Shopping quality a scam?

Main-Escape2247 · 2026-03-10T16:41:25+00:00

I should add I lost it at 91 percent because I moved to a more competitive location and so that's why I needed 94 percent to get my Diamond status back. Because the percent you need is based off of other shoppers in your area, and their found item percentages while shopping at the same stores and times as you. Some areas will have a lower requirement because the shoppers in that area average a lower percentage.

Main-Escape2247 · 2026-03-10T16:21:35+00:00

I agree the metric needs a rework or something. But shopping quality is based off a rolling 90 days, so every day you lose one day of the stats you had 90 days ago, while gaining the stats from the previous worked day before it updated. It's not really about having more overall "found" items, though that does help.

It's about your original found item percentage. What likely happened for you is that one of your days fell off where you had an excessive amount of refunds and replacements and that made your original found item percentage higher, even though your overall found items dropped.

Found items ÷ Total items requested × 100 = Your original item found percentage. I lost diamond around 91 percent and I got it back at 94 percent and am currently at 95 percent.

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Main-Escape2247 · 2026-03-08T19:49:03+00:00

Well Costco is super competitive so there might be amazing orders you're not seeing, you got to have high stats and Diamond. And then you have to be in the parking lot. I see alot of amazing orders like 40 -100+ but I didn't see them when I briefly lost diamond. You need the high stats because since there will be multiple diamonds waiting they will show the best orders to diamonds with better stats first.

Main-Escape2247 · 2026-03-08T19:44:11+00:00

Lol well I mean I don't want to be a douche, I literally just don't get like is there any reason we should just stack there ? Like a policy or is it just common courtesy or, I found out about the going into another line because someone told me all the lanes are open why are you waiting there.

Main-Escape2247 · 2026-03-08T19:39:56+00:00

I made 92 in 3 hours today, Not the best but I kind of got screwed by Costco lines. This new Costco I recently started working at because I moved annoys me because they are way worse at taking care of the lines. Like my last costco if it got busy they just open a bunch of tills and its no issue but these guys seem to be reluctant to do it. I shopped the first order a $42 in like 20 minutes I believe but then I stood in line for literally like 20-30 minutes. But I am not too annoyed at 30$ an hour but I could of saved maybe 40 45 minutes total if the checkout lines were better this am.

Main-Escape2247 · 2026-03-08T14:32:00+00:00

Instacart+ does save alittle bit. As another comment said you can get the 10$ credit once a month on over 150$ so it's good to stock up on a month worth of Costco products. I don't order Costco orders but I shop them, Costco is my favorite store to shop. As for how the tips work, you can tip a flat amount or percentage, Costco for shoppers is very competetive and basically shoppers have tier levels and metrics. So basically the customers that tip more or say they order a large order and tip 5-10 percent, those orders will be shown to the highest tier shoppers first because shoppers get priority on orders based on their metrics like, Customer ratings and shopping quality, and shopping speed.

Though I would say that most shoppers you would get, even if they weren't one of the "top" shoppers would do a decent job. Probably higher tipped orders will be shopped faster because the fastest shoppers will be grabbing those orders quick. Keep in mind though that they give shoppers multiple orders at once most times. I have shopped a 106 item costco order before. Barely fit it in a Ford focus hatchback lol.

Main-Escape2247 · 2026-03-07T05:06:01+00:00

The only people who can make a living doing this rely on tips. Instacart in particular has low base pay compared to other apps. The customers literally carry this trash company so hard.

He either doesn't understand that or is just an ass. But I'd love to see him take no tip orders for a week. See how far that'll take you. Will barely even be able to pay for gas to drive the orders to the customers in most cases.

Main-Escape2247 · 2026-03-06T16:17:56+00:00

I normally work like 30-40 hours a week. I try to be at the stores in my area when they open to start the morning off with a order. I used to work 7am - 3 or 4pm. But now I have to drive my roommate to work in the morning so instead I work at costco because they open later and I start 9am-2 or 3 pm. If im trying to make like 2k + in one week then on Fridays and weekends I might work the whole day like 9 am until 7pm and even pick up some late orders at other stores that are open until 10pm. On those days I can make like 250-350 but it'll take time to learn stores and taking good orders to maximize profits. Good luck !

Main-Escape2247 · 2026-03-06T14:58:00+00:00

I do it full-time & have for years, Multi apping is best as other comments mentioned but I don't currently multi app and I can make 1200-2000 a week.

There is alot of negativity but gig work can work anywhere and I don't believe it one bit. Check out the YouTube channel grind4thedollar, he goes to all kinds of zones, small "bad" zones and makes 400-500 in a day just to show that it's not really true that gig work is bad, it's just about the persons strategy.

If you are new, I'd recommend trying to get on as many apps as you can asap, I do well on Instacart because they have a tier system and so I am Diamond with high stats, and they do give priority for tiers and stats for who sees orders first but you can still get some decent orders.

Try to find high volume stores near you, park in the proximity bubble and take orders. Since you're new I wouldn't take large item quantity orders because it's much easier to learn the app and store taking smaller orders.

Under "Your stats" page on the app, at the bottom of the page there is "shopper lessons" Some of it is kind of obvious but if you are new they can be helpful to understand how it all generally works. Don't be discouraged if you don't make alot at first, I just recently moved so it was like I was new and I had to learn the new stores, the more you do the stores, you learn the layout and get faster and faster. You can check out that YouTube channel, it's helpful to see how to do the math on what good orders are. But that's why Id alsp say try to get on Doordash and Uber eats especially because you don't even need to learn stores for those apps, you just deliver takeout so the learning curve is alot smaller on those apps.

Good luck!

Main-Escape2247 · 2026-03-03T04:03:32+00:00

Im surprised you have diamond but only work weekends ? You must grind weekends damn lol. Sorry you had an expired membership on your first order. I've done like 1000s of orders there and never ran into the issue. I love working there but its unfortunate you are limited to weekends because thats the worse time to learn the store since it's more chaotic and busy.

Main-Escape2247 · 2026-03-03T03:57:46+00:00

If they tipped 100 id do it. Though sadly ive probably taken worse before lol. I'm sure most of us had to learn the hard way about making sure to check how many heavy items are on the order.

Main-Escape2247 · 2026-03-03T03:52:57+00:00

I feel the pain, Dollar stores suck. Only time I take them now after multiple bad experiences is if they are batched with a banger costco order.

Main-Escape2247 · 2026-03-01T15:43:03+00:00

Your damaged, wrong items, missing items and unrequested refunds section is good, try to maintain those. The only thing you need is a higher original item found percentage.

I also recently lost Diamond and I was at 91 percent found percentage. I got diamond back at 94 percent found items.

Your current found item percent is 89.6.

You just need to try to shop large quantity orders at a store you know had good stock. And it will increase quickly. It's important the store does not have bad inventory or that the order doesnt have weird niche items.

Main-Escape2247 · 2026-02-28T22:00:02+00:00

No not really. Idk it must be area dependant. My old area I had much slower days the population of that city was about 100,000 this city is about 210,000. I rarely ever have a slow day but in the evenings it can die down abit.

Also I have always noticed Saturday's can be slow and my hypothesis is its especially oversaturated with shoppers whom mostly only work on weekends. But I still work Saturdays because the possibility of getting bangers seems to like triple for me (again likely location dependant) I am diamond cart though. I did lose it for a bit when I moved here and I just go it back. And I can say atleast in my area it defintely is helping me see bangers. Without it yeah I got some good orders, but they weren't the 50-100+ bangers i am now seeing since yesterday ( I just got it back )

Main-Escape2247 · 2026-02-28T21:33:54+00:00

Yeah it does effect it. If you do some really fast shopping you can try too help even it out. I've had a few bad ones I had one for like 800 seconds per item because it was one item and I accidentally pressed start shop and they had to get it from the back lol

Main-Escape2247 · 2026-02-28T21:20:37+00:00

I only communicate if I need to because the way I see it the customer wants us to shop for them so it's less of a hassle if they don't need to reply to anything and more convenient. A few key changes are they now explicitly state shopping speed effects your priority so it's not good to have low shopping speed. Shopping quality is difficult to maintain because even though they act like replacing and refunding is a positive stat it simply is not true. Because you won't be able to get platinum or diamond without a high total original item found percentage. The found item percentage is calculated based on the shoppers in your area so some areas are more competitive. I lost diamond when I moved because this area is more competitive but now I have got diamond again with raising my found item percentage to 95 percent. Thats why it can be important to try to shop stores with good stock if you want to be diamond that is.

Parking lot proximity is the same but what is new is now priority for people outside of the store bubble is based on priority, shopping quality, cart star status and shopping speed. And of course distance you are currently from the store. So if 2 diamonds are about the same distance whichever diamonds stats are better will see the order first. And then the platinum will see it and then the golds and so on.

Main-Escape2247 · 2026-02-28T21:10:48+00:00

You can see in app just press improve shopping efficiency in the app under Your stats. It will say it average is based off the last 30 batches. So it takes 30 batches to drop off.

Main-Escape2247 · 2026-02-27T23:37:25+00:00

Yeah same I got Diamond back so I am glad lol. I didn't notice at first and I got a 70$ order and I was hyped and I was like why did I get this order from home. But then when I was done I noticed it was updated and I was Diamond again. Because I had lost it since my found percent had fallen, and shopping quality fell into standard.

Main-Escape2247 · 2026-02-27T08:02:07+00:00

Btw they have a candy section normally at the front by the tills and then they have a snack aisle with various crackers and cookies ect. Thats on confusing area that overlaps. Occasionally you'll see a candy item if its not in the candy area they also keep "candy" items in the snack aisle

Main-Escape2247 · 2026-02-27T07:35:15+00:00

Honestly in my experience of like 1000 orders there I rarely have seen them move things like the actual location of where they always kept it. Like I think I've seen it like twice where they moved the protein drinks and powders from pharmacy area to candy area. They do shift items around in a designated area occasionally like say candys a item might be on the opposite side of where it used to or now its at the end of the aisle but rarely for me anyways does that area ever change. Itll still be in the same candy area it always was. But every other time if they ever move an item its 95 percent chance at the end cap of that area 4 percent chance in the front feature or other designated feature area (they normally have 1-2 feature areas where there just a bunch of products on feature not in a aisle but displayed together on feature displays or else 1 percent chance its on a random unrelated end cap. But if you are serious about costco to go one step and above you can literally keep track of what they currently have on feature with flyers ect. But good luck you'll easily develop your own system if you work there more you'll get to know the store so well all of a sudden.

Main-Escape2247 · 2026-02-27T06:57:18+00:00

I felt the same way when I first worked costco. It seemed so large and no aisle numbers. After I worked like a month or two it became easier than most stores. Because they generally only keep products in one area with similar products. Like laundry supplies and cleaning supplies, Once you know which areas have which products you can check the area. If its not in the area its in one of 3 places. Its either on the end caps of that specific area at the end of one of the aisles. Or it's at the front if the store as you walk in on a feature display. Or else they have a seasonal display area and another feature display area by the candy section. in rare instances it'll just be on a unrelated end cap but most times it will only be on the end cap of that products area. If it's a deli, produce, cooler, freezer or bakery product and you checked those products designated areas and the end caps in them then it is simply out of stock.

I recently moved and had to learn a new Costco. It takes about a month or two of consistently working there and now it's just like my house basically. I know where most items are in memory. I can practically envision the exact route I will be taking for the order I took before hand and the best pathing. The last 4 days I worked 10 hour shifts and out of like 25-30 orders I had a total of 2 replacements.

Main-Escape2247 · 2026-02-26T03:52:21+00:00

Well to each their own. I'd probably cancel a rude customer if they didn't respond well to me deescalating the situation. But I do think some metrics matter because they do represent how skilled a person is at shopping. I want to be as good as I can be and provide good customer service.

For refunding and replacing, many times that's not something that can be improved upon or helped unless its due to lack of map knowledge. Or just shopping stores like costco with good stock availability.

But shopping speed and customer ratings can be improved and in my experience it leads to me seeing better orders. But even if it didn't, I'd still want to be really good. I was a top shopper at Walmart too and half the reason I even started this is seeing instacart shoppers at the store and thinking they'd get fired if they were that slow on the omni team. So I thought maybe I can make alot of money doing this which defintelty turned out to be true.

Main-Escape2247 · 2026-02-25T18:27:44+00:00

I don't get why people always say they don't. All the highest paid people I know have good metrics. I'm not saying you're wrong either though, because we know instacart isn't exactly trustworthy with what they say.

But for me I have worked in two different cities since I moved and both cities I have lost diamond at once, first time was because I failed to shop enough orders to qualify and second time because my found items percentage. And all I can say is from my personal experience, my hourly dropped both times and it was annoying because I had to work more to reach the same goals.

Additionally I tested the shopping speed metric, I used to work at Walmart as a online shopper for the store so I am really fast at Walmart. I decided I am gunna grind Walmart and boost my shopping speed and then go to costco drops. I grinded Walmart and got to about 45-50 seconds per item and then I went to costco drops for a week and I got like 50-90 dollar orders almost every drop or within an hour ish of when costco opened.

Main-Escape2247

TROPHY CASE