What is Instacart? Instacart is service for online grocery delivery. How Does Instacart Work? Customers select groceries from various retailers, a personal shopper will do their shopping and deliver groceries, often on the same day, when they are finished. How many hours could you get back in the day/week/month not grocery shopping? Read these testimonies to see how this Mom Hack could benefit your home and bring time back to your family.
As many of you know, I no longer do my own grocery shopping. When we jumped from 3 to 5 kids (twins, wink), I had to GLADLY let some responsibilities go and grocery shopping was one of them. In fact, this lovely Saturday afternoon, I am perfecting this informative post and simultaneously doing my grocery shopping – all from the comfort of my couch while watching a move with my older girls.
Who is winning, I am winning. My family is winning too!
I use Peapod Online Grocery shopping to order my groceries, but a few of you asked for suggestions because you did not have Peapod. Hence, What is Instacart?
… and why I might leave Peapod after writing this post.
What is Instacart?
Many of you may have heard of Instacart, but do you truly know WHAT it is? Instacart is a service that offers to do the grocery shopping for you. This is great for busy moms who just don’t have time to grocery shop.. or for moms who are not interested in the grocery store crowd.
I want to walk you through HOW this works so that you too can take advantage of this great service if you so desire.
Get Instacart Products You Love
The best part of Instacart is that you get access to the products that you love. You don’t have to scrimp on items that you hate because Instacart allows you to choose products you want. Shop for 1,000s of name brand products in your favorite retail stores – Whole Foods, Costco, Kroger, Publix, Wegmans, Aldi and more. Shop multiple stores at once in one delivery (more on that later.)
Same Day Delivery
Perhaps the most genius part of Instacart is that your groceries get delivered right to your front door. As a bonus incentive, that you don’t see many places, get same-day delievery. You can have groceries at your door in a matter of hours.
Save Time and Money
You may be wondering WHY Instacart would be a company you’d trust to do your grocery shopping. Most people choose Instacart because they get to save time and they get to save money. As I mentioned above, I save time because I can grocery shop from my phone app or computer while sitting and watching a movie with my kids. I also spend less time in the store buying extra things that were not on my grocery list or weekly menu plan.
How Does Instacart Work?
Now that you know a little more about Instacart, you may be wondering how it would work if you were to use it. Perhaps this is the most amazing part of Instacart is that it’s so easy! Follow along as I teach you how Instacart Works.
The companies that Instacart works with include Kroger, Whole Foods, Aldi, Costco, and any companies that are local to you. There is a small fee associated when you use Instacart. When you first sign up with Instacart, it’s free for 14 days. So it gives you two weeks to test it out. For me, that is at least four grocery runs in a two week period. That gives me four opportunities to see if I like this grocery delivery service.
How Much Is Instacart Express?
There are different delivery fees associated when you order through Instacart. The fees are based on how soon you want your groceries and peak hours. These delivery fees range from $3.99 to $9.99. Think delivery feeds are dumb. We can erase them. Join the Instacart Express membership club, which can save you a lot of money in the long run and will give you free delivery on order over $35. Instacart Express is $99 per year or $9.99 monthly. If you divide $99.00 by $5.99 (per delivery), you will get your money’s worth in about 16 deliveries. For me, that is as little as 5 to 8 weeks.
Benefits of Instacart Express
- Free deliveries on any and all orders above $35 (typically $3.99 to $9.99 for non-Express)
- No surge pricing – save even more during peak delivery hours
- Reduced service fees (typically 5% for non-Express)
- Shop from multiple stores and still get free delivery on the whole order
Consider it your Amazon Prime of grocery shopping.
Are Prices Marked Up?
Because this is a company and companies need to make money, it’s important to note that in some cases Instacart prices are marked up. You are not paying the exact price from the store, you are paying the price that Instacart offers. So if there is a sale that week, it might not be noted on the Instacart app. Instacart does, however, have their own Instacart coupons – so take a look at those closely and maybe meal plan around what you see is on sale.
There is an easy way to check price differences for yourself. Order on Instacart and see your bill, then the following week, shop with the same list in your grocery store. How did you find the prices compared? Decide if that difference is worth your time and energy. Did you find yourself buying more in the grocery store when you were physically in the store? These are all things to consider.
Convenience of Shopping
It’s easy to see that a lot of reasons people use Instacart. It’s very convenient! You may find that this is a very convenient way for you to shop and save time and money.
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I found it best to quote a friend I interviewed for this post…
I used Peapod and loved it but one day my delivery window wasn’t available, so I switched to Instacart Express because of the quicker delivery window. I also like that I can order from multiple stores. I almost always order as much as I can from Aldi and the rest from Wegmans (usually for gluten-free and other items I can’t find at Aldi). Aldi saves me money and Wegmans provides the items I can’t get at one store. It is nice being able to shop at two stores and not get charged extra! In 60 order, I have saved 99 hours at the grocery store. That is 99 hours I get back with my family or doing personal things.
How long would it take you to shop at two grocery stores? How many hours can you get back NOT going to a grocery store or two? What would you do with that returned time?
Her testimony of shopping two stores at one time almost has me canceling my Peapod membership!
Friendly Instacart Shoppers
Another reason people use Instacart is that the shoppers are friendly. Someone else is going to the store and shopping for your groceries. They are driving them to your home and dropping the groceries off. If you want to make income for grocery shopping for someone else, you can also sign up for Instacart Shoppers too and earn money while shopping for someone else.
Download the Instacart App
This grocery delivery store isn’t just in big cities though, it’s also in some small towns across the USA. You can easily download the Instacart app and grocery shop right from your phone, just enter your zip code. If you’re into saving time and money, then downloading the app is a smart move! You can grocery shop when you have downtime. It’s pretty awesome!
Instacart Contact
If you have issues with the Instacart app, deliveries, orders or want to get the Instacart Express best price, use the Instacart Contact.
You can visit https://www.instacart.com/help to report a problem or get the Instacart email. You can also call…
Instacart Customer Service Phone Number 1-888-246-7822
I hope this helps you understand Instacart and how it can benefit you and your life. You may find that Instacart is truly the best thing that’s ever happened to you. Let me know if what you like about this grocery delivery service and if it benefits you. I love hearing from your own personal experiences!
I hardly ever go to the grocery store and use Peapod to get our groceries from store to home. Take a look at Peapod Online Grocery Delivery. Pin to Pinterest.
Learn more about or try out an Amazon Fresh Trial. Pin to Pinterest.
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Last Updated on February 1, 2020 by Ashley at Frugal Coupon Living
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