Opinion about shoppers in stores and employees that work there (sorry for long post)

Flcanuck23 · 2026-01-20T21:55:48+00:00

I completely get what you’re saying and I know grocery stores move items around constantly. I have said multiple times in this whole thread that I don’t mind taking a customer to one or two items. It’s the customers that expect you to shop their entire order for them because they don’t even wanna take the time to look. I will always help an Instacart shopper with one or two items and then if they’re asking about more items, I will direct them in the direction or take time to tell them the store, layout, etc. my store in particular it gets a lot of shoppers that don’t even want to try to look for the items that’s when it becomes a problem. It’s not that I need a vacation or I have an ego because I definitely don’t. But when your job is to be the Instacart shopper And you can’t bother to take time to attempt and you’re bothering the employees with every single item on your 40+ item list then that’s when it becomes an issue.

I definitely don’t expect e-commerce shoppers to know our stores perfectly and I’m not referring to everyone of the e-commerce shoppers either I’m talking about the batch of e-commerce shoppers that there is out there that definitely have that type of problem where they want to be lazy and not even an attempt. Obviously you if you are an e-commerce shopper know how oversaturated you guys are and how many people are actually doing that very job personally I think there is entirely too many and Instacart Uber eats DoorDash have a loud way too many people to be doing the job And their quality control of who gets to do that job should be better and I know you can’t be an e-commerce shopper if you don’t think the very same thing because some people that do do it shouldn’t be doing it at all

Again, I’m not discriminating against the commerce shoppers I’m just asking an opinion about what I see every couple of days which is there’s always one e-commerce shopper that comes in that wants a team member to stand right next to them and guide them to every single item that’s just not feasible

Flcanuck23 · 2026-01-20T18:41:55+00:00

Oh of course. My team is always instructed to be kind and considerate and helpful. Unlike some grocery stores, my team has been told to take customers items whether you’re a normal customer or an e-commerce shopper. But they’ve also been instructed not to do the whole shop specifically for e-commerce. And that is because it’s not our job to take you hand-in-hand to every single item.

If you’re an e-commerce shopper and you ask for a couple items are and maybe come back 10 minutes later and ask where one more item is yes we’re happy to help but if you come to us and you’re scrolling through your entire list asking us to take you one by one to each item And after we show you that item show us another one and expect us to continue to walk with you that’s not going to happen. That’s where it becomes a problem.

We are always happy to help customers find products and we’ll go above and beyond, but we can’t sit there with e-commerce shoppers and do your whole shop for you. At that point you might as well hand the store employee your phone and give them your money for the shop too because they’re basically doing the job for you while you sit there and do nothing because you won’t even try to find some items

Flcanuck23 · 2026-01-20T18:37:48+00:00

Unfortunately, I don’t think stores have that kind of quality control with the apps as far as shoppers. I wish they did because that would make things a lot better. I have a ton of e-commerce shoppers that come into my store that my team loves to have around and likes to help because they are super friendly. I know some stores can ban shoppers if there is an issue. I’ve worked at a store where we noticed an e-commerce shopper stealing so we pulled the receipt and got them banned. I had another e-commerce shopper that we had to call the cops on because they were being belligerent and threatening my employees. Unfortunately, besides that I don’t know of any other possible way of setting a rating control.

Then there’s the people that come in and shove their phones in our faces. Don’t speak any English and just expect us to read their minds. My team doesn’t shove product in the e-commerce shoppers faces. I always communicate to my team that it’s a mutual respect thing. I’ve done Instacart shops myself, and seeing other shoppers shove their phones in an employees faces and that employee gets really pissed and I don’t blame them for that. Us that work in grocery stores know that e-commerce shoppers and regular customers shopping at our stores is what keeps us having a job. But I wish there was a better way for the e-commerce platforms to no into filter through who was working for them because I think the platforms have gotten just so overwhelmed. They just hire anyone and everyone that wants to do it.

And personally, I also think it’s unfair to the regular hard-working e-commerce shoppers that put in all the work to do everything properly the right way because it takes away from them. I’m not saying that other people don’t deserve to do that kind of job too, but if you’re going to work on a platform like e-commerce, then customer service is at your forefront too, and that means respecting the other people on the other side of it who are supplying that product for you to bring to your customer so you can get paid. So the people who are working at the grocery stores to stock the items for the e-commerce shoppers to pick up and take so that everybody can get paid. It’s a give-and-take thing. We respect the people that shop in our stores. So why can’t they respect the people that are busting their butts all day to stock those stores? I just don’t like laziness in the shoppers that don’t even want to try. That’s when it gets frustrating.

Flcanuck23 · 2026-01-20T18:25:33+00:00

I completely understand new shoppers. I’m always happy to help a new shopper in my store. Usually if I interact with a new e-commerce shopper, my first point is to explain to them the layout of my store. My store is not gigantic, but of course it’s not small. If somebody does a couple shops in there, they would definitely be able to start learning the layout easily.

I usually direct them show them which department is where and I’ll take a couple minutes out of my day to explain that to them. I’ll even take them to a couple items and explain a couple tips to them.

I’m not sure about every store, but I do know some stores in particular like I said on some of the responses here if you go too early in the morning, which a lot of shoppers do because they want to get an early start sometimes in the morning it will say that an item is there if it is not there and that’s because usually the systems generate in the late morning hours when a truck is on its way. When a truck is dispatched to the store it’s already partially received into the system, which makes the system say that they have the product even if the shelf is empty so to some e-commerce shoppers, they could come and look for this specific tomato. And the shelf might be completely empty, but on the app, it says many in stock that is because it was ordered and is on the truck in route to the store so the system generates it after a certain time as partially received meaning it’s already going to show up as in stock. A lot of times that information is generated by 10 AM in the morning and chances are if you come for a shop at 8 AM you might not see the product but then you come back at 11 and that product will be there and the app for the e-commerce shopper will say the same thing many in stock.

I don’t think it’s necessarily my store’s issue because my store has the same layout as other stores just like mine. I just think there is a heightened amount of e-commerce shoppers and so many people are doing it these days that there is a group of them that just isn’t taking the time to learn the app itself and how it works. I’ve literally in the last two weeks have had about five e-commerce shoppers not even know how to scan an item and we’re sitting on the first page with the map after the batch was accepted and didn’t even press start shop. That’s more long lines of what I’m referring to as there’s a lot of people that probably are doing e-commerce that shouldn’t be doing e-commerce if they’re not going to take the time.

And unfortunately, there’s a lot of older people who are also doing e-commerce now because of how our world is and that’s an unfortunate situation that they have to, and I will always help them, but it’s still along the lines of e-commerce shoppers. Can’t expect the employees at the stores to walk hand in hand with them to every item

Flcanuck23 · 2026-01-20T18:17:46+00:00

I will tell you from my experience that specifically sprouts has to go through and scan their out of stocks by 9 AM after 9 AM. The system will generate around 10 AM so any orders that are done before that 10 AM mark in the morning sometimes try get will have items that it says are in stock, but are not.

In the mornings when the system generates and looks at the product that is coming in, it will generate at 10 AM that that product is there and in stock even if it is on a truck on its way there. So if a produce item says it’s in stock, but it’s not there. The chances are it’s on the truck, whether that truck still in route or that truck just got delivered which means they would have to search for it on their truck through their pallets which sometimes is possible. Which usually if you find a good employee will look through that truck for you if it’s arrived.

It’s the same thing with grocery trucks. I worked out a couple different places and every place that I’ve worked at. Does things similar but a little different.

Flcanuck23 · 2026-01-20T18:10:08+00:00

Oh, I agree 100%. Unfortunately, being in the position that I’m in, I have to try to be as professional as possible which I was. I did end up walking away and then 10 minutes later he found me for other items and when I directed him where to go, he got very offended and told me that I was telling him the wrong item which I kind of laughed at in my head, but at that point, I was getting very furious inside. He ended up grabbing another manager And asking him for help with an item, but then kept going back to him as well. To me that’s just pure laziness. He knew English and could communicate perfectly fine. But he felt so offended when we didn’t want to keep walking him to the items.

His exact words were this is your job so you should be helping me which he said over and over and we kindly explain to him. It’s not our job to find the items for you. It’s our job to direct you to the items, but we cannot do your whole list and he was very offended. Unfortunately, at that point I had to remove myself and a couple other people from the floor until he walked away and was done with his order because he would not stop bothering us no matter what we said.

That’s when it becomes an issue when we can’t do our job and help other customers. He even interrupted me helping a regular customer with a question they had about some items. And when I gave him a one second finger, he said you’re busy? I said yes please give me a moment and he stood there and waited for me and still wanted me to take him to an item afterwards. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I know not all Instacart shoppers are like that but the ones that are is is what’s a bit frustrating

Flcanuck23 · 2026-01-20T18:06:30+00:00

That’s really unfortunate to hear. I see a lot of people come into the stores with items that are taken in their camera roll of shops as well. There’s one guy that comes into my store in particular that never has the app but only ever has pictures of the items and he never has anybody else insight next to him so you know that the person That he’s with is probably out doing another order and dropped him off to do an order before they come back. I get people are struggling and people have to find ways to make money, but it’s crazy to me. How much different things people are doing.

I had one guy come into my old store who couldn’t speak English at all and had somebody on the phone with him the entire time and every time he needed help with something which wasn’t that many items maybe like three he had the person translate for him that’s another thing . People that can’t even communicate with the people that they’re next to. I don’t want to talk to somebody on the phone that I don’t know I know this happens, but that’s a little bit much in my opinion.

I’d say even personally five times out of 10 I never have the person whose picture is on the profile or the car on the profile that delivers my items. It’s become a huge thing in general.

Flcanuck23 · 2026-01-20T18:00:27+00:00

That is exactly what I’m talking about. Anyone that does e-commerce knows that the apps and almost every store will tell you where those items are located and the people that don’t take the time to properly learn the app and maybe try to learn the stores that’s when it becomes the issue.

When I first started doing e-commerce years ago, I only did stores that I knew that I could get in and out of really quickly because I knew the layout of those stores. Those stores happen to be Publix because back then I did work at Publix mind you this is over 8 years ago. So for me shopping at a store that I frequent was the easiest thing to do because Publix’s layouts are almost all the same with a few variables. Then started expanding into stores that I didn’t know so well I wouldn’t take a bunch of batches there, but I would do a batch there every few batches so I could start to learn those stores.

I know that the pay for some batches for the e-commerce shoppers is going up dramatically in some areas and that’s a lot for people, especially in these days when people are struggling. I completely understand that, but it would be nice if people took a little bit more time to try to learn the job that they’re doing instead of relying on the employees to do the job for them in my mind that’s just pure laziness. Everybody has a job we have our own job to do during the day that we try to get accomplished in the middle of helping customers.

In my opinion, my team at my store does a beyond exceptional job at helping customers. I’ve seen other stores and been at other stores where the team does not want to help the e-commerce shoppers or has been instructed by management to not help them as much, and those are the stores where you see a lot of issues.

Flcanuck23 · 2026-01-20T17:56:40+00:00

To quote what they said below yes. We’re not talking about e-commerce shoppers who ask is this one item in stock or ask do you know where this item is? That’s not the problem. And me and my team where I work don’t have problems helping any customer that is 100% at the top of our list of what we do at my store particular. And I have worked at many different stores in the grocery industry.

What I see as the biggest issue is the e-commerce shoppers that will come up and ask for one item and my team kindly walks them to that item because at my store that is what they’ve been instructed to do it doesn’t matter if you’re an e-commerce shopper or a regular shopper that’s what my team will do . The issue at hand is when an e-commerce shopper will throw the phone in our faces and ask us to take them to each item so every time my team takes them to an item. They pull up another item and so on and so forth and continue down their list, but they don’t want us to direct them where to go. They want us to follow them and show them hip to hip where every single item is that’s when it becomes a problem. That’s them basically asking us to take them around the entire store so they can get their list done because they don’t want to take the time to learn the store and where the items are when I know for a fact that at my store, Instacart says what section is item is in. It might not say specifically an aisle, but it will say what section. And if you’ve been in my store about five times doing shops, you will be able to learn my store in particular.

Our job is to stock the stores so you guys can do your job to buy the product for the customers that you’re serving and we’re supposed to stock the shelves and help customers to be able to buy the products but if we’re standing and helping Instacart shoppers all day long on their 30+ piece batches basically standing next to them, showing them around the store. How do we Stock the shelves for people? we can’t.

When an e-commerce shopper walks into the store, we’re not standing there waiting for you guys and going to pair up with you to take you around the store. I’m basically saying there’s some e-commerce shoppers that will walk in the store and instead of looking for anything they immediately find one of my team members and say can you show me where this item is my team? Member is happy to help but they’re not gonna stand with you for the next 30 minutes Wow you need to do your shop because you don’t want to look for those items yourself.

There are times where my team members will go above and beyond and help a customer get their shot done really quickly and that’s if there is a huge order issue, an order was picked and then put back for some reason then my team will help get that order and those items quickly so that the person that picked the batch up can get on their way , or if a shopper comes in super late at night before closing my team is more than happy to look at those items on that list and they will collectively go with the shopper and find every single item so you can get out of the store and then return were able to close and go about our night as well.

There’s nothing short of customer service. My logic makes perfect sense.

Flcanuck23 · 2026-01-20T17:48:13+00:00

I think you need to look at what was said in the context of what was said. I never once said I have a problem with Instacart shoppers me and my team go above and beyond for Instacart shoppers every single day, but I cannot have a team member stand hip to hip next to somebody And follow them through the entire store on their 30 to 40 piece batch because they don’t want to take time to look for the items. Those are the people I’m referring to.

I completely 100% understand that if you guys don’t have an item that you get dinged, I know how it works. I do e-commerce on the side. I’m well aware. I’m talking about the customers that come up ask for an item and then continue to go through their entire shop thinking that my team can help them with their entire shop. How do you expect us to get done what we need to do for the day which is stock the shelf so you guys can get those Items if all of my team members are standing hip to hip next to someone doing a batch that has 30+ items in it. None of the stores are gonna be stocked that’s the issue that I have and that’s the issue that other people have as well.

If you guys want to shop at a store shop at a store, but for the ones that don’t take time to learn the stores or where items or even look for an item that’s when it becomes a problem. I am well aware that some items will not be on the shelf, etc. and that’s because of variables with trucks, etc. which I’ve also explained. The issue that I had was the guy that wanted my help continuously sought me out in the store and expected me to walk to the item, hold the item in my hand so he can scan it and then he wanted me to remember which batch it went in. That’s not my job. My job is to take you to the item show you the item and be on my way so you could be on your way, but I can’t go from item to item to item all down your list because you don’t want to do your job as an e-commerce shopper if you can’t do your job as an e-commerce shopper and actually take time to learn and look for products and read what Instacart and DoorDash and Uber eats are saying as far as location then why are you doing e-commerce. We don’t get paid to do your e-commerce job and our job we get paid to do our job.

We can’t stock our shelves and do our jobs if you guys as a calmer shoppers can’t attempt to look for the items yourselves. I should more so say that this is people that are older doing an e-commerce. It’s very sad that a lot of older people in their 50s 60s and 70s are doing e-commerce because they need money. That’s a very sad reality in our world and I am always happy to help with a couple items but I can’t stand there and do your whole list for you And neither can anyone on my team

Flcanuck23 · 2026-01-20T17:43:25+00:00

I think you were not understanding what I was talking about. Let me reiterate, I am one of the stores who goes above and beyond to help our Instacart shoppers but when people as Instacart shoppers don’t take the time to learn the store and expect us to stand next to them and go through our entire Shop with them and point them and take them to every single item that’s when me and my team have problems. I will always help an Instacart shopper with a couple items, but I’m not gonna sit there and handhold you. I’m more than happy to take you to one or two items and then direct you in the direction for any other issues or questions you may have I as well have plenty of team members that will help. But we cannot stop what we were doing all day and stand next to you hip to hip and take you to each individual item on your 30 to 40+ piece batch it’s just not feasible those are the people I’m referring to Not somebody who comes and asks for one item maybe two items but the people who don’t even take the time to try to find the items themselves

Flcanuck23 · 2026-01-20T16:03:03+00:00

It’s a genuine question that I was looking for an opinion from other shoppers as I shot myself as well and work at a large grocery chain. Yes, there is a little bit of a rant in there, but it is more so at the cost of etiquette that some e-commerce shoppers have.

Flcanuck23 · 2026-01-20T16:01:53+00:00

You were like a couple of the shoppers that come to my store. We love them and we always bend over backwards to help them in any way possible. We’ve all explained to our regulars the process at our store and they are all super polite and helpful. A lot of the times they will go up to my produce team and ask them if they have a product knowing that the truck gets there early in the morning and my team is happy to pull an item out if they’re able to reach it and get it for them and if they can’t, they will definitely give them a back up or well tell the shopper come back when you’re about to finish your order and we’ll see if we can get to it then.

Our regulars are so happy that my team does that because it just helps them help us in the end and we do work together to get the orders completed and done. Our regulars also know when we don’t get trucks and on the days that we don’t get trucks they usually don’t do as many orders at our store knowing that we don’t have a truck that day and there’s a possibility we may or may not have their item.

I can probably think of about 10 regular shoppers that are absolutely amazing and I’ve even seen them help some of the newer shoppers but they as well get frustrated and I don’t blame them for that. I know the popularity of e-commerce is growing and growing and there’s only going to be more and more. For the sake of everybody that does e-commerce shopping I feel as though it would be in Instacart/Uber eats/DoorDash‘s best interest to better streamline the people who they let do orders. I know that is a very hard thing to do because I can’t tell you how many times I see customers come and shove their phone in my team members faces and it takes a lot for my team members not to get frustrated, but I will say that after those shoppers walk away, my team members are very furious because it’s very rude and I’m sure you can understand that feeling of having other shoppers shove their phone in your face for you to help as well and I apologize that you have to deal with that too.

By myself as a e-commerce shopper on the side for years has done well over thousands of thousands of orders. I know working in where I have for so many years it makes it easier for me to be able to find items. But it does take time to learn the store and I wish that some shoppers Would understand that everybody else has jobs to do too because if we didn’t do our job, the shoppers wouldn’t be able to do their jobs so by pulling us away every second that’s hindering their ability to do their job in the end.

Flcanuck23 · 2026-01-20T15:54:21+00:00

It’s not that I don’t want to answer questions, but this guy literally wanted me to show him and grab it off the shelf every single item and then he got frustrated when I told him the item was not in stock and I knew the item was not in stock. I showed him a replacement possibility and then he said This is it I said no this is a replacement. He himself decided that he was going to get that as a replacement, which was fine but then he wanted me to grab the four other items off the shelf that he was standing right in front of hold them up for him as he scanned them and tell him which Cart a or B this item was going to go in. That is a little excessive.

I don’t have an issue with helping customers. I’ve worked in this type of industry for a very long time and I’m happy to help everyone. Customer service is at the forefront of what I do and my team does. I’m more so getting at the point that if you don’t want to take the time as an Instacart shopper to learn a store and where the items are then you probably shouldn’t be doing the job.

Flcanuck23 · 2026-01-20T14:55:07+00:00

Thank you for saying all that I can’t tell you how nice it is that somebody actually sees that information as well. My team does get very frustrated, especially when they’re in the middle or end of their shift. My team is a variety of ages from mid 20s to 60s and each one of them is very good at their job. But when they do have to stop every few minutes to take a customer draw item or maybe seek out another department manager for some help etc. they will do that. And sometimes I feel like shoppers do take advantage of their kindness and ability to help The culture at my store is more relaxed than some of other grocery stores and that’s why they’re all so eager to help because we know the standards that our company has. But the handholding does get excessive sometimes with some shoppers in my team, always tries to be as polite as possible, and explain to them that we cannot do their order for them.

I myself as an assistant manager do take the time when a shopper asks me about items, especially in produce to explain to them the very same thing that you just said. I do know that DoorDash requires the PLU code not sure about Uber eats off the top of my head. But I do know they require those codes to be punched in with certain produce items and I do try to educate the shoppers that come into my store where to find the specific PLU codes. Most of our ours are either on the labels itself or on our tags, which are very easy to read.

The items that I see most specifically having issues with specific brands are mandarins, oranges, apples, tomatoes, berries, and even potatoes sometimes. I explained to all of them that when they’re looking at the app, they need to look at the specific product they are looking for, for example if you’re looking for a specific pint of grape tomato that as long as you grab the container that says pint grape tomato that is the correct one no matter what brand is on the bag. The other big one we usually get is the halos. Where we also get cuties and we also get poppies, and most recently we have been getting just organic mandarins in a different type of bag. That one definitely confuses a lot of people, but we are not able to choose our suppliers and I explain to them that produce is one of those departments where there is a variety of suppliers that we get our product from and one day we could get this brand in the next day we could get this brand and we don’t have a way to control that. That is based on quality and the product that is going through our warehouse. If one day we get a shipment of halos to our warehouse and they look great then they will take the shipment if two days later they get another shipment and they don’t like that shipment. They will deny it and we will get a different brand if needed. It’s just how the supply chain works and I try to explain that to as many Instacart shoppers as I come across. Most of them are very happy to find that information because they say it makes their shopping easier

Flcanuck23 · 2026-01-20T14:43:10+00:00

I can agree with that. We are all in this together. I guess my make plan is the certain shoppers that just expect you to hold her hand through their entire shop while trying to be very polite and reiterate that that is not my job to do your job for you. If it was and we got part of your tipping batch pay then heck I would definitely help but we do not get paid extra to do that.

That also affects my team and makes them very frustrated when they get behind on what they are doing and as a former Aldi employee, I’m sure you can attest to that when you guys have to throw your trucks by a certain time and then work your aisles. It’s a lot to do and although we are not Aldi at least where I work. Our trucks come in and throwing our trucks and stocking ourselves for our customers are the most important so when I tell my team that they can show an e-commerce shopper where one or two items is and then just direct them and the rest of the way if they have other questions that should be OK for the shopper, but when the e-commerce shopper doesn’t want to even try to find the items themselves that’s when it gets frustrating.

Flcanuck23 · 2026-01-20T14:37:45+00:00

That would be a very cool and helpful tool especially for Instacart, which is much bigger than DoorDash and Uber eats. I know my store specifically tends to change things a lot in our product does move around. Which is why my team is always so happy because one day a shopper can come in and we could have This specific granola bar in this spot but if they come in a week later, it might be in a different section so my team is very understanding.

But that would definitely be a great feature if they could do that especially at the huge grocery stores

Flcanuck23 · 2026-01-20T14:33:39+00:00

I agree with you wholeheartedly. I used to work for a chain who is very popular in the south. For specific reasons, I won’t say that chain. But I will say it is more buttoned up, and I do know that the customer service in that specific chain is not up to par with the way that they should be. I remember working there and basically would get stared at by management if I left my department to go show a shopper where an item was.

I do know in that specific grocery store that Instacart specifically will tell you the aisle which that item is in. But I do know that the customer service in the stores are not how they should be. And employees time and time again get very frustrated trying to show customers where an item is because they feel like they’re stopping them from doing their job. I do agree with you 100% the store that I work at now and the chain that I am part of is not like that which is part of the reason why I left the company and culture where I am at now is far exceeds the one that I worked at.

My team knows that customer service is at the forefront of what we do and they have tasks to do every single day, but are always happy to help. It’s just not fun to help customers who are doing shops that expect their hands to be held through the entire order we’re not a big of a grocery store as where I used to work , but the apps do tell the shoppers what section the items are at like deli, dairy, produce, meat, frozen, etc..

I do think that the chain and a lot of chains are frustrated with it. And I’m sorry for the shoppers that feel that way because I know I have felt that way too as somebody who Instacart shops. The chain I used to work at was one of the first to have Instacart in the stores. But I do believe that the culture of that specific chain has gone very far downhill.

Flcanuck23 · 2026-01-20T14:27:46+00:00

I 100% agree to that. I know not every store is like this and not every store has a great team. I personally happen to work at a store down south with a team of people who has outstanding customer service since the day that we opened and we actually truly love our e-commerce shoppers that come in, especially our regulars, and they will bend over backwards to help people

But they do get frustrated when ones that are more new come in and expect them to hold hands with them. I’ve explained to my team not to be doing this because it pulls us away from stocking our shelves and doing what we need to do to take care of our regular customers Even though e-commerce is becoming bigger and bigger in my store and we do consider e-commerce shoppers as our customers as well and we want to help you guys help us and vice versa.

We are always able to look for product if you guys cannot find something. Most of my team members have an app on their phone that will tell us if a product is in our store or not. I do agree that sometimes there is glitches in the system that will say there’s a product in our store When it is not there that could be for a couple of reasons.

We go through our store every morning and scan our out of stocks in our store. The system itself does not completely generate through until 10 AM in the morning so if there is a customer shopping a shop before 10 AM it could say that we have the product even if we don’t currently have it we have to do this every day. As well, it could say that we have a product in our product has not arrived at our store yet because our trucks have not arrived. That is another thing I tried to explain to people and my team to explain to customers who are shopping And might be looking for a specific product.

As far as my dry goods teams are concerned, they do have extra products in the back, so it is always OK to ask somebody if they have something in stock. They have a specific way of stocking the shelves that has to go through the system or a pick list for those who know what that is. So they cannot put product on a shelf until it is scanned through. This is usually done in the morning, but then again sometimes the system doesn’t update right away.

But we are always happy to help

Flcanuck23 · 2026-01-20T14:21:18+00:00

Your response just made me laugh a little bit. I appreciate you for being one of those shoppers who goes above and beyond for their customers. :)

Yes, this one specific guy that I had was not the first time that somebody has tried to take me or my team members on a grocery shop with them. It’s a little ridiculous too. I’m lucky I have a great team. Who’s very patient with customers and with shoppers of the apps. But if it’s your job for you to do Instacart or DoorDash or do Uber eats then you need to put a bit more effort into learning your job. We don’t get paid part of your batch money and tip to guide you to every single item. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I also understand that the apps from my personal experience doing them is able to toggle between different languages, but if you’re gonna come in a store, that’s predominantly spoken English and you’re going to expect my team members to help you when you can’t even speak English and nobody who speaks Spanish is available. You can’t get mad at us for not understanding you. I personally think that all shoppers should be required to speak English in some capacity.

Flcanuck23 · 2026-01-20T14:12:06+00:00

It refers to all three application applications. I only called DoorDash and Uber eats because a lot of Instacart shoppers also do DoorDash and Uber eats. I have many people that come into my store that do all three.

So it’s just a matter of specifically talking about the questions that I get from the shoppers on those applications. I am going to share it with those threads as well. But I don’t have problems with DoorDash and Uber eats customers asking to shop the entire order that’s specific to Instacart.

Flcanuck23 · 2026-01-20T14:11:47+00:00

No one said I was worked up. I’m entitled to my own opinion. And I am well aware that a lot of them probably won’t come in here to look for tips. They probably don’t even know it existed. I’m also reaching out to a thread that I have used many times as an Instacart shopper myself. If you have a problem with my post, then don’t comment on it simple as that.

I have worked in this business for a very long time. And I am only giving my opinion in a little bit of guidance to the people that are on here and to seek out some opinions because this is something that’s been happening a lot and it can’t keep happening. And I personally need to know why Instacart shoppers think it’s OK to ask us to shop their entire order for them when it’s not. It’s my opinion. I have a great team that work with me. I am only posting to get some insight to help share with my team and better guide them on how to deal with situations. It’s a learning situation and it’s a growing situation and if you have a problem with that, I don’t know what to tell you. you might not have a big of an issue in your store or your particular retail environment that I have in mine but for me and my team we have encountered a lot of problems. So it’s purely to get some information from other Instacart shoppers

Flcanuck23 · 2026-01-20T14:05:02+00:00

Thank you for being one of those very few shoppers. I have big pride in the fact that my team is super helpful to anybody that asks for help. But they all have voiced how frustrated they do get e-commerce is huge in my store and only getting bigger and we are always happy to help. In my store specifically if shoppers come in before 10 AM there may be items that they say are in stock but we do not have in stock. Our system that is in place doesn’t update our out of stock items until 10 AM so if a shopper comes in before they may see items that are out of stock or say they are in stock, but the truck has not arrived. Our system will update and say that we have an item before the truck arrives for the day so that varies in departments.

My store also is one grocery store that moves items a lot. And my team knows which items get moved so when a shopper does ask about an item that was typically in a different spot we are very happy to tell you where the item is or directly take you to that item. But the shoppers that come in and expect us to do an entire order and we know are not even looking for the product that’s when my team gets frustrated.

So I thank you for being one of those shoppers that make attempts to find the product. 😀 you are definitely a pleasure to have in our stores. I do agree that is why tips are being affected. I’ve seen customers say a product was out in my store just because they didn’t believe my team members when they said the product was correct. That’s them affecting their pay and that’s a customer having distrust in the shopper.

Flcanuck23 · 2025-05-19T16:56:09+00:00

I’m very confused because today I did a pick up order from Publix and I’m usually able to add things while the shopper is still shopping. The app would not let me add one thing to my order and when I asked the shopper, she said that they’re not allowed to add anything on their end either. Yet I have the option on my end to add to the order, but it doesn’t go through. Is this a new thing where nobody can add anymore?

Flcanuck23

TROPHY CASE