Instacart Plans To Hire 250,000 More Shoppers (cnn.com) 59
Instacart hired 300,000 workers in recent weeks to meet surging demand for grocery deliveries spurred by the pandemic. Now, the startup is seeking to hire another 250,000 workers over the next two months. CNN reports: The on-demand grocery delivery company said Thursday that it is seeking to hire the additional "full-service shoppers," who are treated as independent contractors, in areas with the highest demand with the aim to "get back to same-day delivery." Some customers have struggled in recent weeks to secure delivery slots due to the high demand. In a blog post, Instacart said it will reintroduce a waitlist for applicants in areas where it has enough workers to satisfy demand to ensure it is "thoughtfully balancing" how many workers it brings on.
In recent weeks, the company has made "safety kits," which include a face mask and hand sanitizer, available for its workers to order. Instacart said Thursday it will soon have an in-app wellness check for workers to help determine if they have any coronavirus-related symptoms. The company said Thursday it will extend its coronavirus financial assistance of up to 14 days of pay for workers diagnosed with the virus or placed into individual mandatory quarantine through the remainder of the pandemic.
In recent weeks, the company has made "safety kits," which include a face mask and hand sanitizer, available for its workers to order. Instacart said Thursday it will soon have an in-app wellness check for workers to help determine if they have any coronavirus-related symptoms. The company said Thursday it will extend its coronavirus financial assistance of up to 14 days of pay for workers diagnosed with the virus or placed into individual mandatory quarantine through the remainder of the pandemic.
Personal shoppers (Score:4, Insightful)
Back when Slashdot was constantly moaning that robots would take all the jobs, I pointed out that if historical trends continue, everyday people would be hiring personal services that before only the rich could afford. A personal shopper is a great example of that. I rather suspect that when all this blows over, Instacart will have a much larger business than before as people get used to the convenience.
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Re:Personal shoppers (Score:4, Informative)
So in other words, more shit supplied by below living wage employees.
My local Walmart has an employee in a wheelchair. They have several employees who appear to have Downs syndrome.
They are providing opportunities to people who are left behind by many other businesses.
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The handicap hires probably don't supply all that much. Well, to the consumers.
After cashing whatever gov refunds are involved, I'm sure there's still a loss to Walmart. Until you consider the visibility of the hires and the value of optics.
This isn't an evil thing, just pointing out the stuff beyond people's beloved immediate-field-of-vision when they think How Charitable.
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"I'm sure there's still a loss to Walmart"
When has Walmart ever done anything at a loss? This is the company that if an employee wins a personal injury judgement from a third party will claw back that money for their health insurance.
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"They are providing opportunities to people who are left behind by many other businesses."
They are receiving subsidies for employing the disabled.
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So in other words, more shit
Yes, it will eventually be processed into "shit", but these supplies are necessary before that can happen.
supplied by below living wage employees.
Not every job is worth creating "for a living wage", whatever that means. There would be no InstaCart if they were dictated that everyone that worked for them had to have "a living wage".
Hope they didn't cough on your shit by mistake.
I quarantine or clean stuff that comes into the house. No hope involved--I *expect* someone to cough on my stuff "by mistake".
That's sorta what a pandemic means--it can be anywhere and everywhere.
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I have used the grocery delivery and the pickup and would not go back to that unless I was living in a city and didn't have a car. I do notice alot of various delivery companies. The biggest problems I had with them are the times I have used them the fresh produce and meat selection was not that good.
The one that I would love to continue to use is the order and pickup
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I have used the grocery delivery and the pickup and would not go back to that unless I was living in a city and didn't have a car. I do notice alot of various delivery companies. The biggest problems I had with them are the times I have used them the fresh produce and meat selection was not that good.
Yeah, I like picking out my own meat and vegetables too, but I also base my meal plan on what's available, what's on sale, and how much of it there is. If I see skirt steak I may decide on fajitas, but oh, the only packs are well over 1lb. Don't need that much meat for just the wife and I, so pass on that. Or let's look at chicken: they have it, but there are packs full of blood spots or woody as hell. I can dig through it to find the pack that looks good (or has an even number of pieces since there are
A buddy of mine comes from a 2nd world country (Score:4, Insightful)
They were able to afford servants because of a huge underclass struggling to afford food and shelter.
That's the Instacart economy. Yeah, you get servants. It's great. So long as you don't slip up and become part of the underclass. Because once you do you'll never make enough money to dig yourself out. And you can't go West Young Man to escape it either. It's forever.
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"Personal shopper" is not what instacart does. Instacart is "online shopping of brick and mortar".
You place an order, which is basically giving someone a shopping list and they get it. If you're lucky, the person is good and will communicate with you if they're out or knows how to pick food.then things go well.
If not, they just grab what they can and give it to you. Remember, it's not a well paying job, so doing it half-assed pays only slightly less than doing a stellar job. (Face it - the ones who do a ste
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Instacart is to a personal shopper as Lyft is to a chauffeur. But I do think as automation continues to make the basics cheaper, and the middle class has more money to spend (assuming it's not all taken away for bank bailouts as it has been this century) , we'll see upmarket versions of those services. Probably as the 20- and 30-somethings who are comfortable using those services today get older and earn more, and want something nicer.
Uber started with that, IIRC, with what's now Uber Black, and Lyft ha
There are already upmarket versions of those (Score:2)
But of course all that assumes that there aren't a million more people out of work. As automation eats jobs that'll change, and you'll be lucky to make enough to feed yourself.
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Towncar drivers do OK. Median personal income in the US is around $34,000, so a steady job that pay $17 per hour is, well, a median job, and $15/hour is certainly a living wage, if it's full-time work.
One problem with the gig economy is the work can be spotty, but what I'm expecting is precisely that this will mature into a step up from that, where it's steady work for many repeat customers. It's better work than mowing lawns and cleaning house.
But of course all that assumes that there aren't a million more people out of work. As automation eats jobs that'll change,
Always before, the lower prices from automation created new d
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t not as always before, those new jobs could also be automated before any people actually go to do them.
So the Luddites have claimed for 400 years now. You you ever get tired of it? Does your hatred of technological progress know no bounds?
Re: Personal shoppers (Score:2)
But you argue for killing the elderly for money. Sociopath.
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That's interesting. Got a link?
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I expect that you are right. I did my first shoppers-for-hire this week, from Ralphs
The experience was not optimal, but was pretty good. I communicated w/ the shopper via text, was able to query them about replacements, and was able to cancel or add items in real-time. At one point they sent me a picture of racks of bread so I could make a second choice. I was able to blow it up and actually see, hidden way back on a low shelf, the original item that I wanted.
The couple doing the work was very accommodating
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Be forewarned, this is not how it always goes with Instacart. In my area when I tried to do it, you had maybe 1 minute every 24 hours - or less - to claim orders or they all got taken. Completely hostile 'first come, first serve' system and I hate everything about it. I guess we have too many drivers here so they feel like they can treat them like actual garbage. A lot of those drivers get really bad deals, too (imagine getting a $30 order, you
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My son mentioned that it can be an issue. He's affected more by stores being out of items, so the order turns out to be less. He does his work early in the morning.
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Our Instacart experience (3 trips, 3 different shoppers) was less than stellar. In one case (the first, shopper was a woman), it went pretty well, we got most of what we ordered and the communication was OK. The last two experiences were not as good. Part of the problem was low stock levels, and you can't fault the shoppers for that, but things like an order of Lactaid milk being replaced with regular milk with no notification, and an order for a pound of deli sliced chicken being replaced with a package of
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but things like an order of Lactaid milk being replaced with regular milk with no notification, and an order for a pound of deli sliced chicken being replaced with a package of six chicken breasts, again with no notification, have soured us on using Instacart.
I'd guess that's a result of the influx of new people, or was this longer ago? The few times I've used them, communication was good, and that's clearly what matters.
For now, we're using my daughter as a remote shopper (we are both around 65 and working hard to limit our exposure).
Err, I'm not sure you're succeeding there, but there's no way around food.
Advert for instacart (Score:3)
More gig economy sub minimum wage nastyness.
https://www.latimes.com/busine... [latimes.com]
A woman running a hair salon was surprised (Score:3)
Oh, and naturally it didn't occur to the bitch she should pay better...
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Dunno bout where you are, but in pretty much every state I've lived in, the hairdressers are charging their own prices and paying rent for the booth in the shop space where they reside.
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"They were doing better on unemployment since the stimulus bill boosted the payouts."
Some jackass state legislator around here was worried that *nurses* were going to quit because state unemployment plus federal add-on would be more than what they make on the job. Which was at least three kinds of wrong, staring with you don't get unemployment if you straight up quit.
Great... (Score:2)
Now I'll have to fight even more confused shoppers while shopping for groceries.
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Now I'll have to fight even more confused shoppers while shopping for groceries.
Professional shoppers spend hours every day picking items from shelves. They are faster and more efficient than the general public.
As paid shoppers become more common, you will encounter fewer people in grocery stores.
Grocery stores may also change their layouts. Currently, they put impulse items at the front of the store, and commonly-bought staples (milk, eggs, meat) in the back. With professional pickers, that should be reversed.
" treated as independent contractors" (Score:3)
So does that mean no health insurance? It really should include that and life insurance. And a decent pay rate considering the great demand for this service.
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So does that mean no health insurance?
Contractors usually get health insurance through Obamacare (ACA).
It really should include that and life insurance.
I have never heard of an employer that provided life insurance.
I would be very upset if mine did. I don't want my wife to think I am worth more dead than alive.
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Every company I've worked for as an employee (not a contractor) has offered life insurance.
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Every company I've worked for as an employee (not a contractor) has offered life insurance.
That is interesting. I just did some Googling, and it turns out that about 40% of full-time employees in America have a life insurance policy provided by their employer. I didn't know that.
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So does that mean no health insurance?
Why would the state of your employment be tied to health insurance? I thought the USA is a modern western society.
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Long live minimum wage (Score:2)
These jobs are here to stay. No one who is using these services will give them up any time soon. They are afraid and opening stores won't solve that.
I can work from home and let other people risk their lives for paltry sums. It's good to be on top. Not so good on the bottom.
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They'd better hope the shopper hasn't caught COVID-19 and sneezed all over their shopping. Probably safer to buy your own shopping.
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I don't want strangers getting my groceries (Score:1)
Pre-emptive strike against anyone who spreads fear and dread by saying it'll never be over. It will.
Logistics Stupidity. (Score:1)
From the farm to the store the logistics are as streamlined as you can possibly get. Packages are designed to fit a perfect number to a pallet.
Then when it gets to the store we throw all sense out the window because of 'tradition'. I want to see a breakdown of the final cost of a product delivered by Instacart. In addition to paying the instacart worker to basically be a personal shopper, I'm paying for the store to pay someone to move a pallet of goods and put it on a shelf. I'm paying for the grocery sto
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How long? (Score:2)
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Re: How long? (Score:1)
Anyone else find this sick? (Score:2)
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Well, enough people starting to order their groceries delivered home, and the amount of different people going to the stores will go drastically down. These people can also be trained for better hygiene and be provided with protective equipment. The amount of close contacts and probability for spreading the disease will go down on the community level, which in the end is good for everyone.
Some stores could possibly even be temporarily converted to kiosk-kind of service only. That would reduce the contagion
Re: Proper Pay (Score:2)
> these people should be given proper pay - in the end, they're helping save lives.
Yes, so tip them _very_ well if they do a good job, and don't penalize them for Instacart's disinclination to correct billing errors.
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OTOH, the paid shopper replaces multiple other people at the grocery store, thus reducing the number of different people that the store staff as well as they themselves are exposed to. In addition the number of people needing PPE is reduced, and the average distance between each person in the store is increased.
Imagine a scenario where only store staff and paid shoppers entered the grocery store, and you either got your order placed directly into the trunk of your car or delivered to your doorstep with no c
Not here to stay (Score:3)
So the wife and I used this service twice. Both times we got maybe 2/3 of what we wanted. Most of the substitutions made were pretty wrong. Two cans of baking powder was substituted for a box of baking mix, fresh bone in chicken for frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts. stir fry sauce for General Tso sauce, wonton wrappers for egg roll wrappers, etc., etc. A bit annoying, but even more annoying is that I'm paying the somewhat inflated prices of groceries already due to Coronavirus, then I'm paying a fee to the store, and then I feel compelled to tip because of how bad these companies are screwing these gig economy workers. It makes my groceries 20-30% more expensive for me to not get what I want. Just not a good long term solution. So after our last order, we decided no more.
This virus will pass given time, masks help some, eventually we will all be exposed to it and we will go back to stores. We need this to happen at a rate our hospitals can support, so I support the lock down (and was one of the first people I know to go into quarantine). But we don't need to draw it out any further than the rate our hospitals can support.
Also, we are a country of temporarily displaced millionaires who think they are one life change from being rich. The reality is that we are a country of mostly poor people with a few staggering wealthy people that we see in the media driving our perception of the world. Most Americans simply don't make enough money to pay someone else to do their shopping.
INSTACART is the one that lets people cancel tips (Score:1)
They're responding to demand (Score:1)