Instacart Review: An Everything Delivery Service

I’ve recently explained my experience with several companies and readers have responded positively saying that they hadn’t heard of or tried the service I mentioned so I’ve decided to continue this trend!

As a kid, I always loved reviewing things – literally anything. I was that nightmare who loved to receive a “comment card” and filled them out whenever provided (regardless of if people were waiting for me to leave…) I just think feedback is important and if people are open to it, I’m all for it.

In that vein, I wanted to go through my experience with a company that is new to me in case their new services can help anyone. As you may have noticed, we’ve been in a global pandemic for quite a while 😉 . Previously, I loved going to the grocery store. I would wander around, imagining what I might cook for the week…and then inevitably grab a simple frozen food and leave the store 🙂 . My big chef dreams were fun though.

Obviously the pandemic changed all that. Grocery stores, especially in the first few months, became a war zone where you sent someone in and they tried to get out as soon as possible. As a result, grocery shopping had all the joy sucked out of it. That’s a silly side comment, but instead of thinking of grocery shopping as a necessity at best and a threat at worst, it used to be a place where you could leisurely get whatever you want, to create something beautiful in the kitchen.

For example, when we lived in our tiny house in Georgia, my partner and his brother would go to the grocery store while I stayed home with my sister-un-law and nephew. I joked that the men were going out to hunt in the wilds and the women had to stay back to defend the farm and care for the children 😉 . Silliness aside, a grocery store became a necessity instead of a joy.

The Premise

But then we moved out of the tiny house and became the nomads of our dreams. I don’t like having a car unless necessary, so we picked Airbnbs that were close to grocery stores. However, with the addition of pandemic considerations on top of the possibility of lugging my groceries in a backpack, I must admit caution and laziness won 🙂 .

Since I don’t enjoy grocery stores anymore for all the reasons mentioned above, I decided to outsource it despite knowing that walking to get them myself was possible. When we were in rural Georgia, we started using Kroger grocery delivery. We did that about four times while we were there and enjoyed the experience overall.

We would go to the Kroger website, use their interface and order groceries. However, then something strange would happen. My email confirmation from Kroger would include delivery tracking information…from Instacart. Kroger was outsourcing to Instacart and with the double middle man things would get lost.

Kroger claimed that I would get to approve or deny substitutions on my items, for example, or know when something wasn’t in stock so I could make a decision. That was never the case. My groceries would arrive with a few items substituted or missing and I wouldn’t know until it was too late. It wasn’t what I was promised and I wondered if cutting out the middleman and going to Instacart directly, would lead to a better experience…and it turns out that was exactly the case.

The Experience

So I downloaded the Instacart app and it’s everything I had expected and more. You can chat with the person who is shopping for you, they update you every step of the way (such as when they start shopping, check out and are driving to you with a map of where they are etc). It’s much better than the desktop interface I had access to go through Kroger for example.

Most importantly though, the app allows this service to provide what it promised, specifically: Control over your order. If there is a product missing or a substitution needed, I get a message with the exact new product they recommend and can approve or deny it. I have input on any changes that need to be made and know what I’m getting before it reaches my door.

In contrast, while working with the store directly, I wouldn’t know until I had my order and they walked away that I didn’t have everything I ordered or that they substituted an item for something else. I had no input and at times was left high and dry as a result. The Instacart app fixes that completely with an easy to use interface.

In addition, as I mentioned, Instacart provides communication at every step of the process, which I don’t actually need with something like groceries (I’m not that neurotic 😉 ), but I do appreciate:

The Expansion

Instacart has been around for almost a decade so why do I want to talk about it now? Because while they are known for grocery delivery, that’s not all they do. I had no idea, but they will now deliver from basically anywhere: Walgreens, CVS, Target, Staples, Sephora, you name it. It’s my hermit dream 🙂 .

I also wanted to talk about them because now that I’ve worked with them directly and love their interface, I want to help others avoid some of the frustration I felt going through third-party websites when the direct experience is so much better (and costs the same).

So the next time you’re looking for delivery options and a store says they have Instacart as an option, (it pops up right under their name on Google Maps when you look up a specific store), you can head over to Instacart directly for an easier experience. It’s much simpler than dealing with another store’s website that’s really just Instacart in a glue-on mustache 🙂 .

Conclusion

My grocery bill has gone up during this pandemic. Based on my receipts, that’s been a result of the cost of some foods increasing, but has also been because of changes in my behavior. I’ve been happy to pay a little more to save myself time and stress. It’s part of the “Fuck It” Money Mode I’ve stumbled into and I regret nothing 🙂 .

If you want to try Instacart out you can use this link and get $10 off and free delivery on your first order. I hope this helps you out if you’re looking into delivery options or ways to make your life a little easier!

Do you use any delivery services? Which are your favorite?