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Instacart shoppers worried about lack of support, safety guidelines from company amid COVID-19 pandemic

Shoppers say the company is not giving them the resources to stay safe while shopping and delivering groceries

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Many shoppers for the popular grocery delivery service Instacart are fed up with the company amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

While many businesses are closed to prevent the spread of COVID-19, grocery stores are essential and remain open. 

"I'm a full time, full service shopper," said Kelly, an Instacart shopper from Lancaster County, who asked we don't use her last name in fear of retaliation by Instacart.  "Meaning I shop for groceries and I also deliver." 

Kelly, along with many other shoppers, are concerned with the lack of support they've received from Instacart. 

"In my opinion they don't really know what they're doing," said Kelly. "So, it feels like we don't have that support out there. They send out messages in the app, but it's not full of resources for us, any direction as far as where to go."

Kelly says, the company hasn't put down many guidelines on how to handle food to keep shoppers, and customers safe, other than typical safety precautions like wearing face masks and washing your hands. 

"It's really concerning and I'm really trying to look out for myself but as a shopper," said Kelly. "I'm kind of on my own as far as the risk."  

On top of what shoppers say is lack of support, they say they are not receiving hazard pay, and have been getting paid less money to do more work due to how Instacart's system is set up with batch orders, paying them $7-10 at a time for three grocery deliveries. But, through it all, Kelly is continuing to shop because she knows her services are vital during this time. She just hopes Instacart will soon step up to take better care of its shoppers and customers. 

"I also need to help people," said Kelly. "It's just within my DNA that I be a resource for the community." 

Instacart responded to our request for comment after our story aired: 

“The health and safety of our entire community — shoppers, customers, and employees — is our first priority. Our goal is to offer a safe and flexible earnings opportunity to shoppers, while also proactively taking the appropriate precautionary measures to operate safely. We’re focused on serving as an essential service for millions of families, while providing immediate earnings opportunities for hundreds of thousands of people across North America. 

We respect the rights of shoppers to provide us feedback and voice their concerns. As it relates to yesterday's actions, we saw absolutely no impact to Instacart’s operations. Yesterday, we saw 40% more shoppers on the platform compared to the same day and time last week. Over the last 72 hours, more groceries were sold on our platform than ever before. In the last week alone, 250,000 new people signed up to become Instacart full-service shoppers and 50,000 of them have already started shopping on the platform. The sentiment of our shopper community continues to be incredibly important to us, and today our shopper satisfaction, as measured by Net Promoter Score (NPS), is the highest it’s ever been in company history.

We’re always committed to ensuring shoppers are fairly compensated for their efforts. Based on the rise in customer demand, shopper earnings have increased by more than 40% month-over-month and shoppers, on average, have also seen a 30% increase in customer tips. 

In the last four weeks, Instacart has introduced more than 15 new product features, new health guidelines, new shopper bonuses, new sick leave policies, and new safety supplies, as well as pay for those affected by COVID-19. Our team has an unwavering commitment to safely serve our shoppers in the wake of COVID-19, and we’ll continue to share additional updates over the coming days, weeks and months ahead as we further support this important community.”

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