When a company only focuses on 'time' rather than performance - Anonymous employee Instacart Employee Review

3.0
20 May 2017
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The company as a whole was great. The idea of having clients use a service to choose their personal items is beautiful, considering they have busy work schedules, or are elderly, and they may not necessarily have a moment to leave their homes. Overall, I met some amazing people who worked for the store itself, but some Instacart employees were the best employees I've ever worked with..

Cons

The environment was toxic, and the majority of employees (including one manager) at my site were extremely unprofessional. When it comes down to lay off, rather than looking at lateness, warnings/complaints from customers, or character, if you're time was not perfect, this is exactly how they would determine whether to let you go or not. Profanity was heard left and right, and the majority of employees hated the job and would constantly complain.

Explore other reviews about Instacart

5.0
27 Apr 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Focused direction. Good WLB. Decent pay. Fully remote.

Cons

A bit slow growth on business and career

1
2.0
21 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Fun going out and talking to people. You will interact with people everyday. You control how much you get paid. Lots of flexibility in the time between accepting an order and traveling to the store and beginning to shop. It isn't pedal to the metal to get to the store like DoorDash is. You can also cancel batches after accepting as long as you keep your rate under 15%. This is different from DoorDash where your rankings will suffer if g.t. 2% cancellation rate.

Cons

There's a learning curve and it takes a while to learn each chain of stores' items. Once you become proficient at one store, the algorithm will lowball your offers relative to other less-experienced Instacart shoppers. Overall, Instacart shoppers likely get paid similar or less than the store's regular employees.

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