Anyone use Instacart or similar?

[d4]

graylocks wrote:
Evidently you can enter a tip when you place the order and shoppers are incentivized to chose your delivery over others tipping less. So a shopper gladly takes on an order with a $50 tip and much to their dismay after the delivery the customer changes the tip to $0. I can’t believe people are actually that cruel and underhanded. Instacart does nothing to protect their workers in those cases.

"In March, Instacart told the tech site that the number of users who lower their tips is extremely small: Only 0.5 percent of orders result in lowered tips. And in general, tips have reportedly increased since the pandemic hit the U.S."

"When you place an order through a service like Instacart, you’re asked to put in how much you plan to tip as an incentive for shoppers to take it."

Which might explain my latest Costco order being delayed 6 times throughout the day past my delivery time slot. I "only" tipped the suggested amount. Maybe the other orders that cut ahead of me were larger and so the tip was larger. Or they tacked on more tip money. I had no idea shoppers see the tip before taking on the order. Interesting.

[NewtonMP2100]

.....local news had this story just this morning.....not very nice thing to do.....

[graylocks]

People are luring Instacart shoppers with big tips -- and then changing them to zero

[deckeda]

d4 wrote: ... I had no idea shoppers see the tip before taking on the order. Interesting.

And crappy. Delivery is not like being part of a waitstaff, where some personality and attentiveness go a long way.

Looks like their system negatively impacts customers as well as underpayment to who they employ.

[wurm]

And then there's this (I know it's USA Today, but it was also a story on this morning's news).

Customers accuse Instacart shoppers of stealing their groceries

[Robert M]

D4,

We use FreshDirect, Peapod and Primenow even when the prices are higher. They aren't so much higher that the cost outweighs the sheer convenience of having the goods delivered. My schedule doesn't allow me to hit the supermarket for a big haul of groceries. That and it's a pain to lug them all from my car to my apartment on the 3rd floor of my building. That's under normal circumstances. These days, I avoid stores at all costs. All the safety precautions put in place by a store are useless when dumbasses undermine them.

Robert

[vicrock]

For heaven's sake, tip BIG. These delivery people are enabling you to stay safe. If you can afford to have someone do your shopping and deliver it to you, you can afford a decent tip.

I have a friend doing this, as she is an accountant, and most of her clients are closed under "stay at home" she posts stories of the good, bad and ugly deliveries. People buying luxury foods - prime steaks, expensive wines and tipping $3 on a $300 order!