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Instacart’s New Policy To Combat Tip Baiting

5K views 37 replies 28 participants last post by  whatyoutalkinboutwillis 
#1 ·

Instacart's latest policy will give you less time to change a tip after delivery

Instacart is revising it's tipping policy to keep users from taking advantage of the system by "tip baiting."

Tip baiting happens when a customer lures in a shopper by inputting a big tip then reducing the amount after the groceries are delivered. It's a tactic that's been deployed more often during the pandemic with more Americans avoiding trips to the grocery store.

Starting Monday, Instacart users have 24 hours after a delivery is made to withdraw tips. Before, customers had up to three days to rescind or alter them.

A full day is still generous by delivery service standards. Uber Eats lets users edit tips for up to one hour after orders arrive. Postmates gives users 10 hours to change tips.

Despite the bait-and-switch issue, Instacart shoppers are making more money from tips during the pandemic, the company said. And tip bating is a relatively rare occurrence.

Only 0.25% of orders had a tip adjusted after 24 hours and less than 0.5% of tips are removed entirely after groceries are delivered, Instacart said. Still, the company realizes "that it's disappointing for shoppers in the rare case that this happens," Instacart said.

The company has hired over 150,000 staffers because of the COVID-19 crisis as the service has gained popularity. Instacart connects customers with nearby personal shoppers who gather provisions at local grocery stores for home delivery.

But with the surge in usage has also come a few issues.

First, people complained about the lack of delivery slots available, while others claimed that personal shoppers are stealing groceries. Instacart has periodically rolled out new tools and features to help solve service issues.
 
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#4 ·
I think they are doing this because they determined many pax were changing the tips a day or two later, when they thought the driver was less likely to notice it. Once the customers figure out the time has been shortened, I'm sure they will try and scam the driver sooner. If Instant Pay is available on Instacart, as a driver I would be screenshotting and cashing out as as soon as I get the tip.
 
#8 ·
If Instant Pay is available on Instacart, as a driver I would be screenshotting and cashing out as as soon as I get the tip.
You can do that on Uber or Lyft, but I dont think you can do it on Instacart.

But seriously ... 24 HOURS?! What a joke, it wont make a difference at all.

Just take that option away. On Domino's, whatever the customer tipped before the order was delivered, is the final amount. If there is a problem with the order (item missing, wrong item, etc ...), the customer can call the store and management will fix the problem with them. Of course there can be drivers that are not doing their job properly, either on purpose or not, but those can be tracked and dealt with later. Same applies to customers that complain too much constantly.
 
#5 ·
I wonder if Instacart tracks their customers who leave bad reviews and reverse tips on their drivers and ban them from using the platform you know, Iike Uber told us they would do to pax that made false allegations?

Honestly, I don't know how the rating system works for Instacart, I hate grocery shopping on a good day, can't imagine shopping for someone else.
 
#6 ·
I wonder if Instacart tracks their customers who leave bad reviews and reverse tips on their drivers and ban them from using the platform you know, Iike Uber told us they would do to pax that made false allegations?

Honestly, I don't know how the rating system works for Instacart, I hate grocery shopping on a good day, can't imagine shopping for someone else.
It sucked. Stores I rarely shopped in personally. Food I'd never buy for myself so I had no idea where it might be. Bad layouts. 5 different locations for milk. **** almond milk btw.
 
#23 ·
Still not enough. I don't know why these gig apps always come with loopholes so users can @@@@ drivers. Uber is acting like we all should be getting to work, nothing done for our safety.
And this is why I don't do driving gigs anymore.
 
#14 ·
I signed up to shop over the pandemic but I've been a bit hesitant to get out there because of the tip baiting circus that has been reported. I might actually give this a go this weekend as well as food delivery. I was going to go out there last weekend but that wanna be Tropical Storm kept me at home.
 
#15 ·
I don't do Instacart, but as soon as I heard of this crap I had to ask...

"Don't these people realize that the person they just screwed over knows where they live?"

Sure, customers had up to 3 days to screw the shopper out of the agreed to tip, but the shopper has pretty much unlimited days to huck a rock through a window.

Just thinking out loud.
 
#16 ·
I'm signed up for Instacart. Got that card and lanyard. I lost interest quickly after reading all the negativity about the company.

I know one cabbie that is basically a BUTLER and does well taking care of elderly folks he met while driving the taxi. He makes like $500 a week on one person alone. There is another person he runs errands for. He says it's risky running up a bill of credit for them, but they pay. I don't know if I would work on those terms either.
 
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#21 ·
Starting Monday, Instacart users have 24 hours after a delivery is made to withdraw tips. Before, customers had up to three days to rescind or alter them.​
Well...............that will surely fix the problem. There's no way that scammers will be proactive enough to take action within 24 hours. (There's some pretty heavy sarcasm there if you can't tell.)​

Uber Eats lets users edit tips for up to one hour after orders arrive.
The difference is that Uber does not inform the driver of the tip amount until after it has been finalized. It can't be changed after the driver has been informed of the amount. So when a driver makes a decision about whether or not to accept an Uber Eats ping, the exact amount of the tip is not part of that decision.

And tip bating is a relatively rare occurrence.
I'm not convinced. I signed up with Instacart about three weeks ago. In that span, I have completed two orders because the vast majority of Instacart orders are not worth my time. For both of those orders, the amount that I was ultimately paid was less than the amount that the app said I would be paid when I accepted the order. I now suspect that this is why.

Only 0.25% of orders had a tip adjusted after 24 hours....
So why would they think that limiting the adjustment window to 24 hours would do anything to solve the problem???

...and less than 0.5% of tips are removed entirely after groceries are delivered, Instacart said.
Neither of these two statistics tell us how sweeping the problem is. They left out (probably intentionally) the most important statistic. How often are tips reduced after the delivery is completed?

...it's disappointing for shoppers in the rare case that this happens.
I don't think "disappointing" is the right word. The word that they're looking for is "fraud." That's what it's called when you offer somebody a certain dollar amount to complete a job, they complete job, and then you pay them less than you said you would.

If Instant Pay is available on Instacart, as a driver I would be screenshotting and cashing out as as soon as I get the tip.
Instant Pay is available, but you can only cash out the base pay that Instacart pays you. In-app tips cannot be cashed out and are deposited into your bank account once a week.
 
#24 ·
I don't do Instacart, but as soon as I heard of this crap I had to ask...

"Don't these people realize that the person they just screwed over knows where they live?"

Sure, customers had up to 3 days to screw the shopper out of the agreed to tip, but the shopper has pretty much unlimited days to huck a rock through a window.

Just thinking out loud.
Or just do the instant cash out. I wonder if your account would show a negative balance if the pax tried to alter the tip?
 
#26 ·
What's gonna happen is personal shoppers are gonna start advertising their services on apps like thumbtack and cut Instacart out of the loop.

Just wait as out of work moms with a Minivan figure out they can triple their money by doing this and actually running it as their own business.
It seems that is there is some flexibility in the time to deliver the groceries, a lot of optimization can be done. That mom in her minivan could have a dorm-fridge for cold stuff, and she could basically take orders in the morning and then spend the afternoon shopping and delivering all in one stop at the grocery store and one route.
 
#29 ·
I don't do Instacart, but as soon as I heard of this crap I had to ask...

"Don't these people realize that the person they just screwed over knows where they live?"

Sure, customers had up to 3 days to screw the shopper out of the agreed to tip, but the shopper has pretty much unlimited days to huck a rock through a window.

Just thinking out loud.
and these are the people delivering their food.

Now disclaimer here: I'm NOT advocating this and I have never worked for an app such as instacart.

Most stuff is sealed in some way but very poorly. It would be trivial for a driver to say open up a corner of a microwave dinner and spit in it, etc. and then throw some crazy glue and seal back enough to wear it would not be obvious. Then with produce you have no seal whatsoever.

I've always considered it extremely stupid to mess with the people handling my food!
 
#31 ·
and these are the people delivering their food.

Now disclaimer here: I'm NOT advocating this and I have never worked for an app such as instacart.

Most stuff is sealed in some way but very poorly. It would be trivial for a driver to say open up a corner of a microwave dinner and spit in it, etc. and then throw some crazy glue and seal back enough to wear it would not be obvious. Then with produce you have no seal whatsoever.

I've always considered it extremely stupid to mess with the people handling my food!
Don't mess with the people who are in a position to mess with your food.
 
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#32 · (Edited)
I'm signed up for Instacart. Got that card and lanyard. I lost interest quickly after reading all the negativity about the company.

I know one cabbie that is basically a BUTLER and does well taking care of elderly folks he met while driving the taxi. He makes like $500 a week on one person alone. There is another person he runs errands for. He says it's risky running up a bill of credit for them, but they pay. I don't know if I would work on those terms either.
I have had a couple of old senior passengers that have tried to use me as their errand boy. It usually starts out good... but then they would all turn out the same way... They start asking for discounts and/or extra services at no extra cost until you realize you could be making more just driving for Uber.... then eventually a time comes where you do something for them and they say, "Oh, I don't have enough money to pay you today, I will pay you back next time," and then next time comes and they don't remember owing you anything. Usually right after you pay $120 of your own cash for something for them, and they suddenly don't have any money to pay for the errand nor the thing that cost $120. That seems to be how those situations go.
 
#33 ·
When I used to drive Uber, I would have a few people ask me to be their regular driver. Apart from the fact that I'm not licensed or insured for that kind of thing, I really didn't want the commitment; that's not why I signed up for Uber.

And like you said, these things often and badly.
 
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#34 ·
and these are the people delivering their food.

Now disclaimer here: I'm NOT advocating this and I have never worked for an app such as instacart.

Most stuff is sealed in some way but very poorly. It would be trivial for a driver to say open up a corner of a microwave dinner and spit in it, etc. and then throw some crazy glue and seal back enough to wear it would not be obvious. Then with produce you have no seal whatsoever.

I've always considered it extremely stupid to mess with the people handling my food!
But you don't know that the tip is being rescinded until AFTER you've delivered the food. How about we don't do the shopping full stop? And if asked, chalk it up to the bait and switch.
 
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