Instacart lowers base pay, sparking ire from delivery drivers
- Instacart recently announced changes, including cuts to base pay for orders
- The company says it’s adjusting to changing buyer habits
- Workers say they’ll need to work twice as hard to make minimum wage
maylen
(NewsNation) — The grocery delivery service Instacart cut its base pay from $7 per order to $4, and those who fill the orders say the slash means they will rely more on tips.
Instacart announced the change in a July 20 post on its website stating that smaller, quicker orders “like delivering a bag of chips or a pint of ice cream” now pay at least $4, the post noted, adding that the rate is “2x higher than the minimum of other delivery platforms.” Other orders pay at least $10.
Following Instacart’s announcement, delivery drivers took to social media, where some called for a boycott of all $4 batches, while others lamented that they would need to accept four small orders to make minimum wage.
In an email to NewsNation, Instacart said “not all orders are created equal,” and the change hasn’t impacted driver availability.
According to Instacart, the company’s earning structure hasn’t changed since 2019. Meanwhile, although customers still use the service for weekly shopping, they also now use the app to place “much smaller convenience or specialty item orders” between larger requests, the company said. Some of those more sizeable orders are placed when families stock up for the month at a club store or small businesses order their office supplies.
Unlike some similar services, Instacart allows drivers to deny any batch without facing a penalty, a company representative said.
But Instacart workers aren’t alone in their frustrations. Drivers for other shopping services are making their own cases for higher wages.
In New York City, app-based delivery workers were set to make almost $18 an hour earlier this month, but lawsuits by Uber, DoorDash and GrubHub temporarily prevented the new rules from taking effect.
Delivery services like Instacart and DoorDash were household staples for many people during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when venturing into public spaces like a grocery store presented a higher risk to the general public.
Instacart in particular saw a 104% revenue increase in 202, according to Business of Apps. It went on to make $2.1 billion in 2022, representing a 39% increase from the previous year.
