I have always had a job most of my grown up life, but I also always had a hustle. It keeps me busy, and gets me to try new things and learning from them. I hustled, or also currently hustling, as a designer, photographer, musician, investor, affiliate and blogger. That's on top of my daytime jobs working in event management and operations. I've never had a "specialty" in my opinion, but I do love trying different things and that includes being a delivery driver.
I had some gaps between employment in 2023, and I was curious about Instacart. I had used the service as a buyer, so I had that familiarity. It was a good time to try it during the free time I had, and without boring you a story, I'll just list it out.
PROS:
- Shopped stores I've never been to
- Decent pay
- Got to drive to parts of town I've never been to
- Had access to discounted oil change
- You still got paid even if the customers doesn't accept the orders, or they cancel the order while you're on the job
- Great tech support when there are problems with an order
- There are easy orders, as well as complicated ones
- Weekly pay
CONS:
- Not all stores had stable wifi
- Pay was not good for shopping and delivery jobs that required a trip over tolled bridges
- Not all, but there are customers who would make you work beyond the pay rate
- Too much pressure to finish fast a huge shopping list
Takeaways:
- Does not replace a full-time job with full-time wage
- Fun thing to do when there's nothing else to do, and get paid for it
- Not the best gig to do at night where there is no parking
- Do not accept double shopping gigs
- Halloween season had the best jobs, got paid generously just to pick up a costume
Now for the pay.
I shopped and drove for a total of 36 hours, and 241.5 miles.
In that time, I earned $914.58 gross, or $25.41/hr. Minus the gas, which at the time was 65.5 cents a mile, comes out to $158.18. The 36 hours are the active time I was "on the clock" which ends when I have delivered. So any driving back to where I wanted to go after did not count.
Net pay $756.40.
Which is not toooo bad. If this was weekly pay, it could work quite well for a single person. However, I racked up these hours over weeks between May and October. I declined many jobs because they were at stores that had bad wifi. If there were just as many jobs in a week's time, this could be a decent full time job or something to do when you're in between jobs.
But for me, I only turn on Instacart when I have nothing else to do. If you needed a couple of bucks to just pocket for emergency take-out, this is not a bad fund to dip from.
It doesn't cost you anything to try it. Sign up to be an Instacart Shopper.
Search: Is Instacart Good? Can I make money on Instacart? Pros and Cons of Instacart Shopping. How much can I earn on Instacart. Is Instacart a full-time job? Is Instacart a part-time job? Should I work for Instacart? Is Instacart a good alternative? I lost my job, can I do Instacart shopping? Is Instacart hard? Is Instacart a hustle? Work from home jobs. Is Instacart flexible? Is Instacart for contractors? Do I become an employee of Instacart as a shopper? What cities can I do Instacart?
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