I remember you mentioning that custom greeting in a past video, and I went in immediately and edited it to suit me. I’ve used it every time since, and my customers have responded really well to it. It’s definitely improved my ratings and tips. Thanks again for that gem, sis! Be blessed.
Great video!!! You said a couple things that were my suspicions!! Just from simply noticing patterns. Particularly the part where you kind of have to take a small order initially to open up better paying orders later. I’m heading out now and going to put these tips to use!!
I've shopped the same area for 7 years, i'm full time, but I usually only work 5 days a week. I have noticed that if I don't take days off, I'll start getting throttled and getting bottom of the barrel batches. I def benefit from shopping the same area,, however, I do think that they changed something about 5 weeks ago, I have stopped seeing my regulars, and the other times this has happened it was only for a couple weeks. I'm going on 5 weeks now. Good Luck!
Learned a couple new things, Thanks for the info! 😉 Also, 100% agree about customer service and COMMUNICATION IS SOOO important! Just by saying hello, introducing yourself and letting them know you’ll communicate w/ them if they’re out of an item and need a replacement or whatever you may need to know is SO important! Almost every review comment I get from a customers is thanking me and being very appreciative about how well I communicated with them and they don’t get that very often. I’ve had many customers or people I know that use Instacart often tell me that they shoppers don’t often communicate and just refund or replace the item w/ something that doesn’t even make sense. Good info!
I don't communicate unless there is an item out of stock and the customer needs to know to make a decision. This has worked well for me. I'm 5 star rated, been doin instacart since Christmas. I think people like not being bothered unless needed.
@@goldbrick2563 Right, I’ve thought about that several times. I won’t bombard people. If they don’t reply I figure out the best option. You’re still communicating with them, and that’s important part. It’s the ones that don’t say anything to the customers and just replace or refund with whatever they want. Ya know. Just going off what I’ve heard from customers and others.. ☺️
@@goldbrick2563What do people like more? To know you're not an idiot, and will utilize common sense when substituting items. To also know you'll communicate with then if need-be. Assuming people don't like to be bothered is ignorant AF. Might as well never ring a doorbell or knock on a door because you'd be "bothering people".
We got one tonight. $46 going 22 miles. 30 items. We got to the house and they ordered for an elderly neighbor. The husband handed me something on our arrival. We delivered the groceries to the neighbor and he came with. Turns out she has horses. So naturally we greeted all 6. After leaving I looked at what he handed me. 2 x $20 rolled up plus he increased the tip in the app another 10. You never know how a batch will end up. You’re right it needs to make sense but if we are sitting at the store and a shop only pops for a let’s say $7. We grab it. We are in and out in 15 min awaiting the next one.
I'm a new shopper. I decided to work early this morning, drove to a grocery store. Sat there for a few min, then I got a $50 something dollar batch. But when I opened it up I realized it was 2 different customers from 2 different stores in 2 totally different areas. One I wouldve had to cross the GW Bridge to go to the Bronx & the other batch was for a store in another random NY town. Mind you, I was in Jersey at the time. I cancelled the order, didnt think it was worth the effort
9:46 yes i never let anyone bag for me. I do self checkout most of time. The baggers are idiots more often than not. If i let them bag, i always have to rebag in the parking lot
OH MY GOODNESS! Glad to know it's not just me. I am 100% self checkout. I don't who trained the workers but their bagging is horrible. If there's ever a day I want someone else to ring up etc....I put every item on the belt exactly how I need it bagged. Example: I may say these 6 items go into 1 bag and if they add a 7th item anyway, I unbag it at the register because that's not what I said do. I do that in hopes that a manager comes and wonder why I'm bagging. Once they show up, I mention their bagging method. Yesterday I had someone put eggs at the bottom on the bag and put other items on top smh. Not what I asked. I had a random older lady come up to me after in self checkout to say I love your bagging....you can bag my groceries any time haha.
Half the time, folks working the registers don’t want to bag anyway, so they either intentionally do a bad job or they’re completely clueless. And since they banned the free plastic bags in my area, I have to be really careful how orders are bagged so that the cheap paper bags don’t rip from being overloaded. I like to pack groceries so that 3 paper shopping bags fit neatly into one blue IKEA shopping bag (another gem I picked up from @bellpeppa).
Very helpful! I cherry pick every time I go out 😂. Your explanation definitely explains why it takes so long to get the batch i want. I notice the batch finally comes when im heading in the direction of my house lol. Once i turn around and go back then they start showing me decent batches. Ratings in my area suck at 5 star. I see higher better batches when im 4.94 to 4.98. I made a decent amount FINALLY Feb - April and was shocked. As soon as i hit 5 star again 2 weeks ago...i can barely make $50 - $100 a week...ill be lucky if i do. Heading out shortly and I'm definitely going to try your idea of grabbing what makes sense instead of letting batches sit and see what happens. Thanks for the info 😊
In my area whenever they onboard new shoppers they always give them the higher paying batch’s and keep hitting them with batch after batch while us diamond cart shoppers sit back and compete for the trash batches
Do you have any tips for summer shopping? It’s hot as hell outside. I carry a portable fan in my car and frozen bottles of water. I never do two shop from two different stores. No way I’m leaving someone’s food in freezer bags in 100 degree weather in the trunk of my car while I shop another order.
Honestly I’d do exactly what you’re doing, make sure you have good insulated bags and you’re doing everything you can if they have frozen stuff that could go bad & you have to drive far. Instacart doesn’t really take in to account weather, especially when they group 3 orders together that are mad far with frozen items.
You and Var were in my dream the other night. They're building a Wegmans over by me and I had passed it earlier that day. In the dream the Wegmans was opened and I went inside and you two were double teaming a batch in the produce section. Crazy lol
You're on point with this video however you could of mentioned that shoppers are put into tiers tatvar made a video on this actually. Even being diamond kart each day your put into a specific tier group so on the days your not in the 1st group you won't get first dibs. Also always be on the que ready to blindswipe no matter what you can easily miss that 80 grabbing that soda 😂 and now you gotta wait another hour for that next banger.
I definitely agree on some of these. Well all of them really. But if a customer gives you a 5 star. You are more than likely first to see their order next time. Also I agree with take a batch early. I noticed I have more $200 days when I do.
I’ve been doing instacart for almost 2 years now and I like it but I don’t like the fact that you feel pressured to work every day. We all need days off and I worry that taking a certain day off could’ve been good money.
I'm a 4 yr full-time veteran..Instacart, which plays a lot of head games.. which can affect persons' mental. They want ppl out all day every day.Its not worth it anymore
@@TluVVV2026 Yes instacart has the ability. To pay us. Base pay is what's killing every1. Cheap ass Customer tip of course won't change wich shows the low percentage of good people in this world than bad. Ya jus make sure ya never do them cheap ass orders no matter what. You are lowering yourself, making urself look like a fool to the company. The Block feature is the shoppers power. Use it 24/7.
Ive been doing this 3 years and i completely agree about the customers uve dobe before u see first and that tiers dont mean shit its pretty fucked up they get to lie to us and we dint know for sure what all factors i say that as im sitting here getting no batchs
Hi, I'm a customer. I never get greetings anymore. And every time I order something like ice cream or popsicles they are delivered completely melted. Last time the ice cream was so melted it was pouring out of the container and was all over all the rest of the groceries. How can I avoid being grouped into double and triple orders? I think they are delivering to two other houses before mine. Instacart shouldn't do this. Each order should be separate, and the insulation bags are a joke. They don't work. At least not for frozen food.
I would suggest you look at who's shopping your order and if they're not at least a four-star Shopper I would just pull that order and reorder through someone else. I have insulated bags from Costco and they're phenomenal. I have a feeling whoever's delivering to you isn't even putting it in a bag and that's the whole problem. In the summertime I not only put it in a bag but I put it right next to the AC vent as well. Sad part is a lot of the five star Shoppers are leaving we're just not getting treated with a high level of respect from customers or the company. Instacart is put me in some seriously dangerous situations and to this day not one person has reached out to me.
The customers should complain... that's literally the only way to stop it. That person probably came from a store so far away your frozen didn't have a chance... plus the ratings give new shoppers first option at orders so you probably had a new shopper.
@@pjt3887 I didn't know you could see how many stars a shopper has. I can't find that option anywhere. I think your right about the good shoppers leaving. The shoppers now, don't send a greeting, and sometimes they don't even respond back when I message them. They also buy things completely different from what I ordered even when I've selected a replacements and left notes. Then after they drop it off, I get an e-mail to leave a review and I see their picture for the first time. Not to sound mean or anything but they always look like scary, shady, drug addicts. It usually costs me $45.00 or more to use Instacart compared to if I got the groceries myself. Luckily soon, I will only need to use them once a month. I've always wondered how people stay safe delivering groceries to strangers. This, plus the wear and tear, and extra miles on your car, doesn't seem worth it. I've heard of shoppers starting their own independent shopping delivery service, which I think is worth looking into. I would rather use someone like that than give my money to Instacart. Stay safe!
My husband is a shopper in our province's capital city. Literally the only way for the trips to be worth the gas he's spending is for him to shop for more than one person at a time. If he only shopped for one customer at a time, and delivered that order before getting the next customer, he would spend much more in gas than he was earning. The way it's set up, though, is that once the shopper checks out and heads back to their car, they deliver the closest order first, then the next closest order, then the next next closest, so they drop everything off in basically a line of closest to farthest from the last store shopped at (for example, if a batch includes two or three different stores). That way, they're not driving in circles, spending a crap ton of time and gas. If your frozen stuff is arriving melted, your shopper is not doing their job right.
@@relaxmuse4496 I know it seems like you make more money with those double orders. But a lot of the time you don't. Instacart saves money when they bundle the orders. For example. You could take three single orders at $20.00 each and make 60.00. While a one triple order might only be 30.00. A thirty looks better than a twenty, so they take it. But the extra time it takes makes you miss another 20 dollar single order. Instacart is tricky. And the problem is most the orders that come, are double and triple orders. So you take them, just so you don't waste any more time sitting in your car waiting for a good single order. I don't blame people for taking the triple and double orders because you pretty much have to. My complaint is with Instacart. If they paid people more, and didn't include ANY double or triple orders, then both employee, and customer would be much happier. But they want to make more money for themselves, instead. If you have to go to three different stores shopping for three different people, and the first person had frozen popsicles, how the heck does Instacart think those popsicles aren't going to arrive un-melted? They simply don't care.
These are all very true points!!! And it’s so crazy how IC will use the proximity tool and as soon as you start shopping an order, the information pop up will say “do not sit in the parking lot while you wait for orders” likeeeee what 😂?? “Do your best to be there every day at a CONSISTENT time” Me: 🥴 Lmfao but you’re so right tho! IC really be clocking your every move.
I agree with you on some things but definitely on the prioritize shoppers that have been doing this for a long time I will have to disagree with that. I constantly see new shoppers at Costco with flatbeds full so I am assuming that those shoppers have good paying orders and I'm walking in there with a little $20 $30 order it seems like I can't get anything more than that amount of money at Costco but then new shoppers are walking in there with $50 $60 batches and even ones that pay more than that. I truly believe that the new shoppers are prioritized before us veterans are
I dont see any alcohol orders anymore ever since i moved to a different state CA to WA and have reached out to instacart support with no help.. even found the link to retake alcohol quiz but still nothing.. no alcohol orders!
I have a question. I’m kind of hoping you can answer because you’ve given me a lot of insight even though I’ve been doing Instacart for 4+ years. I never realize some of the things that you shared in your video. So do you find it to be a good idea to stick to one store and just build your clientele there because I become frustrated and I move to wherever the highlighted stores are so I think I’m missing the boat, can you help?
I can’t speak to your area cause I’m not familiar with it, but in my area I know that Costco and wegmans have good tipping customers regularly, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with going to different stores just make sure that if you do you only go to stores you know that customers tip well. Sometimes I sit for 3 hours and get a batch and other days I only sit for 30-1hr. Another day I may be getting orders consistently and then it slows down and it takes me a couple hours to get a batch. I’d stay around the area where you’ve been making the most money and stick to 2-3 stores you know are good!
@@Bellpeppa do you know I was about ready to give up on Instacart I really felt like I was being picked on you shed some light and a lot of my situations and open my eyes. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your videos. Thank you so very much for taking the time out of your day to make them thank you.
3:14 in my state, 'proximity' is not used. They always showing me orders from a town 50 miles away and ive never shopped in that god dang town ever and never go there ever. Frankly, its very annoying.
I’m a five star shopper, 4000 deliveries, and this past month has been brutal. I’ve seen more new shoppers walking out the store with carts full of groceries and $50+ batches than ever before. Every day I snag a small $15-20 order to start the day and let the almighty algo know I’m ready to work… But this week I’m not even seeing those. Sitting at a red wegmans that has SO MANY orders, and I’m getting nothing. Meanwhile this guy I befriended has done maybe 300 orders total and has a 4.85 rating has 7-10 hidden on his screen… Idk what to do anymore..
Thats crazy. I notice if i make a lot of money 2 weeks in a row, the following week is not as good. Could be the factor of more part-time shoppers coming online mid month cause rent is due in 2 weeks? Anyway, im pumped for 6/1 to 6/15...i think first part of month is more lucrative due to this
I'm feeling that right now!!! Made 1k for first time last week!!!!! Now this is legit the worst is awhile!!!! I keep seeing a warning on the connectivity status and few and far between orders!!! I was seeing on Google reviews other people are having same issue!!! I mean wtf...Customer support says account is fantastic..
@dariusparks3954 that very same thing is going on here in st louis to as far as the warning light goes it is messing with the amount of batches instacart says otherwise but it most definitely is ,I'm use to doing at least 6 batches a day now I'm lucky if I do two it's as if it is causing such a delay that everyone else around you is able to see the better batches before you leaving you with the crumbs that no one else wants but instacart still considers that as well your still seeing batches ,I think that there customer service reps don't know about the issue because remember every time you contact them there reading from a que card and it's always the same response ,so everyday before I start I do an uninstall and then reinstall to see if the issue has been fixed and as of yet no.If you go to there community chat sign in and look up warning connection light u will see that it is everywhere and it seem to be only happening to people that use android phones and not iPhone users.
I’m having the same issue. Excellent shopper, 5.00 star rating with 98 ratings (they dropped 2 one star ratings). Some days I made great money but today (Friday- usually slammed in my area) I sat at Costco and then at Kroger-Aldi’s (same lot) and got NOTHING on my screen yet saw a bunch of IC shoppers going into stores 😢
@@mrsmommy99yup. I’ve been out since 8am today, seen shopper after shopper come out with big ol carts full of groceries. Meanwhile I’ve maybe been sent 10 orders all day. It’s disgusting.
I've been working instacart on the weekends, mostly Sundays. I have 5 stores within 1-2 miles from my house. And 2 alcohol stores in the same area. I love getting Target and petsmart orders and of course alcohol orders are great.
Food for thought. I live in the LA area and I can be there for hours and I don't see batches and I've been at this for 4 years. I also see new shoppers getting batches. Then I will be in CT and batches flood my app. So, I'm not sure much this algorithm theory is true. I think they hold back batches on experienced shoppers unless your diamond cart at least in LA bc it's supersaturated.
Definitely good stuff even though I knew most of this. But dang you gotta take this down 😂 you giving out too much help to people that is gonna mess me up. Especially the last part I was once at a store and got tired but left app on at 8pm. Was 2 miles away and a $101 order popped up for 60 items. Guess others were done for the day
Hi. Thanks for the content. Is there any tried & true way to opt out of Alcohol after opting in? My market is already not that great - like throughout the week, I’m lucky if I can average 25/hour active time and sunday easily average 30/hour. I feel that alcohol orders would crowd my screen with no real benefit.
You can reach out to support and ask them to stop showing you alcohol orders! I’ve never tried to or know anyone who’s done it, but you can definitely try and see what they tell you.
Good video I have a question my rating keeps dropping and have not seen a five star post to my account in months, I know i get them but the bad ones post immediately? My rating keeps going south slowly and never goes up is this normal?
It's instacart messing with your account and manipulating your ratings to punish you for declining unfair offers too much! The same thing happened to me and I called out instacart about it and it suddenly stopped! I was able to maintain a 4.95 or higher for a good year and a half and all of a sudden my ratings started tanking while providing the same customer service as i always had..and within a matter of days my ratings went from a 4.98 to a 4.83!
Hi. I’m a new shopper. I was wondering how do I know what a good batch is in terms of items, distance, paid. How do I calculate that?? Ty for any assistance you can give or direct me to.. 🥰🥰
The lower the items the faster the shop! If your new id look for low items so you’re not in the store for over an hour lol. I’d go for around, 20-30 items is a decent size. Miles just depends on where you live! If you’re in a major city 2-3 miles can be 20min+. I’m in the suburbs and 2-3 miles will take me 10 mins tops. I take in to account how long I’ll be shopping, which for me is 10-20 mins. and how long it’ll take me to deliver and I just decide whether or not it makes sense for me to do the order based on the pay!
What would you suggest is the best way to get batches? My leaving the app screen open or closed? I feel sometimes I see batches better via the notification. I appreciate any feedback you can give. Thank you!
I feel like they do show you better batches sometimes when you’re off the app, but the chances you miss it are pretty high compared to just sitting on the app! Also when a group of orders pop up you might get notified for one that isn’t that good and you might miss a good one. I’d stay on the app as much as possible!
Hey awesome video. I am new to insta cart. One do I have to be at that store to get an order? And two do I have to be on the app to see orders or can I be online and will I be notified of an order? Or do I have to sit and keep the app open on my screen all day?
If you’re just starting out it’ll take a while to start seeing good orders, but I would wait at the store, sometimes you’ll get notified for good batches, but I would stay on the app as much as you can
I’m fairly new, too (about 6 months now), and what I’ve seen is that I just have to have the app ONLINE in order to see batch offers. I do NOT have to be at a store, but it can be helpful. A lot of times, I’ll go online while I’m still at home getting ready. I may grab a decent looking batch, finish getting ready, then head straight to the store before they yank the batch and give it to another shopper. LOL. Also, I’ve noticed that audio notifications don’t play when the app is open on my screen, nor when I’m in the car connected to CarPlay. I only hear the audio notifications when I take the app off screen. I wish that I knew how to exclude certain areas from the batches they show me. FWIW, I did hit diamond cart status back in March, but aside from the orders labeled Priotity Status, everything I mentioned above is consistent with what I experienced before I hit diamond.
Bots are like a software that automatically grabs whatever batch you set it up to grab, and they’re bots so they’re super quick. They don’t just have to be using two phones! It can be on just one phone. I use two phones sometimes if I’m on different apps. But if there’s two accounts on different phones, ones most likely a bot!
Bots inable a person to see all the orders before you allows them to snatch all the higher paying batches before you even see them and you would think that a billion dollar company would be able to combat the major problems.
I'm a new Instacart customer. I heard they recently discontinued the ability to request a favorite shopper. Is this true in all areas? I like my shopper and want to give him the business~
All these tech and gig app companies should be legally required to disclose how all their algos work in simple terms, and not a 20 page end user license agreement format that takes 3 hours to read...
Platinum sucks I've seen so many diamond 💍 priority orders are usually the best when you don't get unicorns I'm just saying platinum is awful and diamond is better definitely priority orders are nice regular customers order often in my areas so it better to have priority access Ive seen losing diamond.. they get better orders
Also if you take a order that you normally dont take, lets say Target & drive 10 miles for 2 people you'll start seeing that store more. So its better to actually do different stores so the system knows your willing to shop at other stores than your normal ones
There is no algorithm. I am a go cart shopper and I get $75 orders. Sometimes I get $10 orders. We all just get lucky and blessed by God day by day. If you gold cart and work some days, you can make a killing some days you don’t. It is that simple. Not to discredit your video.
I cannot stand instacart shoppers. They are thoughtless and disrespectful and have no respect for boundaries. And expect you to Stop what you're doing multiple times a day to Check the back for every single out of stock items on their precious orders.😂 I treat instacart like stray animals, I don't feed them.
I remember you mentioning that custom greeting in a past video, and I went in immediately and edited it to suit me. I’ve used it every time since, and my customers have responded really well to it. It’s definitely improved my ratings and tips. Thanks again for that gem, sis! Be blessed.
I've done the same for 5 years since I started shopping for Shipt. It couldn't hurt right?
Great video!!! You said a couple things that were my suspicions!! Just from simply noticing patterns. Particularly the part where you kind of have to take a small order initially to open up better paying orders later. I’m heading out now and going to put these tips to use!!
I've shopped the same area for 7 years, i'm full time, but I usually only work 5 days a week. I have noticed that if I don't take days off, I'll start getting throttled and getting bottom of the barrel batches. I def benefit from shopping the same area,, however, I do think that they changed something about 5 weeks ago, I have stopped seeing my regulars, and the other times this has happened it was only for a couple weeks. I'm going on 5 weeks now. Good Luck!
Learned a couple new things, Thanks for the info! 😉
Also, 100% agree about customer service and COMMUNICATION IS SOOO important! Just by saying hello, introducing yourself and letting them know you’ll communicate w/ them if they’re out of an item and need a replacement or whatever you may need to know is SO important! Almost every review comment I get from a customers is thanking me and being very appreciative about how well I communicated with them and they don’t get that very often. I’ve had many customers or people I know that use Instacart often tell me that they shoppers don’t often communicate and just refund or replace the item w/ something that doesn’t even make sense. Good info!
I don't communicate unless there is an item out of stock and the customer needs to know to make a decision. This has worked well for me. I'm 5 star rated, been doin instacart since Christmas. I think people like not being bothered unless needed.
@@goldbrick2563 Right, I’ve thought about that several times. I won’t bombard people. If they don’t reply I figure out the best option. You’re still communicating with them, and that’s important part. It’s the ones that don’t say anything to the customers and just replace or refund with whatever they want. Ya know. Just going off what I’ve heard from customers and others.. ☺️
@@_beYOUtiful_chaos i mean I don't even send a greeting...and still get 5 stars 😄
@@goldbrick2563What do people like more? To know you're not an idiot, and will utilize common sense when substituting items. To also know you'll communicate with then if need-be. Assuming people don't like to be bothered is ignorant AF. Might as well never ring a doorbell or knock on a door because you'd be "bothering people".
@@goldbrick2563communicating isn't going to earn you less stars, not communicating will.
We got one tonight. $46 going 22 miles. 30 items. We got to the house and they ordered for an elderly neighbor. The husband handed me something on our arrival. We delivered the groceries to the neighbor and he came with. Turns out she has horses. So naturally we greeted all 6. After leaving I looked at what he handed me. 2 x $20 rolled up plus he increased the tip in the app another 10. You never know how a batch will end up. You’re right it needs to make sense but if we are sitting at the store and a shop only pops for a let’s say $7. We grab it. We are in and out in 15 min awaiting the next one.
I'm a new shopper. I decided to work early this morning, drove to a grocery store. Sat there for a few min, then I got a $50 something dollar batch. But when I opened it up I realized it was 2 different customers from 2 different stores in 2 totally different areas. One I wouldve had to cross the GW Bridge to go to the Bronx & the other batch was for a store in another random NY town. Mind you, I was in Jersey at the time. I cancelled the order, didnt think it was worth the effort
Good idea. I would of cancelled too. Work what is best for you.
Fantastic advice. Full time diamond shopper and didn’t know about the custom greeting.
Love your style and delivery 🤘
Hi! I’ve been a shopper since 2017 and I agree with everything you talked about! Love your videos!
9:46 yes i never let anyone bag for me. I do self checkout most of time. The baggers are idiots more often than not. If i let them bag, i always have to rebag in the parking lot
OH MY GOODNESS! Glad to know it's not just me. I am 100% self checkout. I don't who trained the workers but their bagging is horrible. If there's ever a day I want someone else to ring up etc....I put every item on the belt exactly how I need it bagged. Example: I may say these 6 items go into 1 bag and if they add a 7th item anyway, I unbag it at the register because that's not what I said do. I do that in hopes that a manager comes and wonder why I'm bagging. Once they show up, I mention their bagging method. Yesterday I had someone put eggs at the bottom on the bag and put other items on top smh. Not what I asked. I had a random older lady come up to me after in self checkout to say I love your bagging....you can bag my groceries any time haha.
lol I always have to re bag in the parking lot 😒 they don’t let us go to self checkout now if it’s over 20 items, sooooo annoying
Half the time, folks working the registers don’t want to bag anyway, so they either intentionally do a bad job or they’re completely clueless. And since they banned the free plastic bags in my area, I have to be really careful how orders are bagged so that the cheap paper bags don’t rip from being overloaded. I like to pack groceries so that 3 paper shopping bags fit neatly into one blue IKEA shopping bag (another gem I picked up from @bellpeppa).
Thanks for this video, I didn't realize that I could opt in for more delivery options like cooler bags, prescriptions & alcohol delivery! 👍🏾
Very helpful! I cherry pick every time I go out 😂. Your explanation definitely explains why it takes so long to get the batch i want. I notice the batch finally comes when im heading in the direction of my house lol. Once i turn around and go back then they start showing me decent batches. Ratings in my area suck at 5 star. I see higher better batches when im 4.94 to 4.98. I made a decent amount FINALLY Feb - April and was shocked. As soon as i hit 5 star again 2 weeks ago...i can barely make $50 - $100 a week...ill be lucky if i do. Heading out shortly and I'm definitely going to try your idea of grabbing what makes sense instead of letting batches sit and see what happens. Thanks for the info 😊
Same boat
In my area whenever they onboard new shoppers they always give them the higher paying batch’s and keep hitting them with batch after batch while us diamond cart shoppers sit back and compete for the trash batches
Do you have any tips for summer shopping? It’s hot as hell outside. I carry a portable fan in my car and frozen bottles of water. I never do two shop from two different stores. No way I’m leaving someone’s food in freezer bags in 100 degree weather in the trunk of my car while I shop another order.
Honestly I’d do exactly what you’re doing, make sure you have good insulated bags and you’re doing everything you can if they have frozen stuff that could go bad & you have to drive far. Instacart doesn’t really take in to account weather, especially when they group 3 orders together that are mad far with frozen items.
I can relate.i live in Las Vegas and do insta cart very part time. I rarely do two various stores.That would be a nightmare
You and Var were in my dream the other night. They're building a Wegmans over by me and I had passed it earlier that day. In the dream the Wegmans was opened and I went inside and you two were double teaming a batch in the produce section. Crazy lol
😂😂 this is hilarious
You're on point with this video however you could of mentioned that shoppers are put into tiers tatvar made a video on this actually. Even being diamond kart each day your put into a specific tier group so on the days your not in the 1st group you won't get first dibs. Also always be on the que ready to blindswipe no matter what you can easily miss that 80 grabbing that soda 😂 and now you gotta wait another hour for that next banger.
I definitely agree on some of these. Well all of them really. But if a customer gives you a 5 star. You are more than likely first to see their order next time. Also I agree with take a batch early. I noticed I have more $200 days when I do.
I’ve been doing instacart for almost 2 years now and I like it but I don’t like the fact that you feel pressured to work every day. We all need days off and I worry that taking a certain day off could’ve been good money.
I'm a 4 yr full-time veteran..Instacart, which plays a lot of head games.. which can affect persons' mental. They want ppl out all day every day.Its not worth it anymore
@@TluVVV2026
Yes instacart has the ability.
To pay us. Base pay is what's killing every1. Cheap ass Customer tip of course won't change wich shows the low percentage of good people in this world than bad.
Ya jus make sure ya never do them cheap ass orders no matter what. You are lowering yourself, making urself look like a fool to the company.
The Block feature is the shoppers power. Use it 24/7.
Ive been doing this 3 years and i completely agree about the customers uve dobe before u see first and that tiers dont mean shit its pretty fucked up they get to lie to us and we dint know for sure what all factors i say that as im sitting here getting no batchs
Hi, I'm a customer. I never get greetings anymore. And every time I order something like ice cream or popsicles they are delivered completely melted. Last time the ice cream was so melted it was pouring out of the container and was all over all the rest of the groceries. How can I avoid being grouped into double and triple orders? I think they are delivering to two other houses before mine. Instacart shouldn't do this. Each order should be separate, and the insulation bags are a joke. They don't work. At least not for frozen food.
I would suggest you look at who's shopping your order and if they're not at least a four-star Shopper I would just pull that order and reorder through someone else. I have insulated bags from Costco and they're phenomenal. I have a feeling whoever's delivering to you isn't even putting it in a bag and that's the whole problem. In the summertime I not only put it in a bag but I put it right next to the AC vent as well. Sad part is a lot of the five star Shoppers are leaving we're just not getting treated with a high level of respect from customers or the company. Instacart is put me in some seriously dangerous situations and to this day not one person has reached out to me.
The customers should complain... that's literally the only way to stop it. That person probably came from a store so far away your frozen didn't have a chance... plus the ratings give new shoppers first option at orders so you probably had a new shopper.
@@pjt3887 I didn't know you could see how many stars a shopper has. I can't find that option anywhere. I think your right about the good shoppers leaving. The shoppers now, don't send a greeting, and sometimes they don't even respond back when I message them. They also buy things completely different from what I ordered even when I've selected a replacements and left notes. Then after they drop it off, I get an e-mail to leave a review and I see their picture for the first time. Not to sound mean or anything but they always look like scary, shady, drug addicts. It usually costs me $45.00 or more to use Instacart compared to if I got the groceries myself. Luckily soon, I will only need to use them once a month. I've always wondered how people stay safe delivering groceries to strangers. This, plus the wear and tear, and extra miles on your car, doesn't seem worth it. I've heard of shoppers starting their own independent shopping delivery service, which I think is worth looking into. I would rather use someone like that than give my money to Instacart. Stay safe!
My husband is a shopper in our province's capital city. Literally the only way for the trips to be worth the gas he's spending is for him to shop for more than one person at a time. If he only shopped for one customer at a time, and delivered that order before getting the next customer, he would spend much more in gas than he was earning. The way it's set up, though, is that once the shopper checks out and heads back to their car, they deliver the closest order first, then the next closest order, then the next next closest, so they drop everything off in basically a line of closest to farthest from the last store shopped at (for example, if a batch includes two or three different stores). That way, they're not driving in circles, spending a crap ton of time and gas. If your frozen stuff is arriving melted, your shopper is not doing their job right.
@@relaxmuse4496 I know it seems like you make more money with those double orders. But a lot of the time you don't. Instacart saves money when they bundle the orders. For example. You could take three single orders at $20.00 each and make 60.00. While a one triple order might only be 30.00. A thirty looks better than a twenty, so they take it. But the extra time it takes makes you miss another 20 dollar single order. Instacart is tricky. And the problem is most the orders that come, are double and triple orders. So you take them, just so you don't waste any more time sitting in your car waiting for a good single order. I don't blame people for taking the triple and double orders because you pretty much have to. My complaint is with Instacart. If they paid people more, and didn't include ANY double or triple orders, then both employee, and customer would be much happier. But they want to make more money for themselves, instead. If you have to go to three different stores shopping for three different people, and the first person had frozen popsicles, how the heck does Instacart think those popsicles aren't going to arrive un-melted? They simply don't care.
These are all very true points!!! And it’s so crazy how IC will use the proximity tool and as soon as you start shopping an order, the information pop up will say “do not sit in the parking lot while you wait for orders” likeeeee what 😂??
“Do your best to be there every day at a CONSISTENT time”
Me: 🥴
Lmfao but you’re so right tho! IC really be clocking your every move.
What is a good item+pay+item ratio or how do you determine that
Super Great Bella babe! We appreciate you so much for this great content!
Hey, is Instacart still good at Wegmans or the area?
I agree with you on some things but definitely on the prioritize shoppers that have been doing this for a long time I will have to disagree with that. I constantly see new shoppers at Costco with flatbeds full so I am assuming that those shoppers have good paying orders and I'm walking in there with a little $20 $30 order it seems like I can't get anything more than that amount of money at Costco but then new shoppers are walking in there with $50 $60 batches and even ones that pay more than that. I truly believe that the new shoppers are prioritized before us veterans are
Facts cause I been doing since 2024 and we all talk and ask questions and we been finding out that the newbies been getting best jobs
Yes I think it’s not fair the new people get all the good paying orders !
I dont see any alcohol orders anymore ever since i moved to a different state CA to WA and have reached out to instacart support with no help.. even found the link to retake alcohol quiz but still nothing.. no alcohol orders!
Don’t forget used insulation bag for cold or frozen items
I have a question. I’m kind of hoping you can answer because you’ve given me a lot of insight even though I’ve been doing Instacart for 4+ years. I never realize some of the things that you shared in your video. So do you find it to be a good idea to stick to one store and just build your clientele there because I become frustrated and I move to wherever the highlighted stores are so I think I’m missing the boat, can you help?
I can’t speak to your area cause I’m not familiar with it, but in my area I know that Costco and wegmans have good tipping customers regularly, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with going to different stores just make sure that if you do you only go to stores you know that customers tip well. Sometimes I sit for 3 hours and get a batch and other days I only sit for 30-1hr. Another day I may be getting orders consistently and then it slows down and it takes me a couple hours to get a batch. I’d stay around the area where you’ve been making the most money and stick to 2-3 stores you know are good!
@@Bellpeppa do you know I was about ready to give up on Instacart I really felt like I was being picked on you shed some light and a lot of my situations and open my eyes. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your videos. Thank you so very much for taking the time out of your day to make them thank you.
“Sometimes you just have to do it” 🎯💯💯💯
May I ask what’s your Seconds per item? And do you believe that stat matters on how Instacart sends out orders?
45 seconds per item! I don’t know for sure if it does, but I’ve always aimed to keep it low!
3:14 in my state, 'proximity' is not used. They always showing me orders from a town 50 miles away and ive never shopped in that god dang town ever and never go there ever. Frankly, its very annoying.
The order will stay on the board until someone picked it up the problem is no one wants it and that is why it made it's way so far out
@@traceyjones2010 makes sense...maybe i should make a daytrip one of these days and just work that town cause they always slammed with orders 😄
I’m a five star shopper, 4000 deliveries, and this past month has been brutal. I’ve seen more new shoppers walking out the store with carts full of groceries and $50+ batches than ever before. Every day I snag a small $15-20 order to start the day and let the almighty algo know I’m ready to work…
But this week I’m not even seeing those. Sitting at a red wegmans that has SO MANY orders, and I’m getting nothing. Meanwhile this guy I befriended has done maybe 300 orders total and has a 4.85 rating has 7-10 hidden on his screen…
Idk what to do anymore..
Thats crazy. I notice if i make a lot of money 2 weeks in a row, the following week is not as good. Could be the factor of more part-time shoppers coming online mid month cause rent is due in 2 weeks? Anyway, im pumped for 6/1 to 6/15...i think first part of month is more lucrative due to this
I'm feeling that right now!!! Made 1k for first time last week!!!!! Now this is legit the worst is awhile!!!! I keep seeing a warning on the connectivity status and few and far between orders!!! I was seeing on Google reviews other people are having same issue!!! I mean wtf...Customer support says account is fantastic..
@dariusparks3954 that very same thing is going on here in st louis to as far as the warning light goes it is messing with the amount of batches instacart says otherwise but it most definitely is ,I'm use to doing at least 6 batches a day now I'm lucky if I do two it's as if it is causing such a delay that everyone else around you is able to see the better batches before you leaving you with the crumbs that no one else wants but instacart still considers that as well your still seeing batches ,I think that there customer service reps don't know about the issue because remember every time you contact them there reading from a que card and it's always the same response ,so everyday before I start I do an uninstall and then reinstall to see if the issue has been fixed and as of yet no.If you go to there community chat sign in and look up warning connection light u will see that it is everywhere and it seem to be only happening to people that use android phones and not iPhone users.
I’m having the same issue. Excellent shopper, 5.00 star rating with 98 ratings (they dropped 2 one star ratings). Some days I made great money but today (Friday- usually slammed in my area) I sat at Costco and then at Kroger-Aldi’s (same lot) and got NOTHING on my screen yet saw a bunch of IC shoppers going into stores 😢
@@mrsmommy99yup. I’ve been out since 8am today, seen shopper after shopper come out with big ol carts full of groceries. Meanwhile I’ve maybe been sent 10 orders all day. It’s disgusting.
What state sre you in , because I hear different things about batch pricing an tipping
I’m in northern Virginia, like 30-45 mins out of Washington DC
Am a diamond shopper & don’t see anything better than when I was a gold shopper . I’ve been shopping in the same area for 4 years .
I've been working instacart on the weekends, mostly Sundays. I have 5 stores within 1-2 miles from my house. And 2 alcohol stores in the same area. I love getting Target and petsmart orders and of course alcohol orders are great.
Found out that the pet owners are more generous
You're a real pro
Food for thought. I live in the LA area and I can be there for hours and I don't see batches and I've been at this for 4 years. I also see new shoppers getting batches. Then I will be in CT and batches flood my app. So, I'm not sure much this algorithm theory is true. I think they hold back batches on experienced shoppers unless your diamond cart at least in LA bc it's supersaturated.
LET’S GO 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 I just got a 54 triple, 5 miles while watching this video
Definitely good stuff even though I knew most of this. But dang you gotta take this down 😂 you giving out too much help to people that is gonna mess me up. Especially the last part I was once at a store and got tired but left app on at 8pm. Was 2 miles away and a $101 order popped up for 60 items. Guess others were done for the day
Thank you so much for the tips !!! I needed them .
@@deniseshull686 🙏🏽🙏🏽
Hi. Thanks for the content.
Is there any tried & true way to opt out of Alcohol after opting in?
My market is already not that great - like throughout the week, I’m lucky if I can average 25/hour active time and sunday easily average 30/hour.
I feel that alcohol orders would crowd my screen with no real benefit.
You can reach out to support and ask them to stop showing you alcohol orders! I’ve never tried to or know anyone who’s done it, but you can definitely try and see what they tell you.
Diamond and 4.7 and I use to see better order now. I get cheap low order 7$ to 9$ and use to get 29$ to 71$
Good video I have a question my rating keeps dropping and have not seen a five star post to my account in months, I know i get them but the bad ones post immediately? My rating keeps going south slowly and never goes up is this normal?
It's instacart messing with your account and manipulating your ratings to punish you for declining unfair offers too much! The same thing happened to me and I called out instacart about it and it suddenly stopped! I was able to maintain a 4.95 or higher for a good year and a half and all of a sudden my ratings started tanking while providing the same customer service as i always had..and within a matter of days my ratings went from a 4.98 to a 4.83!
Hi. I’m a new shopper. I was wondering how do I know what a good batch is in terms of items, distance, paid. How do I calculate that?? Ty for any assistance you can give or direct me to.. 🥰🥰
The lower the items the faster the shop! If your new id look for low items so you’re not in the store for over an hour lol. I’d go for around, 20-30 items is a decent size.
Miles just depends on where you live! If you’re in a major city 2-3 miles can be 20min+. I’m in the suburbs and 2-3 miles will take me 10 mins tops.
I take in to account how long I’ll be shopping, which for me is 10-20 mins. and how long it’ll take me to deliver and I just decide whether or not it makes sense for me to do the order based on the pay!
Been an Instacart shopper since 2021 and I agree with all of this. #Facts
What would you suggest is the best way to get batches? My leaving the app screen open or closed? I feel sometimes I see batches better via the notification. I appreciate any feedback you can give. Thank you!
I feel like they do show you better batches sometimes when you’re off the app, but the chances you miss it are pretty high compared to just sitting on the app! Also when a group of orders pop up you might get notified for one that isn’t that good and you might miss a good one. I’d stay on the app as much as possible!
Hey awesome video. I am new to insta cart. One do I have to be at that store to get an order? And two do I have to be on the app to see orders or can I be online and will I be notified of an order? Or do I have to sit and keep the app open on my screen all day?
If you’re just starting out it’ll take a while to start seeing good orders, but I would wait at the store, sometimes you’ll get notified for good batches, but I would stay on the app as much as you can
I’m fairly new, too (about 6 months now), and what I’ve seen is that I just have to have the app ONLINE in order to see batch offers. I do NOT have to be at a store, but it can be helpful. A lot of times, I’ll go online while I’m still at home getting ready. I may grab a decent looking batch, finish getting ready, then head straight to the store before they yank the batch and give it to another shopper. LOL. Also, I’ve noticed that audio notifications don’t play when the app is open on my screen, nor when I’m in the car connected to CarPlay. I only hear the audio notifications when I take the app off screen. I wish that I knew how to exclude certain areas from the batches they show me.
FWIW, I did hit diamond cart status back in March, but aside from the orders labeled Priotity Status, everything I mentioned above is consistent with what I experienced before I hit diamond.
I love you ❤️
You’re my inspiration
Bots? I’m confused, can u explain that further? I’m in NY & have seen ppl w/ two phones as well… 😐
Bots are like a software that automatically grabs whatever batch you set it up to grab, and they’re bots so they’re super quick. They don’t just have to be using two phones! It can be on just one phone. I use two phones sometimes if I’m on different apps. But if there’s two accounts on different phones, ones most likely a bot!
Bots inable a person to see all the orders before you allows them to snatch all the higher paying batches before you even see them and you would think that a billion dollar company would be able to combat the major problems.
Its been a while since I signed up, still on the waiting list! 😢
I'm diamond cart for 5 months now and don't really get anything special from it. Maybe i'll get 1 'priority access' a week
A lot of times I get big orders from home than staying in the parking lot I don’t know is weird
It be like that sometimes
How's it been going Bella?
what city are you near?
30 mins from Washington dc
@@Bellpeppa oh cool. I'm in Connecticut. doing my 98th order right now
@@yanks250125 I worked up there for like a day and it was pretty decent depending on the area
I'm a new Instacart customer. I heard they recently discontinued the ability to request a favorite shopper. Is this true in all areas? I like my shopper and want to give him the business~
Not sure if it’s 100% true for all areas, a few shoppers in my area still have the feature but most of us never got it!
Not all markets run the same
That's why I never had my order missing shopping at Instacart for 2 years always had the same people deliver to me.
All these tech and gig app companies should be legally required to disclose how all their algos work in simple terms, and not a 20 page end user license agreement format that takes 3 hours to read...
I'm taking horrible orders that all there is as a platinum I'm really trying to get diamond again
Diamond cart here and I agree 💯
Thanks!!
Nice thanks
Platinum sucks I've seen so many diamond 💍 priority orders are usually the best when you don't get unicorns I'm just saying platinum is awful and diamond is better definitely priority orders are nice regular customers order often in my areas so it better to have priority access Ive seen losing diamond.. they get better orders
Go to the rich area. Poor areas tend to not tip and give lower ratings and claim items are missing
Also if you take a order that you normally dont take, lets say Target & drive 10 miles for 2 people you'll start seeing that store more. So its better to actually do different stores so the system knows your willing to shop at other stores than your normal ones
There is no algorithm. I am a go cart shopper and I get $75 orders. Sometimes I get $10 orders. We all just get lucky and blessed by God day by day. If you gold cart and work some days, you can make a killing some days you don’t. It is that simple. Not to discredit your video.
I actually agree.
you are stunning no wonder the tips come in so quickly lol
you should just use dumpling and turn all those instacart customers into your own private clients.
The starting cost for this service should be $65 and Up
💛✨💛
Fantastic video, as always! Oh, and,…
“Is $2,000 a week still possible in 2024?” 👀
I cannot stand instacart shoppers. They are thoughtless and disrespectful and have no respect for boundaries.
And expect you to Stop what you're doing multiple times a day to Check the back for every single out of stock items on their precious orders.😂 I treat instacart like stray animals, I don't feed them.
el·i·gi·bil·i·ty lol
Why you telling the secrets 😂 don’t tell em lol
God save the queen.. 🇬🇧…
Thanks