10 ms·

I have never had a good experience with instacart. I’ve ordered from them probably 10-15 times and every single time, without fail, they either forget an item o

I have never had a good experience with instacart. I’ve ordered from them probably 10-15 times and every single time, without fail, they either forget an item or replace an item with another item that I don’t want. This makes the service unusable, because if I’m cooking dinner that night and want to order instacart, there’s a high likelyhood I’ll be missing something crucial for my recepie, meaning I’ll have to go to the store anyway. Not to mention the shady fees. The last time I used instacart, there was a box checked called “service fee”, I clicked on it to see what it was and it said “this $10 charge is optional and helps us keep running instacart”. Meanwhile the tip for your driver box is not checked. I bet a large number of people assume the service fee is the tip, and leave tip blank. Blatant tip stealing. Plus they mark up everything you buy, and obfuscate this so it’s impossible to really know how much extra instacart is skimming off the top. Amazing prime now on the other hand has never messed up an order. They always deliver on time. The prices are actually cheaper in some cases than in store. I can’t wait for instacart to go out of business.

askafriend 9y ago
For me, the worst grocery delivery service is still miles better than going to a store and shopping for groceries. I'm OK with missing items, I'll just get a refund and deal with it. It's still far far better than dealing with a physical grocery store. I'm sure there are millions of others like me.
- pnathan 9y ago
  > I'm OK with missing items, I'll just get a refund and deal with it. It's still far far better than dealing with a physical grocery store. Curious. Why do you say that? I use Instacart as a timesaver, or as a way to accomplish what I can't due to other obligations.
- fizwhiz 9y ago
  Really don't know why you're being downvoted, but I agree. I prefer protecting my time whenever I can (read: I'm lazy) and I've personally found instacart to be an invaluable service. Whether it's a late night wine delivery from BevMo, bulk shopping from Costco (I don't have a membership and almost never remember to bring bags with me to their store), or just the weekly stuff from Safeway/Wholefoods, it's really been a godsend from the POV of saving time that I can repurpose for anything else. I don't know about the millions comment, but if you're willing to pay a premium for the convenience then it's certainly worth it. I certainly feel that way.
- ascorbic 9y ago
  Don't you have stores that will do the deliveries themselves? That's got to be a better system than using a third party like Instacart.
- zjaffee 9y ago
  But there are so many services out there, and instacart isn't a particularly good one. There are services like fresh direct/amazon fresh which are based on delivery as a primary concept, and there's the services spun up by the individual grocery stores (which don't have the same crazy fees as instacart, and generally have more accurate listings). Especially given that wholefoods is now going to deliver direct which was one of the primary uses of instacart (delivery from premium stores), demonstrates that their utility is fading.
- s73v3r_ 9y ago
  I can't agree. If you're missing an item that you needed for that night's dinner, then you now are doubly inconvenienced, first by having to pay that convenience fee, and now second that you have to spend your time to go to the store anyways and get what was missing.
- angryasian 9y ago
  I don't agree but to each their own. Now with self checkout, 4 major supermarkets near me and I tend to go later at night.. I really don't see the problem
ftoo 9y ago
The service fee thing sounds like a class action lawsuit waiting to happen. Lawyers, start your engines...
usaphp 9y ago
> Amazing prime now on the other hand has never messed up an order. Not sure if it’s possible in prime now (could not find it) but I like the option in Instacart to describe an item you need which is not present in their directory, it saved me lots of times when something is not listed on prime now and I can just request it using Instacart, worked perfectly for me every time
kcorbitt 9y ago
I suspect the fact that Amazon is so good at food delivery is exactly why Instacart has been able to raise at such a high valuation. Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods, their Amazon Go store, and generally competent execution of grocery delivery has put the fear of $DIETY into all the incumbent grocery chains. They realize that they're late to the game and don't have the internal talent to develop an effective and convenient home-delivery competitor, so they're forced to partner with Instacart, who is hoping to commoditize them.
- deegles 9y ago
  I feel like even Amazon doesn’t have enough internal talent to execute on all the projects they want. Grocery stores don’t stand a chance.
Androider 9y ago
Exact same experience. Instacart shopper cannot find extremely common items and tries to replace them with 2-3x more expensive options. The whole model of the shopper walking the isles to pick the products is wrong. It's inefficient and a recipe for disappointment, because what you see on their web page is just a guess at what the store has and the shopper can find. I too have used Instacart probably 10 times, but never will again. It is also all but guaranteed that Whole Foods will drop Instancart like a hot potato for their own in-house service, so the valuation is completely wrong in my opinion.
- ssewell 9y ago
  Amazon Prime Now is already starting this (https://goo.gl/fSF4DR https://goo.gl/fSF4DR) in select markets. I used this last weekend and the delivery was perfect! You can opt to have an out-of-stock item either left off or replaced with a similar item. They will even send an SMS to request confirmation if they need to use a substitute product, giving you an opportunity to provide more feedback.
  - dangrossman 9y ago
    That's exactly how Instacart works as well. The shopper is able to call or text the customer to discuss substitutions.
    - elithrar 9y ago
      Correct - as well as choose from "best replacement", "replace with specific item", and "don't replace". Since Instacart remembers these choices across orders, I've found this useful for making sure I get what I need.
ericlewis 9y ago
This has been exactly my experience too, and I've been using Instacart since day one. "Apologizing" for them often. A combination of Amazon prime now and Amazon fresh has seemed to work out. I occasionally use Instacart just to see if its improved. But I hardly trust them to get everything I want, and I'm surprised when an order goes without a hitch. Probably not the surprise they are looking for when trying to "surprise and delight".
pnathan 9y ago
I've never had an issue with Instacart. I order from them.... occasionally. Great service. The fee structure is weird, agreed.
tvanantwerp 9y ago
Similar experience. The app is fine, but the quality of shoppers usually isn't. Lots of forgotten items, unacceptable replacements, or just getting the wrong thing entirely. Once had a shopper who didn't know cucumbers from zucchini. Another time, we ordered 2 pounds of shrimp and got...2 shrimp. Just two little shrimp! Honestly, who would even think it makes sense that we would've ordered two individual shrimp? I've had so many bad experiences that I don't ever plan to use Instacart again.
- ggg9990 9y ago
  I routinely buy one shrimp because I don’t like shrimp but I cook it for my baby as part of getting her diverse foods.
paulcole 9y ago
> Plus they mark up everything you buy, and obfuscate this so it’s impossible to really know how much extra instacart is skimming off the top. Do you ask Whole Foods what they pay for bananas? Do you care what the markup is at Walmart? Who cares how much InstaCart is charging. If you're pinching pennies, InstaCart isn't a service for you.
- clay_the_ripper 9y ago
  I’m not against companies making money. Instacart should be compensated for the service they provide. So just tell me “this delivery costs x dollars” or show me the percentage you’re charging me for the order “10% of total” so I can make an informed decision about how much I’m paying to have my groceries delivered. Instead they hide the true cost of the service that I’m paying for. I have no idea if I just paid $10 or $50 extra vs going to the store myself. Really this is the least of my complaints. If the service worked well (ie actually told me what was in stock/out of stock instead Of replacing items with a bunch of stuff I don’t want) I would have a lot less of a problem paying a little extra.
Gargoyle 9y ago
I used them as my sole source of groceries for about 3 years and had no problems with products or deliveries at any point. I do agree about the fees, which I always unchecked and I always tipped the driver in cash despite Instacart urging me not to. In my case the driver was also the shopper on every delivery, but I understand that's not how it always works and tipping cash is a bad idea when they're different people.
- acct1771 9y ago
  For our anecdotal evidence, what area do you have these experiences?
ggg9990 9y ago
Why are you excited for Instacart to go out of business? Why not just stop using it?
- gruez 9y ago
  maybe >Blatant tip stealing. [...] >Plus they mark up everything you buy, and obfuscate this ?
hunter23 9y ago
I agree. I use instacart every few months, but I will NEVER use them to buy groceries for a dinner I'm preparing that day. I've had too many instances where they didn't have the meat I needed, so I had to order out. They are not useful for folks who cook a lot and care about their ingredients. They really really need real to have real time inventory for users like me. The shopper model worked when they were just starting off because it allowed them to launch in tons of cities without even the groceries approving but now they need to move to a model where they get the grocery store's inventory; the current method is just plain inefficient.
gruez 9y ago
>The last time I used instacart, there was a box checked called “service fee” i used it a few months ago, and there was no checkbox (it was mandatory)
jasonbarone 9y ago
Similar experience, I hate to say it. Instacart's support has been pretty poor as well. If your delivery person gets an item wrong or delivers expired goods, good luck trying to get a refund because you'll be presented with a "you can return it yourself". Something go wrong with an alcoholic order? It's even worse because alcohol sales are non-refundable. I've had orders where the delivery person brought the wrong item and Instacart just ghosted me on my support emails and tweets until eventually they said my order was done too long ago to resolve.
octernion 9y ago
as an engineer at instacart, it's very disheartening for me to see the top-rated comment on HN is "I can’t wait for instacart to go out of business." even if we did not provide value to you (which i apologize for -- it is a priority of ours to improve the replacement experience in particular as it is very frustrating to customers), i am not sure why that implies that we do not provide a valuable service for others and why you would wish ill on us. perhaps it is because you think of us as an overall unscrupulous company ("shady fees", "mark up everything you buy"), which i would contest -- we strive for transparency when possible (see [1] for screenshots around how we describe the pricing of our service). but the larger point remains -- why do you think that there can only be one victor here, and that is has to be amazon? (or "amazing" as you put it). right now, amazon is very explicitly coming for the grocery industry -- an $800+ billion industry that is almost 100% offline -- and we are attempting to be one of the (hopefully many) independent companies that enables it online. grocery companies have built amazing fulfillment pipelines and relationships with both farms & customers that we are building a front-end and logistics system for. anyways, i do not speak for instacart as a company, just for myself as an employee who usually enjoys HN. [1] https://imgur.com/a/j47ls https://imgur.com/a/j47ls
- kayhi 9y ago
  Never used Instacart, but your link to show transparency, doesn't actually state what the mark up is.. 2%, 10%, 25%, order minimum or there's fee.. Transparency to me, would mean I place order and know how much it will cost, instacart mark up, service fees and if a tip is included.
  - octernion 9y ago
    we used to provide specific percentages, but phased that out over time as it was obvious that wasn't providing real value -- where on amazon.com do you see their markup? additionally, for virtually all stores on instacart.com now, we are simply passing on the pricing that the retailer has given us (which may or not be marked up from their internal prices -- but we do not control) edit: to be crystal clear, that means that you are getting exactly what you are asking for -- the prices are simply what the retailer sets (which may be marked up from in-store -- that's their prerogative), and then we show our fees on top of that on checkout. we aren't "hiding" anything, and it's your decision whether the fees are worth your time.
trashcan 9y ago
I really like how Favor includes the receipt from the restaurant with your order. So it's crystal clear how much extra you are paying.
deepuj 9y ago
Similar experience here. Walmart is also terrible at this. Amazon Fresh/Prime Now is reliable 90% of the time. But I've had them cancel deliveries just 1 hour before scheduled time once. Would never trust any of these services for any important items. Not to mention the ridiculous markup on some items.
spraak 9y ago
Yeah, I've had the same experience with Instacart vs Amazon Prime Now
notyourday 9y ago
Instacart is going to get slaughtered. If it was public, it would be in a GTZ (Go to Zero) basket. Its business has a critical flaw that was only kind of workable when Amazon did not own WF. Amazon WF same day delivery would be picked from WF stores by the people who work in those stores and are trained in those stores, not Joe Random Gig Worker who does not know how swiss chard is different from the rainbow chard, and AMF would do it for no markup to WF price. Vertical integration in the last mile grocery business would crush anyone who is not vertically integrated. The only way for non vertically-intergrated Instacart to complete is to pivot into SaaS business selling its platform to the independent store operators for something like $1 per order but there's just no way $1 per order software platform would command that valuation.
jostmey 9y ago
I've had the exact opposite experience. Instacart worked really well for me, and Amazon Fresh was well, never that fresh. I suspect the quality of the service varies on geographic location
- traek 9y ago
  Amazon Fresh is a different service from Prime Now. Prime Now also delivers from local grocery stores (e.g. in LA, I can order groceries from Sprouts and Bristol Farms).
anonfunction 9y ago
A few more things instacart does that really bother me: 1. The time slot changes as soon as you click checkout, what I mean is while browsing I'll always see "Available Within 1 hour" then when it actually is time to checkout that option is gone. It happens virtually every time and I've never seen it happen the other way around or happen while shopping and refreshing or going back and forth between shopping and checking out. This leads me to believe it's an intended trick they are using to get people to shop even if the time they want isn't available. 2. They don't provide drivers with any sort of cart to actually deliver the groceries with. One delivery driver had to lug water bottles and other heavy items from down the street where he could find parking into my building and up to my apartment. Amazon Fresh gives their drivers a handcart to help with deliveries. 3. After several orders of mine were never delivered and Instacart offering a $5 credit (after wasting hours of my time waiting for their large delivery window) I had a driver tell me that drivers get to keep orders that are not delivered and sometimes they pick really good orders and say they couldn't be delivered. I still use them because it's convenient but wish they would treat their users with more integrity and also manage their delivery drivers better by providing supporting tools like a cart or keeping tabs on drivers that may be taking orders for themselves.
- silencio 9y ago
  Instacart not supporting their contractors - well, I guess they're still contractors, I don't know what happened to wanting to switch them to employees - is my biggest gripe. While I was pregnant and stuck at home, I received a bunch of my roommate's 1-2x weekly Instacart deliveries. Without fail the majority of Instacart drivers tried to refuse to go up our one flight of stairs with 1-2 grocery bags. One cursed me out while bringing the bags upstairs. Some left the bags next to the gate. Mostly only women would bring it up without complaining, "you're sooo biiig giiirl go put your feet up!" And then fuck me, we misunderstood the $$$ Instacart fee as a tip so the people doing their jobs didn't get tipped :( This is omitting the stupid shopping mistakes like 1 leek instead of 1 pound of leeks, and the amazing chat session I had with one shopper that asked me where to find something I'm buying for the first time, at a store I've never been to. I have never had this problem with Good Eggs, never had this problem with Prime Now, only had it once or twice with Postmates and Caviar. Something's not being incentivized correctly over at Instacart.
zaidf 9y ago
Not to mention the shady fees. The last time I used instacart, there was a box checked called “service fee”, I clicked on it to see what it was and it said “this $10 charge is optional and helps us keep running instacart”. Meanwhile the tip for your driver box is not checked. I bet a large number of people assume the service fee is the tip, and leave tip blank. Blatant tip stealing. To be fair, Amazon Prime also does this.
s0rce 9y ago
I've never used instacart but all the problems you've described I've had with Prime Now (Bay Area). Instacart also appears to have cheaper prices on some whole foods 365 items than Prime Now does...
gehwartzen 9y ago
>I clicked on it to see what it was and it said “this $10 charge is optional and helps us keep running instacart”. I have never used Instacart but it boggles my mind that such an option would exist. It's the sort of thing I might expect to be asked entering a museum or a non-profit community health clinic but why on earth would anyone feel inclined to pay extra to fund a for profit private company beyond any required charges?

askafriend 9y ago

For me, the worst grocery delivery service is still miles better than going to a store and shopping for groceries. I'm OK with missing items, I'll just get a refund and deal with it. It's still far far better than dealing with a physical grocery store. I'm sure there are millions of others like me.

pnathan 9y ago
> I'm OK with missing items, I'll just get a refund and deal with it. It's still far far better than dealing with a physical grocery store. Curious. Why do you say that? I use Instacart as a timesaver, or as a way to accomplish what I can't due to other obligations.
fizwhiz 9y ago
Really don't know why you're being downvoted, but I agree. I prefer protecting my time whenever I can (read: I'm lazy) and I've personally found instacart to be an invaluable service. Whether it's a late night wine delivery from BevMo, bulk shopping from Costco (I don't have a membership and almost never remember to bring bags with me to their store), or just the weekly stuff from Safeway/Wholefoods, it's really been a godsend from the POV of saving time that I can repurpose for anything else. I don't know about the millions comment, but if you're willing to pay a premium for the convenience then it's certainly worth it. I certainly feel that way.
ascorbic 9y ago
Don't you have stores that will do the deliveries themselves? That's got to be a better system than using a third party like Instacart.
zjaffee 9y ago
But there are so many services out there, and instacart isn't a particularly good one. There are services like fresh direct/amazon fresh which are based on delivery as a primary concept, and there's the services spun up by the individual grocery stores (which don't have the same crazy fees as instacart, and generally have more accurate listings). Especially given that wholefoods is now going to deliver direct which was one of the primary uses of instacart (delivery from premium stores), demonstrates that their utility is fading.
s73v3r_ 9y ago
I can't agree. If you're missing an item that you needed for that night's dinner, then you now are doubly inconvenienced, first by having to pay that convenience fee, and now second that you have to spend your time to go to the store anyways and get what was missing.
angryasian 9y ago
I don't agree but to each their own. Now with self checkout, 4 major supermarkets near me and I tend to go later at night.. I really don't see the problem

ftoo 9y ago

The service fee thing sounds like a class action lawsuit waiting to happen. Lawyers, start your engines...

usaphp 9y ago

> Amazing prime now on the other hand has never messed up an order. Not sure if it’s possible in prime now (could not find it) but I like the option in Instacart to describe an item you need which is not present in their directory, it saved me lots of times when something is not listed on prime now and I can just request it using Instacart, worked perfectly for me every time

kcorbitt 9y ago

I suspect the fact that Amazon is so good at food delivery is exactly why Instacart has been able to raise at such a high valuation. Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods, their Amazon Go store, and generally competent execution of grocery delivery has put the fear of $DIETY into all the incumbent grocery chains. They realize that they're late to the game and don't have the internal talent to develop an effective and convenient home-delivery competitor, so they're forced to partner with Instacart, who is hoping to commoditize them.

deegles 9y ago
I feel like even Amazon doesn’t have enough internal talent to execute on all the projects they want. Grocery stores don’t stand a chance.

Androider 9y ago

Exact same experience. Instacart shopper cannot find extremely common items and tries to replace them with 2-3x more expensive options. The whole model of the shopper walking the isles to pick the products is wrong. It's inefficient and a recipe for disappointment, because what you see on their web page is just a guess at what the store has and the shopper can find. I too have used Instacart probably 10 times, but never will again. It is also all but guaranteed that Whole Foods will drop Instancart like a hot potato for their own in-house service, so the valuation is completely wrong in my opinion.

ssewell 9y ago
Amazon Prime Now is already starting this (https://goo.gl/fSF4DR https://goo.gl/fSF4DR) in select markets. I used this last weekend and the delivery was perfect! You can opt to have an out-of-stock item either left off or replaced with a similar item. They will even send an SMS to request confirmation if they need to use a substitute product, giving you an opportunity to provide more feedback.
- dangrossman 9y ago
  That's exactly how Instacart works as well. The shopper is able to call or text the customer to discuss substitutions.
  - elithrar 9y ago
    Correct - as well as choose from "best replacement", "replace with specific item", and "don't replace". Since Instacart remembers these choices across orders, I've found this useful for making sure I get what I need.

ericlewis 9y ago

This has been exactly my experience too, and I've been using Instacart since day one. "Apologizing" for them often. A combination of Amazon prime now and Amazon fresh has seemed to work out. I occasionally use Instacart just to see if its improved. But I hardly trust them to get everything I want, and I'm surprised when an order goes without a hitch. Probably not the surprise they are looking for when trying to "surprise and delight".

pnathan 9y ago

I've never had an issue with Instacart. I order from them.... occasionally. Great service. The fee structure is weird, agreed.

tvanantwerp 9y ago

Similar experience. The app is fine, but the quality of shoppers usually isn't. Lots of forgotten items, unacceptable replacements, or just getting the wrong thing entirely. Once had a shopper who didn't know cucumbers from zucchini. Another time, we ordered 2 pounds of shrimp and got...2 shrimp. Just two little shrimp! Honestly, who would even think it makes sense that we would've ordered two individual shrimp? I've had so many bad experiences that I don't ever plan to use Instacart again.

ggg9990 9y ago
I routinely buy one shrimp because I don’t like shrimp but I cook it for my baby as part of getting her diverse foods.

paulcole 9y ago

> Plus they mark up everything you buy, and obfuscate this so it’s impossible to really know how much extra instacart is skimming off the top. Do you ask Whole Foods what they pay for bananas? Do you care what the markup is at Walmart? Who cares how much InstaCart is charging. If you're pinching pennies, InstaCart isn't a service for you.

clay_the_ripper 9y ago
I’m not against companies making money. Instacart should be compensated for the service they provide. So just tell me “this delivery costs x dollars” or show me the percentage you’re charging me for the order “10% of total” so I can make an informed decision about how much I’m paying to have my groceries delivered. Instead they hide the true cost of the service that I’m paying for. I have no idea if I just paid $10 or $50 extra vs going to the store myself. Really this is the least of my complaints. If the service worked well (ie actually told me what was in stock/out of stock instead Of replacing items with a bunch of stuff I don’t want) I would have a lot less of a problem paying a little extra.

Gargoyle 9y ago

I used them as my sole source of groceries for about 3 years and had no problems with products or deliveries at any point. I do agree about the fees, which I always unchecked and I always tipped the driver in cash despite Instacart urging me not to. In my case the driver was also the shopper on every delivery, but I understand that's not how it always works and tipping cash is a bad idea when they're different people.

acct1771 9y ago
For our anecdotal evidence, what area do you have these experiences?

ggg9990 9y ago

Why are you excited for Instacart to go out of business? Why not just stop using it?

gruez 9y ago
maybe >Blatant tip stealing. [...] >Plus they mark up everything you buy, and obfuscate this ?

hunter23 9y ago

I agree. I use instacart every few months, but I will NEVER use them to buy groceries for a dinner I'm preparing that day. I've had too many instances where they didn't have the meat I needed, so I had to order out. They are not useful for folks who cook a lot and care about their ingredients. They really really need real to have real time inventory for users like me. The shopper model worked when they were just starting off because it allowed them to launch in tons of cities without even the groceries approving but now they need to move to a model where they get the grocery store's inventory; the current method is just plain inefficient.

gruez 9y ago

>The last time I used instacart, there was a box checked called “service fee” i used it a few months ago, and there was no checkbox (it was mandatory)

jasonbarone 9y ago

Similar experience, I hate to say it. Instacart's support has been pretty poor as well. If your delivery person gets an item wrong or delivers expired goods, good luck trying to get a refund because you'll be presented with a "you can return it yourself". Something go wrong with an alcoholic order? It's even worse because alcohol sales are non-refundable. I've had orders where the delivery person brought the wrong item and Instacart just ghosted me on my support emails and tweets until eventually they said my order was done too long ago to resolve.

octernion 9y ago

as an engineer at instacart, it's very disheartening for me to see the top-rated comment on HN is "I can’t wait for instacart to go out of business." even if we did not provide value to you (which i apologize for -- it is a priority of ours to improve the replacement experience in particular as it is very frustrating to customers), i am not sure why that implies that we do not provide a valuable service for others and why you would wish ill on us. perhaps it is because you think of us as an overall unscrupulous company ("shady fees", "mark up everything you buy"), which i would contest -- we strive for transparency when possible (see [1] for screenshots around how we describe the pricing of our service). but the larger point remains -- why do you think that there can only be one victor here, and that is has to be amazon? (or "amazing" as you put it). right now, amazon is very explicitly coming for the grocery industry -- an $800+ billion industry that is almost 100% offline -- and we are attempting to be one of the (hopefully many) independent companies that enables it online. grocery companies have built amazing fulfillment pipelines and relationships with both farms & customers that we are building a front-end and logistics system for. anyways, i do not speak for instacart as a company, just for myself as an employee who usually enjoys HN. [1] https://imgur.com/a/j47ls https://imgur.com/a/j47ls

kayhi 9y ago
Never used Instacart, but your link to show transparency, doesn't actually state what the mark up is.. 2%, 10%, 25%, order minimum or there's fee.. Transparency to me, would mean I place order and know how much it will cost, instacart mark up, service fees and if a tip is included.
- octernion 9y ago
  we used to provide specific percentages, but phased that out over time as it was obvious that wasn't providing real value -- where on amazon.com do you see their markup? additionally, for virtually all stores on instacart.com now, we are simply passing on the pricing that the retailer has given us (which may or not be marked up from their internal prices -- but we do not control) edit: to be crystal clear, that means that you are getting exactly what you are asking for -- the prices are simply what the retailer sets (which may be marked up from in-store -- that's their prerogative), and then we show our fees on top of that on checkout. we aren't "hiding" anything, and it's your decision whether the fees are worth your time.

trashcan 9y ago

I really like how Favor includes the receipt from the restaurant with your order. So it's crystal clear how much extra you are paying.

deepuj 9y ago

Similar experience here. Walmart is also terrible at this. Amazon Fresh/Prime Now is reliable 90% of the time. But I've had them cancel deliveries just 1 hour before scheduled time once. Would never trust any of these services for any important items. Not to mention the ridiculous markup on some items.

spraak 9y ago

Yeah, I've had the same experience with Instacart vs Amazon Prime Now

notyourday 9y ago

Instacart is going to get slaughtered. If it was public, it would be in a GTZ (Go to Zero) basket. Its business has a critical flaw that was only kind of workable when Amazon did not own WF. Amazon WF same day delivery would be picked from WF stores by the people who work in those stores and are trained in those stores, not Joe Random Gig Worker who does not know how swiss chard is different from the rainbow chard, and AMF would do it for no markup to WF price. Vertical integration in the last mile grocery business would crush anyone who is not vertically integrated. The only way for non vertically-intergrated Instacart to complete is to pivot into SaaS business selling its platform to the independent store operators for something like $1 per order but there's just no way $1 per order software platform would command that valuation.

jostmey 9y ago

I've had the exact opposite experience. Instacart worked really well for me, and Amazon Fresh was well, never that fresh. I suspect the quality of the service varies on geographic location

traek 9y ago
Amazon Fresh is a different service from Prime Now. Prime Now also delivers from local grocery stores (e.g. in LA, I can order groceries from Sprouts and Bristol Farms).

anonfunction 9y ago

A few more things instacart does that really bother me: 1. The time slot changes as soon as you click checkout, what I mean is while browsing I'll always see "Available Within 1 hour" then when it actually is time to checkout that option is gone. It happens virtually every time and I've never seen it happen the other way around or happen while shopping and refreshing or going back and forth between shopping and checking out. This leads me to believe it's an intended trick they are using to get people to shop even if the time they want isn't available. 2. They don't provide drivers with any sort of cart to actually deliver the groceries with. One delivery driver had to lug water bottles and other heavy items from down the street where he could find parking into my building and up to my apartment. Amazon Fresh gives their drivers a handcart to help with deliveries. 3. After several orders of mine were never delivered and Instacart offering a $5 credit (after wasting hours of my time waiting for their large delivery window) I had a driver tell me that drivers get to keep orders that are not delivered and sometimes they pick really good orders and say they couldn't be delivered. I still use them because it's convenient but wish they would treat their users with more integrity and also manage their delivery drivers better by providing supporting tools like a cart or keeping tabs on drivers that may be taking orders for themselves.

silencio 9y ago
Instacart not supporting their contractors - well, I guess they're still contractors, I don't know what happened to wanting to switch them to employees - is my biggest gripe. While I was pregnant and stuck at home, I received a bunch of my roommate's 1-2x weekly Instacart deliveries. Without fail the majority of Instacart drivers tried to refuse to go up our one flight of stairs with 1-2 grocery bags. One cursed me out while bringing the bags upstairs. Some left the bags next to the gate. Mostly only women would bring it up without complaining, "you're sooo biiig giiirl go put your feet up!" And then fuck me, we misunderstood the $$$ Instacart fee as a tip so the people doing their jobs didn't get tipped :( This is omitting the stupid shopping mistakes like 1 leek instead of 1 pound of leeks, and the amazing chat session I had with one shopper that asked me where to find something I'm buying for the first time, at a store I've never been to. I have never had this problem with Good Eggs, never had this problem with Prime Now, only had it once or twice with Postmates and Caviar. Something's not being incentivized correctly over at Instacart.

zaidf 9y ago

Not to mention the shady fees. The last time I used instacart, there was a box checked called “service fee”, I clicked on it to see what it was and it said “this $10 charge is optional and helps us keep running instacart”. Meanwhile the tip for your driver box is not checked. I bet a large number of people assume the service fee is the tip, and leave tip blank. Blatant tip stealing. To be fair, Amazon Prime also does this.

s0rce 9y ago

I've never used instacart but all the problems you've described I've had with Prime Now (Bay Area). Instacart also appears to have cheaper prices on some whole foods 365 items than Prime Now does...

gehwartzen 9y ago

>I clicked on it to see what it was and it said “this $10 charge is optional and helps us keep running instacart”. I have never used Instacart but it boggles my mind that such an option would exist. It's the sort of thing I might expect to be asked entering a museum or a non-profit community health clinic but why on earth would anyone feel inclined to pay extra to fund a for profit private company beyond any required charges?