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Why use @Instacart when cheaper & ethical alternatives @dumplingUS exist? They are union busters, up charge for every item, hostile toward their employees, no support phone number, fired me after reporting queer-phobic support agent, and using this will drive up grocery prices.
REASONS TO #BoycottInstacart 1. They fire employees for starting unions. They recently fired a lot of employees for various reasons but at least ten were fired were related to attempting to collectivize and unionize this precarious work. https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2021/1/21/22242676/instacart-firing-every-union-employee-coronavirus-pandemic?utm_campaign=theverge&utm_content=chorus&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&__twitter_impression=true
2. Instacart profit is in part based on up charges their customers around 25% higher than the price in store. Technically you are not buying the items from the grocery store but from IC. https://thecounter.org/a-reddit-user-calculated-instacarts-markup-its-pretty-high/
3. Instacart is a hostile work environment between only a few bad ratings leading to pay cuts or firing or the precarious nature of Instacart who fires employees without explanation or recourse besides automated messages or complaining on Twitter.
One IC worker tells this story to @verge “I was emailing them, I don’t know, 20 times a day, just saying, ‘Hey I’m entitled to a response,’” she tells The Verge. “Every time I got the same automated response: submit your claim, submit your claim.” https://www.theverge.com/21267669/instacart-shoppers-sick-extended-pay-quarantine-leave-coronavirus
Customers abuse tip system by changing the tip they initially offer to workers to entice them to shop for them. This is called tip baiting. Instacart says they will not change this system even though it misleads workers. https://www.pymnts.com/news/delivery/2020/some-consumers-are-tip-baiting-instacart-shoppers-to-get-deliveries/
Tip baiting often happens when a customer says they will pay you a $25 tip for an order but then changes the tip to $1 afterward to insure their order is completed faster. IC workers often drive 30 minutes to get paid to start such deliveries, it’s misleading and harms workers.
Some other points about why it’s hostile: the customers are often overly picky and one bad rating will@mean you won’t get any orders AKA a pay cut. These people will sometimes just won't stop messaging you with changes and get upset when you remind them you have other orders.
Instacart shopper support is so often confused, wrong, or unhelpful—but also often aggressive and dismissive. On many occasions they have said random or outright wrong things to me.
There's also no phone number for workers to call, so you'll be stuck on chat with an upset customer while they waste an insane amount of time. This also leads to bad reviews from customers that again can lead to firing or pay cuts.
Lastly, Instacart is fire-happy. You're nothing to them and they'll deactivate you without hearing your side, even if there's proof as I had submitted to them and they seemed to have never reviewed. One supper agent said they do on occasion reinstate workers but it’s rare.
If you review @Glassdoor you’ll se lots of reviews akin to this one about how IC creates incredibly anxious conditions for its workers to prove the customer isn’t lying. Guilty until@proven innocent. One worker was right then to say the only way around it is to wear a bodycam.
Instacart uses the tips customers give to workers to basically lower their wages instead of increasing them. This is misleading to customers who think the tips are going straight to workers on top of their pay. Now being sued for this unethical practice. https://wjla.com/features/7-on-your-side/dc-sues-instacart-over-unfair-and-deceptive-trade-practices
