Instacart vs Shipt: Pros and Cons of Each

 This is a a list of Pros and Cons for Instacart and Shipt. This goes into details of the apps so I would suggest reading more about each before this article. Read about Instacart here and Shipt here.

PROS

*app is very helpful in walking you through all the steps *communication is through the app only *you can take multiple pictures of the receipt *has you take a picture in the app for proof of delivery

*scheduling feature is nice to plan out your day *orders stay in your area and don't bring you far away *it is easier to choose replacements *prepaid orders at Target are very simple and fast *offers a lot of bonuses *tip not tied to order, people tend to tip higher *higher base pay *amount shown initially is before tip so you know the true amount in case they don't tip at all

CONS

*hard to tell where the order will take you so it can take you far away *you don't know if you're going to get any orders so you can spend a lot of time waiting around *base pay is low *tip is tied to amount of order, people end up tipping less and tip can be lowered because of items not in stock *amount shown initially includes tip which makes it seem higher *tolls not reimbursed

*communication is done outside app in your messaging app *doesn't have you take a picture in the app for proof of delivery *app often has trouble updating and you have to close and reopen it

*Note: I am unsure if Shipt reimburses for toll roads. Instacart says you should just avoid them but that is impossible to do in the Bay Area when you have to cross bridges with tolls! But tolls are a tax write off so make sure you keep track of when you do pay a toll as well as all your miles for taxes!

A Guide to Shopping for Shipt and Instacart in California

 You may have read my posts either on shopping for Instacart or for Shipt. If you haven't, I recommend reading both of those first. This post is to talk about the best way to use both of them, specifically if you live in California. Why only in California? Well California has a new law in effect that guarantees a certain amount of earnings for app based workers. Some other states or areas may have similar laws, but I will only speak to California specifically since that is where I live.

First, what is the guarantee? The guarantee is that you earn 120% minimum wage in your city per hour worked plus $0.30 per engaged mile. California minimum wage is $14.00 an hour so 120% is $16.80 an hour. This is all BEFORE tips. But when exactly do these guarantees start? That is different for each company because of the way their apps are set up.

The guarantee starts the moment you accept a batch and ends the moment you mark as delivered. So you are guaranteed for the time and mileage to the store, shopping at the store, and driving to the delivery spot but not driving back (unless you have already accepted another batch). So for Instacart, I recommend not driving after your delivery and waiting there until you get another one so you can count all those miles.

The guarantee starts from the moment you swipe "Heading to Store" and ends the moment you mark it as delivered. This means it is very important to remember to swipe "Heading to Store" the moment you can so you are paid for that time and mileage. Now, this can get tricky because of the scheduling on Shipt. For example, I once had an order that I delivered and then I had over an hour until my next one. I turned on Instacart (I'll talk about this in a moment) and started heading toward the store that was next on my Shipt orders. Should I have already swiped "Headed to Store" even though there was still a lot of time? I feel I should definitely be paid for the time and mileage between the dropping off and heading to the store but I understand it isn't fair to charge them while waiting to do the next order. Or is it? Luckily I got an Instacart order then so it didn't really matter but there was still some miles unaccounted for in either app. I'm not sure how well they regulate this and there aren't really any instructions so I guess use your best judgement.

This is all calculated at the end of the week. They add up all the hours and miles to come up with the weekly guarantee for what you worked and if you made less than that (before tips) they will pay the difference. If you made more than the guarantee (before tips), you get just that.

Now, how can you use this to your advantage while using both apps? I like to set up my schedule on Shipt and accept as many deliveries in that time as I can. Make sure you plan well on Shipt: shop for multiple orders at the same store at the same time, pick up small orders from other stores on your way, plan the best route to pick and drop things off that saves the most amount of time. This isn't really about the guaranteed earnings because if you're doing it correctly, you should be making much more than the guarantee. This is about doing as many as possible which leaves more time for Instacart, which is where you can really use the guarantee.

If you have an empty hour or more on Shipt, turn on Instacart. You can even turn it on at the beginning of your shift and leave it on as you may be able to shop for both Shipt and Instacart at the same time. I haven't tried this but it is possible if you are really good at planning. But, make sure you have enough time to do an Instacart batch. Because you will be doing Instacart in such short bursts, only one or two between your multiple Shift orders, most likely the base earnings will not be the guarantee. 

It also might depend on your area. Maybe Instacart is more popular so you do mostly Instacart with a sprinkling of Shipt. Either way, do both at the same time. With the ability to plan ahead on Shipt, you can make it work pretty easily. I've noticed that the base amount for Instacart is much lower than Shipt. I've also noticed people seem to tip greater amounts on Shipt. This means you will get a greater adjustment for the guaranteed earnings on Instacart but the potential to earn more on Shipt which I why I prefer to do Shipt mainly and Instacart to fill in the gaps. But that may be different in your area. Test out which works better for you. Have fun shopping!

Sign up with Instacart through my link here or use code CLANA99F3C at sign up. Sign up with Shipt here and use my Shopper ID: 100062822 at sign up.

Make Good Money Shopping and Delivering Groceries Through Instacart: An Instacart Shopper Review

 The pandemic has hit both my husband and my work really hard. My husband had been driving for Lyft and Uber (read about it here), which was not safe to do during a pandemic, and my work in after school theatre programs had been (understandably) virtually non-existent. We had relied on the expanded unemployment to get us through the first bit of the pandemic, but that has ended now. My hours are still very limited but I like to remain open to be able to do whatever is needed at my work and since the virus is still very much spreading, my husband didn't want to go back to rideshare driving. So we thought we would try out working for delivery companies. Most of the food pick up places didn't need any more drivers but Instacart, shopping for and delivering groceries, was available and today I tried it out for the first time and really enjoyed it!

I'm sure most of you know or understand the concept of Instacart: customers send in their order and those orders are sent out to available shoppers/drivers to pick up the items and deliver to the customer. It only took a few seconds after I logged in to get my first order. It was a little bit of a drive but seemed a nice pay. All in all from accepting the order to delivering the order, it took an hour and 20 minutes but it was $22 profit. Pretty much immediately after delivering that one, another one came up. This was much closer and I was able to complete it more quickly (I learned a lot during the first shopping experience, more on that later). That one was $18 and I finished in about half an hour. Pretty good! 

Then it was a little slow. Some orders came in but either didn't seem worth it or another shopper snagged it up before me. Then I was quick to try and take the next one, though that may have been a bit of a mistake. It was only for $8 and it was pretty far away, though closer to where I live. 

I only was on for 2 hrs and 48 minutes and made $46. Not bad! That averages over $15/hr* (see update at bottom). I definitely learned things that I think will help improve that amount.

Pros:

• Flexible hours. You decide when you want to work and when you want to stop.
• Pretty good pay and you don't get pulled far away from your area like driving for rideshare
• You get exercise! Driving all day is bad on your body but with this, you're mostly walking around which is really nice.
• App is super easy to use and very helpful in making sure you get all the right items.

Cons:

• Sometimes you don't have long to decide to accept an order so you might take one that's not really worth it
• It can be difficult to deliver to people in apartments and/or busy streets with no parking

Tips:

• Don't use self checkout unless it's only a few items. It's a huge hassle with a lot of items and isn't worth a shorter line
• You don't need to ask the customer about replacements. The app will help you through that.
• Make sure you look at the distance before accepting. Driving far away for a small amount is not worth it.

Note: You can sometimes have multiple orders in what they call a "batch". These are different customers' orders at the same store. I haven't had one of these yet, so I'm not sure how well that goes.

I highly recommend this as a side gig or even a main gig. It was a lot of fun, almost like a scavenger hunt to find the right items! Sign up with my link here or use code CLANA99F3C at sign up. Have fun shopping! 

Update: I highly recommend doing Shipt in addition to Instacart. Read about driving for Shipt here. Read a list of pros and cons of each here. I also found out that if you live in California, there is now a guaranteed earnings for anyone working these types of platforms (Uber, Lyft, Instacart, Shipt, Door Dash, Grub Hub, etc). So there were some adjustments to my pay for this and I ended up making $71.62 which ends up being closer to $24 an hour! Read more about the California rules and how to use it to your advantage here.