topic Re: For those of you who have Instacart Express in Community Chat

For those of you who have Instacart Express

suzyQ3 — Mon, 25 May 2020 21:30:22 GMT

I'm curious as to whether you went with the annual or the monthly subscription.

For those interested, Instacart Express gives you free shipping (minimum order of $35), a reduced service fee (2% instead 5%), and shopping at more than one store with free delivery.

The annual subsciption cost $99 and the monthly one cost $9.99. So the difference is basically $20 over a year's time.

I signed up for the free trial, which is now about to expire. I've been debating which way to go and decided that I would be best off right now going monthly.

Re: For those of you who have Instacart Express

Jordan2 — Mon, 25 May 2020 21:53:04 GMT

@suzyQ3 wrote:
I'm curious as to whether you went with the annual or the monthly subscription.

For those interested, Instacart Express gives you free shipping (minimum order of $35), a reduced service fee (2% instead 5%), and shopping at more than one store with free delivery.

The annual subsciption cost $99 and the monthly one cost $9.99. So the difference is basically $20 over a year's time.

I signed up for the free trial, which is now about to expire. I've been debating which way to go and decided that I would be best off right now going monthly.

I don't use it so I can't say. I guess it would depend how often you plan to use the service. If you won't use it at least once or twice a month I would go with the monthly fee, if you will use it more often I would go with the yearly fee. I know someone who paid $99, she loves it.

Re: For those of you who have Instacart Express

northiie57 — Mon, 25 May 2020 22:05:18 GMT

Just my experience with insta cart....I went with the monthly...I ended up cancelling as I used it for several months.....I feel it is great for pantry items but for meats, fresh fruits and vegs is a no for me....it really depends on your shopper, if you get a shopper who has no experience grocery shopping, you will get disappointed with the meats and produce they pick out.....secondly, if there is an item that is out of stock they will replace it willy nilly without my approval.....I had to message the shopper 3 times about it....for me it just was not worth it....I actually did go to my local grocery store and was really impressed how clean it was and every one was obiding by covid...I got some great deals on meat to the only way I would use it again if I could use the one shopper that did a great job.....but this only happened one...jmo....remember you can cancel at anytime and will refund any membership fees if it doesn't work out for you...hope you have better luck that I did

Re: For those of you who have Instacart Express

DiAnne — Mon, 25 May 2020 22:10:16 GMT

I signed up for monthly because I thought it was going to be a short term thing. Boy was I wrong. I get a delivery every Friday. I am going to leave it that way for now because I actually enjoy going to the store and hope to again someday!

I did not have any trouble with the replacements because when I made out the grocery list I put the sub I wanted or do not sub. I have never had any trouble with that.

Re: For those of you who have Instacart Express

Janey2 — Mon, 25 May 2020 22:12:17 GMT

I use Instacart express and went with the monthly charge. So far I have been very happy and no mistakes were made. I use it to shop at 2 different stores. I did not want to give them $99 up front because I did not know how long I would use them They sent me a $10 coupon before my last order so I consider this month free.

Re: For those of you who have Instacart Express

suzyQ3 — Mon, 25 May 2020 22:13:56 GMT

@Jordan2 wrote:
@suzyQ3 wrote:
I'm curious as to whether you went with the annual or the monthly subscription.

For those interested, Instacart Express gives you free shipping (minimum order of $35), a reduced service fee (2% instead 5%), and shopping at more than one store with free delivery.

The annual subsciption cost $99 and the monthly one cost $9.99. So the difference is basically $20 over a year's time.

I signed up for the free trial, which is now about to expire. I've been debating which way to go and decided that I would be best off right now going monthly.
I don't use it so I can't say. I guess it would depend how often you plan to use the service. If you won't use it at least once or twice a month I would go with the monthly fee, if you will use it more often I would go with the yearly fee. I know someone who paid $99, she loves it.

Thanks, @Jordan2, We order once a week, and every once in while, we might order from other than our preferred store in a week as well.

Unless my math is wrong, though, I don't think that order frequency affects the choice between monthly or annual. I think that they charge an overall $20 less if you go annual just to attract those who are pretty sure they'll be using it for that amount of time.

You can't cancel the yearly deal after the first two weeks, whereas you can of course cancel the monthly anytime.

It's true that if I do go the whole year with my monthly, I will have have paid $20 more. I can live with that. I hope that I will be able to shop in person before that.:-)

Hey, more than you needed to know since you don't use it, eh!

Re: For those of you who have Instacart Express

Mindy D — Mon, 25 May 2020 22:42:30 GMT

The reason I have not joined is because I use Instacart through a Publix. The really costly part is that Instacart jacks up the prices of all the items. That's where I'd like to see some savings if I joined. The delivery price isn't high my way. The tip, however, is another place where I feel I should spend a great deal..20%-30%, depending on what I order. I find that my total for an order is much, much higher than in-store shopping, but I'm forced to use delivery to stay safe. To put a membership on top of all my other costs doesn't make sense to me.

Re: For those of you who have Instacart Express

Greeneyedlady21 — Mon, 25 May 2020 22:54:32 GMT

I'm doing the monthly for now.

Re: For those of you who have Instacart Express

suzyQ3 — Mon, 25 May 2020 23:00:04 GMT

@Mindy D wrote:
The reason I have not joined is because I use Instacart through a Publix. The really costly part is that Instacart jacks up the prices of all the items. That's where I'd like to see some savings if I joined. The delivery price isn't high my way. The tip, however, is another place where I feel I should spend a great deal..20%-30%, depending on what I order. I find that my total for an order is much, much higher than in-store shopping, but I'm forced to use delivery to stay safe. To put a membership on top of all my other costs doesn't make sense to me.

@Mindy D, that's exactly how I felt. I was ordering through a supermarket that partners with Instacart. I had also seen higher amount when I did look on the Instacart site itself.

But unfortunately, my supermarket's setup precluded transparency. My account never showed my orders and amounts, so it was impossible to see if there were mistakes. Our only amount was the one from our credit card company, which of course is just a total and not an itemization.

So I checked Instacart again about three weeks ago, and for some reason, the prices were much in line with the store itself. Oh, also my store charged $9 and change for delivery.

Instacart charges $3,99 plus a 5% service fee; with Express, shipping is free, and the service charge is 2%. Over the long haul, I will save money.

And I see exactly what I'm paying, even getting a rundown of what was not available and what any substitutes cost.

I do agree that in any case it's more expensive that going to the market, I would say primarily due to the tip. But then we're helping someone who most likely is in need. One other plus is that often at the market, I browse and end up sometimes buying more than I had planned. :-)

Re: For those of you who have Instacart Express

January121 — Mon, 25 May 2020 23:07:19 GMT

I am not that crazy about Instacart .. I am using it because of COVID-19 & I don’t want to go out to shop ... if the person shopping for you knows how to shop then all is good however, I have had problems with them & had to spend some time to get things corrected... my SIL ordered 300.00 worth of food & it never arrived ... found out that the delivery guy absconded with it!!!! .... I can’t wait for this to be over!!!

Re: For those of you who have Instacart Express

GenXmuse — Tue, 26 May 2020 00:14:11 GMT

I found it was more cost effective to sign up for the year. Even before the virus I used them twice a week.

Re: For those of you who have Instacart Express

judy0330 — Tue, 26 May 2020 02:33:15 GMT

I signed up for a year and my biggest mistake was not doing it sooner. I have used only Instacart since mid March for my shopping. There are a lot of stores in my area available -- regular supermarkers -- more upscale specialty stores -- Costco -- BJ's. I don't think I will ever go to Costco again. Much easier to get bulk items delivered. As I said on another thread -- I have always been leery about food delivery because I am very picky about the quality of friuts and vegetables. I have not gotten one item so far that I would not have chosen myself.

Re: For those of you who have Instacart Express

suzyQ3 — Tue, 26 May 2020 17:23:48 GMT

@GenXmuse wrote:
I found it was more cost effective to sign up for the year. Even before the virus I used them twice a week.

@GenXmuse, it certainly is handy, especially right now. But even paying monthly, I can use it as often as I want. The only difference between the two plans is that you get a small break for signing up for the yearly. I did waver back and forth but ended up wanting the option to stop if I wanted to. I really do prefer doing the shopping myself, so I'm hoping that I might feel safe to resume that in a while.

Re: For those of you who have Instacart Express

Spurt — Tue, 26 May 2020 19:40:12 GMT

@suzyQ3

I tried it for a couple months and then decided to go with the annual subscription, and have been a subcriber for the last 2 years.

I have been very pleased with the service, I always include replacement items in my order, and my Shopper has communicated well with me if neither was available. Even the produce the Shopper selected has been perfect. Yep, the tip adds to the cost, but I find that shopping with Instacart stops me from impulse buying because I stick with a menu and what I need....

Instacart is also worth it to me because it was getting harder for me to deal with the heavy items (like 30 lbs of kitty litter)....

Re: For those of you who have Instacart Express

songbird — Tue, 26 May 2020 22:00:38 GMT

I have Instacart Express. I signed up right after the free trial. I pay yearly. I also plan to stay with Instacart once the pandemic is over. I like it that much. I've used it now abut 10 imes. All except one was perfect. And the one that was not, was mild. One of my stores, Wegman is quite the distance form me. But they gave me the store and I love it. It's quite large, with a lot of variety of foods. I even like the prepared foods and purchased a couple of those For getting Wegman, Instacart was worth it.. I once had Amazon (nearly 3 years) but lost it when so many people got on it. My secret was gone!

My shopper introduces his/herself and I keep in communication to approve or refund if items are not there. My shopper stays with me the entire time. Tells me when he's finished and when he arrives with the food. He or she always wears a mask and gloves. Everything comes in plastic bags. The app on my phone is terrific. Best investment this year for me. I've become a cheer leader for Instacart.

Re: For those of you who have Instacart Express

itsmetoo — Tue, 26 May 2020 22:09:59 GMT

I've used InstaCart 3 times. Two of the three times did not go well. I'm not a fan but because we are in the middle of a pandemic and I am high risk I will use them again. On the other hand, I have used Walmart grocery pickup where they shop for you, you drive up, pop open your trunk, and they load your groceries. I have used them many times with no problems at all. I much perfer doing that. Plus they don't jack up the prices like InstaCart does, there are no fees and (sadly) you are not allowed to tip the employees.

Re: For those of you who have Instacart Express

Snoopp — Thu, 28 May 2020 15:51:12 GMT

The upcharges from instacart on grocery items really sours me on using the service. I am mulling over going to the monthly fee if I want to continue using it.

I had two shoppers from instacart that were pretty bad. The others were ok.

Re: For those of you who have Instacart Express

NYC Susan — Fri, 29 May 2020 05:40:39 GMT

@DiAnne wrote:
I signed up for monthly because I thought it was going to be a short term thing. Boy was I wrong. I get a delivery every Friday. I am going to leave it that way for now because I actually enjoy going to the store and hope to again someday!

I did not have any trouble with the replacements because when I made out the grocery list I put the sub I wanted or do not sub. I have never had any trouble with that.

I did the same thing. It was a big order, and it took a lot of time to indicate substitutions (or not). But it made no difference. The shopper texted me constantly throughout her trip thru the store, asking me what I wanted instead. It was exhausting! And then she messed up anyway and got things I never would have chosen for more money than I wanted to spend. Choosing substitutions when I did the list was a total waste of time and energy.

It seems that some of us have had good experiences with Instacart, and others have not. I love the idea of it, but had so many problems that unfortunately I'm in the "never again" category. :-(

Re: For those of you who have Instacart Express

Snoopp — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 13:12:06 GMT

I ended my free trial for instacart express. A local store had an opening for pickup and I used that. How lucky I felt when I just had to pay a service fee and wasn't charged double or triple for my groceries.

I will use instacart once in a while IF I am desperate.

Re: For those of you who have Instacart Express

Spurt — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 16:24:35 GMT

@NYC Susan wrote:
@DiAnne wrote:
I signed up for monthly because I thought it was going to be a short term thing. Boy was I wrong. I get a delivery every Friday. I am going to leave it that way for now because I actually enjoy going to the store and hope to again someday!

I did not have any trouble with the replacements because when I made out the grocery list I put the sub I wanted or do not sub. I have never had any trouble with that.

I did the same thing. It was a big order, and it took a lot of time to indicate substitutions (or not). But it made no difference. The shopper texted me constantly throughout her trip thru the store, asking me what I wanted instead. It was exhausting! And then she messed up anyway and got things I never would have chosen for more money than I wanted to spend. Choosing substitutions when I did the list was a total waste of time and energy.

It seems that some of us have had good experiences with Instacart, and others have not. I love the idea of it, but had so many problems that unfortunately I'm in the "never again" category. :-(

@NYC Susan

Perhaps it has to do with the training, because Ive always gotten excellent shoppers, that picked up my recommended replacement or took a photo and showed me my options... Maybe it has to do with Instacarts partnership with the grocery store and the standards for shoppers that the grocery store requires Instacart to provide.....

One thing I do when the Shopper introduces themselves in chat ....I add a note to let them know I appreciate their service, and to just do the best they can with replacements, or if something is totally out of stock I understand.... I usually get a nice note back....and before they checkout they even stop to ask...anything else!!! And usually the Shopper and Driver are one in the same...Instacart pays them more so maybe that makes a difference too....

I got a grocery store delivery last Thursday and the shopper was excellent ....I also add notes in addition to my replacements....

A friend tried the grocery stores own service called FAVOR for curbside pickup and she said it was awful....they didnt contact her about replacements just chose things at random....