The 17 Secrets to Instacart Driving

Driving for more than one service is a crucial strategy to maximizing your ridesharing profits. I always say that all drivers should be at least signed up for Uber and Lyft, and diversifying into delivery is an even better way to make sure that you always have a new option to earn in your area. You never know which service will work out best for you!

Instacart is a good option for you to look into, and Jonathan over at Rideshare Panel on Youtube recorded a great video that covers the ins and outs of Instacart.

Take a look at Jonathan’s video, and scroll to the video transcript below to see all of the points he covers.

What’s going on, everybody? It’s Jonathan, checking in from the Rideshare Panel. Today we’re looking at some secrets that you may not know about delivering with Instacart.

Personally, I’ve been delivering for a while. I have talked to some of the pros, guys and girls that have been delivering with Instacart for a long time, and I had to work real hard to get these tips out of them. Honestly, I thought about not sharing them with you guys, because some of these are really good, but I’m feeling nice today, so I’m going to go ahead and let you guys in on some of these secret tips, and then it’s up to you.

You can keep it to yourself, keep it a secret, or let your friends know and spread the love. Either way, check out this full list, and if you haven’t signed up for Instacart yet, you can go ahead and use my link (in the video description). There may even be a sign up bonus for you.

Make sure that you write these down and get them in your head because if you just starting out with Instacart, these are going to save you so much time, so much energy, and make your job a ton easier.

1. The Instacart app sometimes tells you which aisle you can find products on for certain grocery stores, but not all grocery stores would give you this. Some other grocery stores like Fred Meijer are very large and can be difficult to navigate. Download the Fred Meyer app, and you can use this app to search for products, and the app will let you know exactly where to find them in the store.

2. If possible, park near a cart rack. This is going to save you a ton of time when you’re picking up your groceries and when you’re leaving the grocery store.

3. If you can’t find the right size item, quickly replace it with a smaller item. Don’t waste much time on this. The same goes for fruits and vegetables. If they don’t weigh in at the right weight, make sure to quickly grab a different weight. The customer usually will understand.

4 Don’t accept all orders with Instacart. If a grocery store is too far away or the customer’s address is too far away, it may not be worth your time to drive that far.

5. Know the store layout that’s specific to the chain you’re at. For example, at this chain, beer is often right across from water and other drinks.

6. Use voice-to-text when you’re communicating with customers in the app. Talking with your customers is a great way to increase tips, and it’s also a great way to keep your customers happy. Voice-to-text can allow you to still use your hands and be navigating around the store while you’re talking with them. This keeps your order speed up and lets you get done faster.

7. Moving faster is going to save you time. A faster speed is going to help you get more batches.

8. Invest in a portable battery charger for your phone. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been shopping with Instacart and my phone’s either been about to die or has actually died on me. This is going to slow down your order speed and make shopping take a whole lot longer. But if you have a charger on you, you never run into that problem, and the process speeds up tremendously.

9. Find a spot to park your cart, and then use a small hand basket like this. You can use this hand basket to ferry groceries back to your cart. That way, you’re not moving around with a huge cart and you can move a little bit faster.

10. Park yourself and wait near a popular grocery store. This is going to increase your likelihood of getting more orders because you’re in the right spot where there is high demand.

11. Use item photos to help you search and reference colors of products. That way, you’re not looking for specific product names.

12. You want to save your deli orders until after you’ve hit “Go to checkout” and enter to all your receipt information. That way, these orders don’t count against your average batch time.

13. Don’t hit the “Swipe to delivery” button until you’re done checking out with this and already heading out to your car. This button lets customers know that you’re done picking up and heading to them. But you don’t want to let them know until you’re actually ready to head to them. That way, you cut down that time and make it seem like you’re getting to your customer faster.

14. When you’re dropping off your groceries for the customer, take a minute to chat it up with them. Ask them how their day is going. Watch your tips increase dramatically when you start doing this.

15. If the customer isn’t there when you’re trying to drop off the groceries, go ahead and take a step back, and then take a photo of the groceries by the front door in your Instacart app. This will let the customer know that the groceries were delivered, and it’ll also leave proof to customer support that the delivery was made. You’re going to save yourself a lot of time doing this, and saving time means making more money per hour.

16. Store your groceries in the main cabin of your car as opposed to the trunk. The main cabin is climate-controlled, which is going to keep your groceries at the right temperature, while the trunk is not. Ultimately, this will lead to more tips and better radiance from your customers.

17. Invest in a cooler for colder items. For hotter items, and get yourself a heat bag. If you’ve ever delivered for another food delivery app, you probably already have one of these laying around.

That wraps up the list of the best secrets for Instacart shoppers. If you have anything you’d like to add to the list, feel free to do that down below in the comment section. I always love hearing from you guys, and I always love getting a conversation going. As always, make sure that you’re subscribed to the channel to get all of the latest rideshare news and side hustle updates.