State of Pay Update: Turning Feedback Into Action

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been committed to listening to the shopper community and enlisting your feedback. Today, we’re taking steps to create a better, more fulfilling experience for every shopper, beginning with several changes to shopper compensation. We understand that trust starts by delivering on our promises and creating a seamless product that’s easy to understand and works for you. You deliver with excellence every day, and we owe the same to you.

Whether through one-on-one communications, in-store meetings, or larger forums, your voice plays an integral role in shaping our product. It’s our responsibility to move quickly and take actions that benefit our community, and we believe the changes we’ve announced are a step in the right direction.

Today, we’re sharing some updates and improvements that are now available in the Shopper App. As part of the changes to shopper compensation, each of these updates is focused on providing reliable earnings, sharing consistent, detailed information directly in the app, and empowering you with more choices. Here’s what’s new:

Tips Separate From Instacart’s Contribution — New App Details Before You Accept

As we mentioned in our recent “State of Pay” announcement, tips should always be separate from Instacart’s contribution to shopper compensation. With this in mind, the new Shopper App design shows the important details up front — shoppers will be able to clearly see Instacart’s contribution, the customer tip selected at checkout, and the total earnings before accepting a new batch. While shoppers have always received 100% of their tips, these changes were designed to increase transparency and help shoppers more easily understand their earnings potential for each batch.

We’ve also made it clearer when boosts have been added to a batch. Peak Boosts are an additional dollar amount offered for specific hours and batches. A Peak Boost is typically applied during busy times — when the need for shoppers is high. You’ll continue to be able to see Peak Boosts when selecting hours and, going forward, will also see them applied to specific batches when offered.

Introducing New Batch Minimums

As Instacart has grown, our approach to shopper compensation has evolved to account for the complexities and unique components of every order. In its simplest form, a shopper’s batch payment takes into consideration the estimated time and effort involved in picking, packing, and delivering a batch. This payment depends on a number of factors, including item quantity, weight, store type, and distance. The delivery distance is a $.60 per-mile rate from the store to the customer, determined by the most efficient driving route.

Today, we’re replacing the $10 minimum — which was inclusive of tips — with new guarantees paid by Instacart. The new minimum batch payment is determined by local market dynamics and varies from $7 to $10 for full-service batches and $5 for delivery-only batches. As part of these updates, shoppers will not earn less than the minimum for their market and will have an opportunity to earn more from Instacart based on Peak Boosts and Quality Bonuses. The batch minimums also apply to multi-order batches where shoppers have an opportunity to get additional pay through boosts or bonuses earned for each order in the batch, as well as customer tips from each individual order in the batch. As mentioned, any customer tips will be in addition to Instacart’s payment and are not factored into the minimum.

Starting today, shoppers will be able to see their local batch minimum directly in the Shopper App by tapping the “i” icon on the batch acceptance screen.

A Simplified Design For The Shopper App

It’s important to us to be upfront with shoppers about their earnings and highlight the pay that’s coming from Instacart. Our team went back to the drawing board to develop a new, simplified design that also captures essential details for orders.

The new design includes the following elements:

• Total earnings at the top and bottom of the screen
• The order type, such as delivery-only or full service
• A detailed timeline of the order
• A summary of Instacart’s payment and the customer tip

Moving Forward Together

Our goal is to create a marketplace where shoppers, customers, and retailers can thrive. We believe bringing more clarity to our product and holding ourselves accountable is the right thing to do. We’re committed to continuing to have an open dialogue with you as we focus on making meaningful changes designed to improve the Instacart shopper experience. Thank you again for sharing your feedback with us and for being a part of our dedicated community.

David Hahn

Instacart Chief Product Officer