although, I would be lying if the daily sibling fighting, the constant need for attention, and the long list of house chores didn't get to me.
This may be a pro or con to you, but as a Instacart Shopper you are not allowed to shop for customers groceries with your kids or anyone else for that matter. This for me is a PRO! I really needed and craved the ability to have a few minutes away from being mom. A bonus is your going to be doing a lot of walking and that is extra movement/exercise I wasn't getting being a stay at home mom.
It's Local:
This is not my first rodeo with side gigs. I was previously doing Door Dash orders, which is also a great food delivery service, but for me to make any kind of substantial income I had to travel further out. I was traveling 45 miles away from home just to make decent money. I was spending an average of $80 a week on gas to do a side gig! I needed a side gig that was closer to home; especially with Northeast Ohio winters! Instacart was a great option for me because I only live 10 miles away from our local ALDI store. I spend $25 a week on gas to work Instacart. Less money spent on gas! Less over all miles traveled! Less time spent away from home!
I Can't Mess This Up:
It's grocery shopping. Something we have been practicing since we were 3 years old. We were pushing those miniature carts through the grocery store like an adult- all bad a**. We grocery shop for ourselves weekly and I already know the layout of the store. How hard could it be to shop for someone else? Surprisingly, not that hard. The app is so easy to use and I'm gonna show you how!
How To Use The Instacart Shopper App & Earn Over $1,000 a Month!
Once you sign up, you will have to wait for your Instacart card to come in the mail. You won't be able to shop without it.
What is a Instacart card?
A Instacart card is like a universal debit card that is used to pay for your customers groceries. You will need to memorize the pin provided for your card at checkouts.
You got your card in the mail and now you can activate your account on the app and get shopping! This is the dashboard. You will be able to see how many available "batches" there are currently.
What are batches?
Batches are orders basically. Sometimes these orders are one person, two separate peoples orders, and sometimes you may receive up to three separate peoples orders to shop for all at once.
Tip: Start out with single small batches till you get the hang of the app.
When you click on "view batches", you will be taken to a screen that shows all available batches in detail.
It will tell you how much you will earn as a total, how many orders you are shopping for, how many miles between the store and the house you will travel, how many items & units you will buy, and what store you will shop at for this batch.
What are items and units?
Items are the number of objects you are grabbing; ex. pop, eggs, milk. Units are the total number of all the items you are buying; ex. pop (1), eggs (2), milk (2).
Sometimes it's not busy in your preferred area and the app will show you batches available at the next closest store. If you can, try to wait it out for more orders to come to your area. Otherwise, you may end up driving more miles and wasting more time traveling then you would be earning money.
Tip: Try to be quick about viewing the order. Orders will fly off this page quick during busy peak hours. Get into a habit of checking how many miles you are traveling compared to pay.
Aim for $1.00 paid per mile.
Also get into habit of comparing how many units you will be grabbing compared to pay. Looking at the example I had this week, $7 for 1 mile sounds really good! BUT, 79 units for only $7 does not. I would pass up this order and wait for something else in my area to show up.
The $19.45 order for 2 people and 18 miles meets my dollar per mile method, and I am only grabbing a total of 42 items. I'll be in and out of there quick! I would grab this one if I was in that area!
You will also be able to click on these batches and view where you will be delivering. This image shows where the store is, where house A is, and where house B is on the route. I can also see in more detail about my pay.
I can see my Instacart payment of $13.76. This is a guaranteed payment and the dollar amount will not change. I can see the tip amount of $5.69. Tips are not a guaranteed pay amount. Tips are usually a % of the total cost of the batch. Tips can be changed by cost total being higher or lower then what the customer was originally suppose to pay for the order. Tips can also be changed after the order is delivered. A customer has 3 days to change the tip amount. A customer can decrease or increase the tip amount. Something I've learned from other Instacart shoppers is if the tip is a whole number and doesn't end with change, that tip will be a guaranteed amount and will not change. Sometimes those guaranteed tips are $2, $5, $10, or $15. Some customers will even leave additional cash tips for you when you deliver their groceries. Overall, pretend the tip amount doesn't exist and make sure your Instacart payment is worth taking the order.
Tip: If you want to guarantee that you make the most money for each batch; strive to purchase everything on their list. If you refund items you can't find, you earn less money. Sometimes this can't be avoided, but most of the time you can find a good replacement. You may run into a customer who doesn't want to be entertained by replacements and just wants refunded. You may also have a customer who is picky about what you may replace a item with. You can message the customer for suggestions and get an idea of what they prefer.
Once you pick a batch, the app will direct you to the store. You'll also be able to preview the order items. When you get to the store and select "start shopping" the app will provide you with the grocery list.
An elaborate detailed grocery shopping list will be provided. On a regular single person batch, you wont see the letters A or B or C. You will see the letters when you have more then one person to shop for, this way you keep orders organized. Divide the cart up to shop for multiples.
The grocery list is set up to take you down the isles in order but not always. Some items are in weird places and you may have to back track. Give your list a quick browse over before you begin. This way you are aware of everything you should be grabbing.
As you can see, the grocery list will tell you what department you will find the item in, what the item is, a picture of the item, and how much of that item you will grab. You tap on the image of the item, select "found item", scan the barcode, and place into your cart. Instacart gives you an estimated time that you should be able to shop and complete the order. This order says I should be able to shop for 47 items in under 33 minutes. You will be timed. Don't worry! If you take longer to shop the order because of something you can't control; nothing really happens negatively. At least nothing that I know of... yet.
Instacart keeps track of how many seconds it takes you shop per item. It's kind of a competition against yourself. Does it take you 60 secs to shop each item or does it take you 37 secs to shop each item? My best time was 37 secs so far. The app also tracks your performance based on communication, replacing items, quality of items, and finding items. Customers can rate you between 1 and 5 stars.
When you finished shopping the order, you will ask the customer to review any changes, and head to check out. You will need to purchase bags to bag their items. The customer will be charged for the bags in the app. Brown bags cost 7 cents a bag compared to the plastic bags that cost 10 cents a bag. I use the brown bags because it's more affordable to the customer and I can fit about 10 items in each brown bag. I can easily estimate how many brown bags I need knowing 10 items can fit in each bag. A plastic bag doesn't hold much, maybe 3-5 items depending on size. You do you! You will pay for the groceries with the Instacart card, bag them up, scan the receipt, and head to your car! You're almost done!
Your app will then transition to the delivery. You will navigate your way to their house, drop off the groceries at their front door, or where ever they specifically ask you to put them.
When you arrive, you will place them in the drop off location, take a picture, mark that you completed the order, and then you're done!
You can view your earnings within 10 minutes of the drop off. You will be able to cash out all Instacart payment earnings each day if you want. Tips can not be cashed out until they have been approved that the amount will not change. I don't bother with instant cash out. I wait to be paid weekly and I usually receive a direct deposit on Wednesdays.
It's that simple. I spend 3-4 hours a day to work. A batch will typically take me anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour to shop and drop off. I average a weekly pay amount of $250 a week. In the month of November, I made $1035.00 doing just Instacart 3-4 hours a day and I only work 3-4 days a week! I pushed myself in December to work 5-6 hours a day, working 5 days a week, and I made over $2,000 for the month!
Life Saving Instacart Shopper Tips:
Bring you car phone charger with you!!!!! These apps will kill your battery fast.
Remember to have quarters for your Aldi cart & don't be shy about excepting a "free" cart. I once earned an additional $2.00 in a day by taking preloaded carts ha ha.
Bring a water bottle and snacks!
Potty Breaks: You can use the public restroom or have a system. I make sure that when I need a potty break, I pick a order close to my house, my mom's house, or my sister's house and use their bathroom. I would much rather use a family members nice clean toilet vs. a public bathroom during a pandemic.
Look over the order before you shop!
During summer months, bring an insulated bag to keep food cold longer.
Always reach out to your customer before shopping and ask them if they prefer refunds or replacements. This will help improve your customer service rating.
Park close to the entrance and cart returns!
If you have multiple orders, use the upper seat as zone a (small orders 20 items of less), main cart area as zone b (your larger order), and bottom of the cart for what you don't have room for in the other areas. If you have three orders try too keep a dividing zone down the center of the cart.
2020 Covid-19 Pandemic: WEAR YOUR MASK! Wipe down the carts! Keep Hand Sanitizer in your car. Don't go work if you don't feel good!
Try to only carry your phone, car keys, and Instacart card with you. Having less on you to worry about can speed up your shopping.
Aim for $1.00 per mile! You don't want to work for free do you?
Don't take a order that does not tip. Most of the time, these orders are a lot of items for little pay or a long distance for little pay. You are worth a tip!
If having a good rating and earning tips matters to you, don't be shy to ask for them! Message your customer kindly: "I just delivered your order at *location*. 5 star reviews and tips are greatly appreciated! :) Have a nice day!" I did this while Door Dashing and it helped my rating bump up and encourage customers to tip more.
Try to buy all the items on the list, find good replacement options, and don't be afraid to ask an associate if you can't find something! I couldn't find cheesecake and asked a associate. They had no problem going into the back of the store and bringing out cheesecakes to stock the shelf. I earned more money by asking the associate for help, than I would have if I decided to refund that item because it wasn't stocked.
Be Helpful to other Instacart Shoppers & make relations. I bump into the same few people everyday I shop. I've been asked where certain items are or I've asked them. They usually have no problem guiding you to where an item is and I've even had a lady grab the item for me. It's a HUGE help!
Have Fun and Enjoy It! A customer may be driving you nuts in the app, the order may seem super overwhelming (those 150+ item orders), or you are only picking up a few items for little pay. Stop and remember you are helping someone out in a BIG way! Just in my short time of delivering, I've shopped for so many who physically couldn't go out and shop for themselves.
Join a Instacart Facebook Group in your area! They can be helpful! :)
There you have it! If you want to become a Instacart Shopper remember to use my link & referral code! Happy Shopping!
& Don't Be Shy To Ask Me Any Questions About Instacart!
