I fell in love with Instacart — but there’s a glaring flaw that will keep me from using it regularly
- Instacart makes grocery shopping quick and effortless.
- But tipping Instacart shoppers can become costly on frequent and expensive orders.
- It’s a drawback that’ll likely keep me from becoming a regular customer.
I just tried Instacart, and it was the best delivery grocery service I’ve ever used.
The speed of the service, the breadth of options, and the accuracy of my order were unparalleled compared to other delivery companies I’ve tried.
But there’s one drawback that makes it unlikely that I’ll become a regular customer: the cost of the tips.
Here’s what happened when I used the service:
SEE ALSO: Walmart is unleashing a weapon worth $2 billion that could deal a blow to Whole Foods
To build my order, I downloaded the Instacart app and selected a list of 29 items from Whole Foods.
I could also get goods delivered from Wegmans, Publix, CVS, and other nearby retailers for an additional fee. I chose to have the groceries delivered within two hours of my order, though Instacart gave me the option to have them delivered even sooner.
My order total came to $139.99. Instacart tacked on a $5.99 delivery fee (which is waived if you pay $149 annually for a membership) and a 10% “service fee” of more than $12.
The service fee is essentially a donation to Instacart. The company says it’s used to help operate Instacart and does not go to the shopper delivering your order. Customers can waive the fee, however. So I chose to waive it and instead give the 10% tip to my shopper. Ultimately, my order total came to $162.98.