Will scam you and ignore the problem after you bring it up to them - Anonymous employee Instacart Employee Review

1.0
4 Jun 2018
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

-Its pretty flexible if hours are available -Can cancel a shift 24hrs in advance

Cons

-If your friend signs up when it says $2000, and it drops to $1000 while they work (like 20hrs into the 40hrs), you won't get the $2000. Misleading and dishonest. -Had an issue with the referral bonus and I guess they don't like criticism because they just ignored the problem and basically took away the ability for me to have a referral bonus at all anymore. (everyone in the store has the ability to get $1000, mine is $25). So basically they're children and threw a tantrum cause we called them out so we get $25 if we refer a friend unlike other shoppers would get $1000. We know this cause everyone else has $1000 and we the two people who were in the middle of this both only have $25. -You're timed for orders and often it's not enough time and it makes you do a worst job just because you want to make the time. So you're doing a good job if you're going fast not if you're getting the right items for the customer. -There are almost never any hours to pick up or even given out -The app is trash Beyond disappointed with instacart, they lied about the referral bonus and when was brought it up to them they just ignored us and tried to make us go away.

Explore other reviews about Instacart

5.0
21 Jan 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

good place to work just need to figure out navigating politics at times.

Cons

have a little more structure but this was a long time ago

2.0
21 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Fun going out and talking to people. You will interact with people everyday. You control how much you get paid. Lots of flexibility in the time between accepting an order and traveling to the store and beginning to shop. It isn't pedal to the metal to get to the store like DoorDash is. You can also cancel batches after accepting as long as you keep your rate under 15%. This is different from DoorDash where your rankings will suffer if g.t. 2% cancellation rate.

Cons

There's a learning curve and it takes a while to learn each chain of stores' items. Once you become proficient at one store, the algorithm will lowball your offers relative to other less-experienced Instacart shoppers. Overall, Instacart shoppers likely get paid similar or less than the store's regular employees.

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