7 ms·
Say the average wage is $10/hour. If it takes one hour to go and do that shopping, I break even by paying someone else that $10, if I value my leisure time as
by grandalf 10y ago
Say the average wage is $10/hour. If it takes one hour to go and do that shopping, I break even by paying someone else that $10, if I value my leisure time as equivalent to my wage.
More likely, most Instacart customers earn much more than $10/hour. For someone with a busy work schedule, there might be 2 hours of leisure time available per day during the week. This means that by using Instacart I increase my after-work leisure time by 10-20% per week.
If you consider that grocery stores are more crowded during the weekend, and assume 10 hours per day of leisure time, someone who places one order per week likely increases weekend leisure time by 10%.
Since stores close early on Sunday, having Instacart do the shopping on Monday instead can make a weekend getaway possible that would otherwise have had to end in time for that Sunday shopping trip.
I'm sure some people prefer to wander through the store filling up a cart, searching for difficult-to-find items and waiting behind several people for the checkout clerk to finish bagging all their orders. I do not.
I've also found that Instacart sorts items by price, so it's easy to fill the virtual cart without falling victim to all the end-cap advertising and impulse purchase scams that the stores have going. When I go to a physical store I frequently end up buying things I didn't really intend to, but with Instacart, I only end up with the things I actually wanted.
- CamelCaseName 10y agoWhen I go to a physical store I frequently end up buying things I didn't really intend to, but with Instacart, I only end up with the things I actually wanted. Specifically what products do you end up buying? I have always wanted some insight as to who buys these items near the register and why, as I rarely see anyone pick them up.
- jjfine 10y agoThey're not necessarily talking about just those items. The entire store is designed so you buy things you weren't intending to buy. You never said/thought: "Ooh look ice cream's on sale..." and failed to resist?
- 0xcde4c3db 10y agoPeople will do that without even realizing it because they (we, I) instantly come up with some rationalization for why they "really" want it.
- grandalf 10y agoExactly, I rarely add anything from the checkout lane area, but I'm often enticed to buy unplanned stuff from the ethnic foods aisle, and now and then I'm taken in by the end-cap displays featuring product pairings, especially if I've been inclined to try a similar combination.
- thomasz 10y agoThat is even easier with a website that has detailed data about your shopping.
- bravefoot 10y agoHalf of my pantry is food I found in the clearance and damaged goods sections. I never go to the store with the intent of buying three big cans of enchilada sauce, but the bent ones are half off and I'll use them eventually...
- muzz 10y agoGum and mints, for me. Sometimes batteries if I need them, even though they are cheaper at WalMart or Target. I don't personally buy things like tabloid magazines, but I'm sure grocery stores have spent lots of time researching this to optimize the placement of these products
- paulcole 10y ago>I break even by paying someone else that $10, if I value my leisure time as equivalent to my wage. I value my leisure time at the arbitrary amount of $1000/hr. Have I broken even if I pay $1000 to someone so they'll do my grocery shopping?
- grandalf 10y agoYes, that is exactly why people part with money in exchange for things they could do equally well on their own.
- jjfine 10y agoI disagree. In the example, I think, they've been robbed.
- motoboi 10y agoIs it a robbery if you agree on the price _before_ the service is done?
- StephenConnell 10y agoEven if you consider the situation robbery, they still broke broke even with a 1k gain and 1k loss.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- rdlecler1 10y agoThis principal is why we don't make our own shoes and milk our own cows, just at a different scale.
- sosborn 10y agoTime isn't really the limiting factor for those two activities.
- 10y ago
- misingnoglic 10y agoI'm the opposite - if I can impulsively buy a random snack on an app, I will. In the actual store, I'll feel bad about it during the checkout.
- tomcam 10y ago> More likely, most Instacart customers earn much more than $10/hour. Why do you think that?
- grandalf 10y agoI was thinking mainly about the entertainment value of using scarce recreational funds to have groceries delivered, but as someone else in the thread pointed out, there are cases where taking a taxi to get groceries (as I did in college) is actually a lot more expensive than Instacart, so I could see it appealing to an even wider range of people for similar reasons.
- gearhart 10y agoThe average US hourly wage is twice that, seems like a fair statement. http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/wages http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/wages