10 Items or Less: Providing an Essential Service

The Instacart shopper community is as diverse as the items in the grocery store — every day, tens of thousands of individuals shop, deliver, and become an extension of people’s households. We want to share this community’s stories, highlighting Instacart shoppers, shift leads, and site managers all across North America. 10 Items or Less is a series featuring just some of the amazing members of the Instacart community, sharing their unique experiences and secret sauce with the world.

1. What’s your name and where are you from? I’m Jane, and I live and shop in Central Pennsylvania, Harrisburg area — but I’m always a Minnesota girl at heart!
2. How long have you been working with Instacart, and in what roles? I’m a full-service shopper, and I’ve been shopping since February.
3. When and why did you begin shopping with Instacart? I began shopping for Instacart because I was between jobs and working on my next career move. I have worked in the retail and service sector for almost all of my career in different capacities, from managing retail to marketing services supporting major retailers. I love all aspects of retail and I also happen to love grocery shopping so shopping with Instacart just made sense and I could do it on my own schedule. I did not know that life would drastically change when I started doing this and that the service that I provide on Instacart would become essential for so many in a few short weeks.
4. What’s your favorite thing about working with Instacart? For me the best part of this whole experience is the people I have met. I always say that I think I get the BEST customers. I have shopped for some awesome people. Being able to connect, even if through a chat session in-app while I am picking out their tomatoes, is fantastic. It’s rewarding to provide a service that allows the customer to stay safe or take care of their family, or both, in a convenient way that makes sense for them. Also giving customers the peace of mind that the shopping that I am providing is the same quality as if they were shopping for themselves is everything. I also have made friends in the stores and with other Instacart shoppers. I have had the opportunity to meet some really special people and in a time of isolation, this has been a gift that I get to enjoy every day!
5. What three grocery items are always in your personal shopping cart? I am a weird eater… Arugula, Triscuits, and cheese.
6. What’s a fun fact that would surprise us about you? I drive a manual transmission car. Few people even know what this is anymore!
7. What’s one piece of advice you would give to the shopper community? Communicate and be respectful. You get a sense of how customers like to communicate by their response (or perhaps lack of response). Provide options for replacements if they have not provided a customer choice. If the customer is not responding on a replacement and you don’t feel good about it, don’t make it! Often I will refund an item if I don’t hear back, but let the customer know that I can replace it with something else if they want. The refund notification sometimes is the trigger to get a customer communicating.
8. Anything else you want to share with the shopper community? Shop for your customers like you would shop for your family, yourself or your best friend. Have fun and be kind to the folks working in the stores — we need them! They are dealing with keeping their shelves stocked and customer service, so they have their hands full. Having good rapport with the store teams can really help you when you might need something!

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Instacart is the leading grocery technology company in North America, partnering with more than 1,400 national, regional, and local retail banners to deliver from more than 80,000 stores across more than 14,000 cities in North America. To read more Instacart posts, you can browse the company blog or search by keyword using the search bar at the top of the page.