As the public patiently awaits COVID-19 vaccines, and as people continue to practice social distancing, online shopping with home delivery has become the new method for which people are choosing to make their purchases. We have seen the presence of Amazon trucks double in our neighborhoods, and almost every restaurant now offers delivery through companies such as Doordash and Grubhub, including fast food. Seeing that decreasing personal contact is a necessity, there has been a rise in another niche of the delivery industry: groceries.
Grocery and big box stores can only limit their capacity to an extent, due to the fact that they carry food and other necessities. This same need is the reason why people would also risk traveling to a location where they may come into contact with many people. The requirement for groceries has also led to the development of companies such as Instacart and Shipt. These subscription based companies provide affordable grocery delivery, directly to your doorstep.
Although both Instacart and Shipt have been around pre-COVID-19, once “staying home” became a way to help decrease the spread of the virus, these companies also gained popularity. By using their apps, anyone can grocery shop and select the option for contactless door drop-off when choosing their delivery method. Within the next couple hours, a person arrives and delivers your groceries. We may be familiar with this process, but many are unaware of the other benefits arising from these apps gaining popularity. Working for companies such as Instacart and Shipt, can be profitable and flexible income for students, as well as people needing to make up for lost wages or simply wanting to get out of the house and help others.
The application process is easy. It begins by creating a profile on Instacart or Shipt’s Shopper websites, or through their respective apps, and then completing an application. One helpful aspect of Instacart and Shipt, is that they monitor the number of people working in a given area to ensure that the area is not overly saturated with workers. This allows for the people, who consistently fill their schedules, to be able to maintain a fairly steady business. Then, once the background checks are cleared, and after they have established there is a need for workers in the person’s designated area, the application is approved and work begins shortly after.
Both Shipt and Instacart allow their workers to create their own schedules, which is one of the more attractive attributes of signing on to be a delivery driver. Each week a person is able to put themselves on the schedule for what hours work for them. This can be 1-2 hours on a weeknight, or a full 8 hour shift on a weekend, the possibilities are up to the Shopper.
Another factor that is important in any job, whether it be a person’s main source of income, or a side job, is the pay. Everyone’s time is valuable, and being compensated for time is extremely important when it comes to choosing a place to work. Instacart and Shipt have done a fairly good job of ensuring their Shoppers’ compensations match the efforts put into the job. Working for one of these companies includes driving to the designated store, spending time grocery shopping and choosing the correct items, and then finally delivering the groceries to customers in a timely manner. Each app has its own system for calculating pay, but both offer a base pay with every order, and then Shoppers get to keep 100% of tips earned on each shop. Combined, pay can range anywhere from $15-$25 an hour, based on the number of orders completed in a time frame.
Both companies also track each Shopper's progress, giving them scores based on their timeliness, how often they accept orders assigned to them, and also a rating that comes from customers. These scores play into an algorithm that gives orders to higher rated Shoppers over those who have lower scores. This means the harder a person works to provide good customer service and on time delivery, the more often they receive the higher paying orders.
The way each of these companies are designed, allows for their employees to work as little or as much as they need, in turn earning proportional wages. This setup can be helpful for people who may be in school, or looking for a way to earn extra income on the side. The effort put into each delivery also directly affects the amount of pay, meaning people can choose to build fairly sustainable incomes from these services, if they choose. If this is the type of job you’ve been looking for, visit the Instacart or Shipt websites and become a Shopper today.
