Soon you won’t have to schlep all the way to Aldi, pay $0.25 to rent a cart, and then bag your own groceries. You can just wait at home and let Instacart do all that work instead. [More]
Instacart
Instacart To Pay $4.6M, Revise Service Amount Description To Resolve Class Action Lawsuit
By 3.24.17
Back in 2015, and again last year, Instacart shoppers took their growing ire over worker classification, as well as tip and service amount changes, a step farther by suing the grocery delivery startup claiming it broke state and federal labor laws, the company has agreed to settle the class-action suit for $4.6 million. [More]
Instacart Shoppers Say Change To Tipping Policy Has Led To Pay Cuts, Deactivated Accounts
By 1.10.17
Things between Instacart and the people it uses to deliver grocery orders have been a bit contentious ever since the company decided to overhaul its tipping practices last fall. Months later, it doesn’t appear to be getting any better, as shoppers tell Consumerist the company has cut their pay by way of decreasing delivery rates, prevented them from picking up orders, and at times, deactivated their accounts. [More]
Instacart Shoppers Say Customers Confused By Change To Tipping Policy
By 11.2.16
Two months after Instacart announced it would ditch tips in favor of a “service charge,” and weeks after the company appeared to reverse course, declaring it would keep both the new sharable service charge and an option to tip on all orders, the change has officially gone into effect nationally, and some Instacart shoppers say the change has only resulted in confused customers and fewer tips. [More]
After Worker Backlash, Instacart Decides To Not Get Rid Of Tips
By 10.14.16
A day after we told you about workers’ unhappy response to Instacart’s plan to do away with tips and replace them with a “service amount,” the online grocery delivery service has decided to keep the tip option open. [More]
Instacart Shoppers Say Getting Rid Of Tips Will Ultimately Hurt Customers
By 10.13.16
Last month, thousands of Instacart shoppers and drivers — the people who get paid to collect and then drop off grocery orders for customers of the online service — were notified that they would soon be seeing a difference in their paychecks as the company overhauled its tipping and scheduling policies. This announcement hasn’t exactly gone over swimmingly, and now several Instacart workers are telling Consumerist why they have misgivings about the change. [More]
Instacart Replaces Tips With “Service Amounts,” But Are Workers Being Stiffed?
By 9.29.16 — Updated: 10.3.16
Since its launch in 2012 Instacart has offered consumers a way to shop at their local grocery store without actually going to the store. Instead, hired shoppers would be sent a list of products, grab them off shelves, and drive them to a customer’s home or business where they often — but not always — receive a tip. But starting next month, the company is changing the way it handles tips, leaving some contractors and customers up in arms. [More]
Is The “Sharing Economy” Sharing Your Data With Law Enforcement?
By 5.5.16
Airbnb and VRBO are shaking up the hospitality industry by letting anyone with a spare room become an innkeeper. Uber and Lyft are disrupting the for-hire car market by letting you turn your car into a taxi. While these new platforms might be opening up the so-called “sharing” economy, some of them may also be a bit too willing to share user data with law enforcement. [More]
Instacart Fires Minneapolis Drivers After Announcing Pay Cuts
By 3.23.16
Almost two weeks after cutting driver pay, grocery delivery startup Instacart appears to continue revamping its service in the aim of increasing profitability. To that end the company has fired all of its drivers in the Minneapolis area just six months after opening for business in the city. [More]
Instacart Cuts Driver Pay, Will Make It Up With More Deliveries Or Something
By 3.11.16
Instacart, the startup that companies like Target and Whole Foods are using to offer delivery without hiring their own fleet of drivers, has a lot of competition. Even Google is joining the fresh grocery delivery biz in some of Instacart’s key markets, like San Francisco and Los Angeles. The company is cutting driver pay and advertising to their customers, hoping to maybe make money on most of their deliveries soon. [More]
Target Expands Instacart Trial To San Francisco
By 11.3.15
Target started something new for that company about six weeks ago: grocery delivery service by partnering with the delivery service Instacart. It’s part of an effort to not only make same-day delivery an option, but to expand Target’s grocery business. The trial in Target’s hometown of Minneapolis was so successful, it’s expanding to another city already. [More]
Target Partners With Instacart To Test Grocery Delivery Service In Minneapolis
By 9.15.15
Just a month after Target made it clear grocery delivery was in its not-too-distant future, the retailer has kicked off a test of the service in its hometown of Minneapolis via online grocery delivery company Instacart. [More]
Google Wants To Get Into Fresh Grocery Delivery Game
By 9.8.15
After years of running its Google Express service — which offers same-day delivery on merchandise and packaged foods from a variety of retailers to customers in a handful of markets around the country — the Internet giant is now reportedly confident enough to try its hand at bringing fresh food and groceries to consumers’ doors. [More]
Instacart Gives Shoppers Employee Status, Says It’s To Improve Customer Experience
By 6.22.15
App-based, on-demand services make it easy to order a variety of products and services, and many of the workers who bring you those services are full- or part-time contractors. Some companies, like on-demand ride providers Uber and Lyft, are actively fighting in court to not be forced to give their workers “employee” status. Another company, shopping service Instacart, is proactively making their grocery pickers in some states employees. [More]
Whole Foods, Instacart Take On Florists With Valentine’s Flower Deliveries
By 2.6.15
There could be a new war of the roses brewing this Valentine’s Day. Whole Foods Market and its app-based delivery partner Instacart announced this week that they will challenge traditional florists– and the often-disappointing telefloral industrial complex — with special Valentine’s Day flower deliveries. [More]
Whole Foods Launches Delivery, In-Store Pick-Up So You’ll Never Go Without Gluten-Free Cupcakes Again
By 9.8.14
Making a quick run to the local Whole Foods Market can easily turn into a day-long affair: driving to the store, finding parking, maneuvering your way through fellow shoppers, spending an hour browsing the aisles and then waiting to check out. Apparently it doesn’t have to be that way now that the grocer launched delivery and in-store pickup service – all but taking the experience out of shopping at the upscale supermarket. [More]
