Report: Customers Lure Instacart Shoppers with Big Tips – then Stiff Them

Some Americans have been exploiting a loophole within the Instacart grocery delivery service app that allows them to lure delivery people in with promises of a large tip only to then cancel the tip shortly after their order has been delivered. One delivery person told reporters that a $55 tip was changed to $0 shortly after she delivered a large grocery order.

According to a report by CNN, some Americans are taking advantage of their Instacart delivery people through a function of the platform that allows them to adjust their tip after an order has been delivered. Instacart delivery people, called shoppers by the company, claim that large tips have been canceled altogether after they delivered large grocery orders to customers.

Annaliisa Arambula told CNN that she was shocked after a grocery delivery when a $55 delivery tip was modified to $0. Without the tip, Arambula only made $8.95 on the order.

“It’s very demoralizing,” Arambula said. “I don’t pretend to be a hero, like a nurse in a hospital … but I literally am exposing myself [to coronavirus] and when I return home, exposing my own family to the possibility of transmitting this disease. When you know that it’s somebody who’s just doing it to game the system and to get their order when they want it, it’s really frustrating.”

Another shopper, Jenifer G., told CNN that a promised $32.94 tip was changed to $0 after she dropped off a large grocery order to a customer. Jenifer claims that she was once tipped $1 on a 112-item grocery order.

“It’s a crapshoot,” Jenifer G. said. “These are affluent communities that I’m delivering to. There’s almost no need to not tip, especially because not only is this a convenience for you but we’re in a pandemic right now.”

Breitbart News reported in March that Instacart’s gig economy staff had threatened to go on strike if the company refused to provide them with protective gear and hazard pay. The strike came as Instacart announced that they were planning to hire 300,000 additional delivery people to meet the increase in demand from the ongoing Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.

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