Instacart is an American company that operates a pick-up and delivery service in the United States and Canada, which runs via a website and mobile app.

The idea is simple: a person selects products from participating retailers, and an independent contractor, also known as a shopper, picks up the items and delivers them.

However, the reality is much more chaotic. As the subreddit r/InstacartShoppers shows, the interactions on the platform can get quite funny, weird, infuriating, and even creepy.

#1 That’s A New One

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#2 Tips Pay The Bills But This

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The range of stores someone can purchase from (and, in turn, the orders themselves) depends on where they live. Typically, Instacart provides access to a range of retailers, including:

• grocery stores;
• pharmacies;
• big box stores;
• pet supply chains;
• office supply retailers.

#3 Had A Delivery That Was Just 4 20lb Cat Food Bags This Morning, And Upon Arrival

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#4 Rough Day

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#5 Found Kittens While Shopping

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Instacart offers free deliveries for new members, but afterward, delivery fees start from $3.99 for same-day orders over the value of $35. Otherwise, they will vary according to these factors:

• the time of day;
• a person’s location;
• the size of the order.

However, it’s also important to highlight that the delivery fees do not include tips for the shoppers.

#6 When You Pull Up To A Big A**ed Apartment Complex And Worry About Having To Hunt For The Address, But Then You Realize That Ricky Is A God Damn Hero. 5 Stars Ricky… Would Deliver Again

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#7 The Only Type Of Customer I Like Meeting Me At The Door

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#8 I Thought The Candies Are For Kids For A While

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#9 Kelly Likes Her Job A Lil Too Much

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Grocery delivery can be a convenient and potentially safer option for many individuals, including:

• People with certain health conditions: Certain health issues may make in-store shopping difficult or stressful for some. Those who find shopping difficult due to mobility problems, chronic fatigue, or other similar reasons may benefit from a home delivery service.
• People following a meal plan: Instacart makes it easier to stick to a specific shopping list, and this may be helpful for those who are trying to improve the quality of their diet.
• People who want to avoid impulse buys.
• Busy people: Instacart may be helpful for those who work long hours or have caring responsibilities and wish to save time.

#10 Best Delivery Pic Ever!

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#11 This Order Was 25 Boxes Of Breakfast Bars And 6 Cases Of Water. Didn’t Even Mind Carrying The 6 Cases Of Water!!! I Knew It Was For The March In Dc. Makes Me Proud To See. I Bought Some Fruit Snacks For Them To Give Out For The Kids. #blacklivesmatters

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#12 So I Had A First Today. Take The First Load To The Customer’s Door And Come Back For Another And There’s A Damn Goat In My Trunk Investigating Things

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#13 What A $1 Tippers House Looks Like

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There are currently more than 600,000 existing shoppers delivering the things people need.

But the amount of money they earn varies and depends a lot on their role type. In the United States, for example, there are options to become a full-service shopper or an in-store shopper.

#14 I Don’t Even Know How To Respond To This Smh

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#15 Met These Characters On A Delivery Today

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#16 Best Day Ever!!

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#17 Well Damn Kimmy

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Full-service shoppers:

• Can shop for and deliver groceries (car needed);
• Are independent 1099 contractors (they handle taxes);
• Are able to work when they want;
• Can earn tips on top of pay;
• Option is available wherever Instacart operates.

#18 Marie’s Reaction To Me Having To Evacuate The Kroger In The Middle Of Her Batch

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#19 Customer Left An Envelope With My Name On It

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#20 Be Kind To Your Shoppers!

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#21 And The Trophy For Most Entitled Customer Goes To

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In-store shoppers:

• Shop on an assigned shift;
• Do in-store shopping only (no delivery, so a car isn’t required);
• Are part-time employees of Instacart (the company handles taxes);
• Work shifts up to 29 hours per week;
• Option is available in many areas (but not all) to help meet increased demand.

#22 Instacart Sent Me To The Wrong Address. Customer Care Can’t Figure Out Where This Customer Lives Or Phone Number So They Cancelled The Order. So Here I Am With $600 Worth Of Crab And Lobster

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#23 I’ve Always Thought About Doing This

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#24 Already Had All The Groceries In The Car

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#25 The Customer Had This Sign In Front Of Her House. She Tipped $2

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For full-service shoppers, Instacart is like Uber for food. While in-store shoppers earn a fixed, hourly wage, these folks earn by the order with varying amounts.

The Instacart app shows an estimate of potential earnings for every order and guarantees shoppers will earn at least $5 for each delivery-only run and $7 to $10 for each full-service (shop, load, and deliver) batch. 

#26 Instacart Support Is So Good

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#27 Wrong Item My A**

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#28 You Guys, What???

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#29 Well There Goes My Tip

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Earning potential is usually higher when customer demand spikes, so working on Sundays and during popular events, like the Super Bowl, can mean more money, but, as you can see from the pictures, more interaction with customers can increase your headache as well.

#30 A Delivery I Did A While Ago

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#31 Cancelled So Quickly Because Ew

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#32 I Try Not To Judge Others Too Harshly But Come On

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#33 I Can’t Wait To Be Done With Instacart

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#34 This Is So Petty Man

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#35 Go F**k Yourself And Make A Note Of It, Maybe!? No Communication Attempts Until I Was Minutes From Delivery, 50+mins Into The Batch. This Specific Store Doesn’t Even Have Paper Bags, As The Specific Township Is One Of Few That Isn’t Enforcing A Bag Ban In Our County

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#36 I Received No Help, But I Did Receive This

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#37 Why Are Customers Like This ?

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#38 No, I Did Not!

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#39 When You Provide Really Solid Service For Someone Thanks Instacart For Taking Our Tips Away. More Than Likely Some Of The Best Service They’ve Ever Had

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#40 Instacart Shopper Being Weird With My Girl

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#41 It Finally Happened

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#42 I Couldn’t Believe My Eyes!!!

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#43 Rude Customer Gets Equal Treatment

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#44 Cancel Order

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#45 Never Thought This Would Ever Happen To Me!

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#46 Instacart Shopper Didn’t Want To Get Out And Walk

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#47 Insta-Cancel

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#48 4000 Bottles Of Water

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#49 Needless To Say, I Had A Bit Of A Crappy Night Last Night. This Lady Summed It Up Pretty Well. She Also Called And Gave Instacart Hell As Well

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#50 Flat Out Gross. No Other Word To Describe It

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#51 Costco- $1,050 Order. Life Changing Tip

Took this thinking it might be percentage based tip. Nah, customer tipped flat 25.

1hr 46 minutes in store. 10 mins loading… which I had to Tetris in my camry. 10mins unloading into cust garage.

Biggest order I’ve done so far. I’ve done orders from the same store, paid 3x more and took less time. Needless to say I was disappointed after all the hard work

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#52 Is This Legit? Have Y’all Paid With Your Card?

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#53 I Think I May Have Finally Snapped

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#54 First Batch Of The Morning… 30 Pineapples

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#55 Why Did She Ignore My Questions Lol

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#56 Nahhh, Not Today!

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#57 Note Left On My Car From Other Shoppers

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#58 My Moms Shopper From A Day Or Two Ago

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#59 I’m Sad Wanted To Give Back And Was Ignored

I’ve had to instacart shop for living and recently got a good job. I wanted to give back to other shoppers so I did a grocery order while I’m at the beach for a festival. I gave a good tip and was waiting with a thank you bag with snacks and a Java monster. The driver wouldn’t answer the whole order and when it said delivered I asked where and no response. Turns out they left the order in the lobby even tho I had hand to customer on… oh well next time

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#60 Yeah How About No

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#61 Instacart NY Shoppers

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#62 Sorry Ma’am I Don’t Control The Stock Of The Store

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#63 I Hope She Gets What She Deserves

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#64 Charged $80 For 2lbs Of Salmon

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#65 Gotta Love Support (I Haven’t Been Getting Paid)

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#66 How Am I Gonna Fit This Into A Toyota Camry?

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#67 I Delivered To This Apartment Today

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#68 “They’re Out Of The Green Celery”

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#69 The Shopper Never Came Back For The Groceries

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#70 Do Yall Ever Accidentally Text Your Wives On Here

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#71 Customer Dog Attacked Car During Delivery

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#72 Don’t Be That Guy Please

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#73 Gotta Have A U-Haul To Do This Order

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#74 Im So Dizzy & I Almost Had An Accident

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#75 Is This Crazy To Send My Shopper?

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#76 Got A Unique Request Today

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#77 Tip Bated In The Worst Way Possible!

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#78 What Did They Do With All Those Bananas?

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#79 Please Don’t Accept Deliveries With No Tip

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#80 To The Person Who Lost Their Mind On Here Re Flowe

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#81 Excited To See How This Is Gonna Work!

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#82 Got Blessed With All This Today. Thanks Ic

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#83 Pray For Me

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#84 At Least They Said Something, First Time I’ve Received A Message Like This

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#85 Plan B And Hot Pocket Type Of Night

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#86 I Thought This Replacement Was A Little Silly

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#87 Wth. Isn’t This Cheating?

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#88 What Is Going On W Yall Shoppers?!?

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#89 How To Deal With Scammers 101

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#90 You Doing It?

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#91 This Is A Hot Mess

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#92 After 2 Years Of Gig Driving, My First Snack Tray

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#93 Was I Wrong For This?

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#94 Suspicious Order

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#95 Why Are Customers Like This ?

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#96 When You Order 6 Bananas, It Means 6 Bananas Lol

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#97 Ic’s New Feature Lets You ‘Favorite’ Shoppers

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#98 Would U Take This?

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#99 100 Bags Of Mulch

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#100 True Story

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#101 I Want To Share My Best Week Yet

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#102 Help. Does Anyone Know About This?

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Source: boredpanda.com