doubling its workforce —to fulfill orders it says
have surged by 150% year-over year in the past
weeks. The company said 50,000 new shoppers
joined its platform in just the past week. Some
customers are waiting days to receive orders.
Instacart currently has a workforce of more
than 200,000 contracted workers who make
multiple trips a day to various grocery stores
to fulfill and deliver orders that customers
make through the app. It also directly employs
about 20,000 part-time workers who are
assigned to a single store, collecting groceries
that are subsequently delivered to clients by a
contracted Instacart worker.
Chloe Grozdina, a part-time Instacart in-store
shopper assigned to a Mariano’s grocery store in
the Chicago area, says workers are seeing “a lot
of apocalypse orders” from customers hunkered
down in their homes. Panic shopping has
cleared out the shelves, meaning she often has
to replace a customer’s orders with a lesser item
or notify them that it’s not available.
Grozdina, who makes $13 an hour and doesn’t
get tips, said the crowds of fellow Instacart
shoppers have made it tough to keep a safe
distance while racing to fulfill orders. Grozdina
said she wears a mask to work that she bought
herself and immediately showers when she
gets home.
Among their demands, the strike organizers
want hazard pay of $5 an order and supplies of
hand sanitizer, wipes and cleaning supplies free
of charge. The company said it had contracted
with a third-party manufacturer to make a
hand sanitizer spray that workers can request
at no cost via a website starting this week, with
shipments starting in a few days.