this post was submitted on 13 Dec 2023
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No Stupid Questions

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With services like Uber, DoorDash, Instacart etc, how do the apps give you orders? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 11 months ago by Icedrous@sh.itjust.works to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.world
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Lame title but let me explain,

I had Uber eats and was a driver, and I didn’t really like it but at the same time I had applied for Instacart and I’m in the process of signing up for that.

I live in a small town off the #1 in Canada and it takes about 25-30 minutes to get into the city on a good day. My town is also full of elderly, and considering people have to travel so much to get into the city, they make a day out of travelling down there.

I want to advertise the fact that I am an Instacart delivery person who is willing to go into the city to pick up groceries, prescriptions, whatever it may be. So my question is: does Instacart create batches for drivers to pick up in proximity to the store, or proximity to the person?

In other terms, will I need to actually be on the road near these stores for a chance to pick them up? Or can I stay in my home, keep the app running, and check every few minutes to see if anyone from my town requested something?

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[–] Shohmini@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Just for the record, I haven't done Instacart, and my most recent experience with DD was a little over two years ago so I'm unsure if it's still done in the same way.

When I did DD it would pull up a map in the app to show me hotspots that were getting high volume of orders in the town/city I was in. I drove to those hot spots, and parked in one of the parking lots in the area until I received an order. It would give me a pop-up when an order was available for me that only said the location to pick the order up, distance I would drive, the pay for that order and ask if I wanted to accept it. Nobody was able to request me as a Dasher, the app would just ask me if I wanted an order. If I said no it went to the next Dasher to ask if they wanted it. I'm assuming that Instacart is the same way. I believe Instacart is done in a similar way but with groceries instead of food.

[–] Icedrous@sh.itjust.works 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Uber Eats was like that too, and I just worked for them a few weeks ago

So theoretically, if I want to help out my community, I’d have to sit in parking lots at a store?

[–] Shohmini@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

From my admittedly limited understanding if you wanted to help the community via Instacart and the alternatives, yes. You'll get the occasional order while driving to a hotspot, but most of your time will be the spent the same way as it was with UberEats. Sitting in parking lots waiting for an order to pop-up.

If you're not hurting for money, and you're just looking to help I'll always recommend reaching out to some of the local volunteer groups in your area. In my local area they're almost always hurting for volunteers, and they're always thankful when someone shows up

[–] Icedrous@sh.itjust.works 4 points 11 months ago

Damnit, not what I wanted to hear but thank you!

[–] weariedfae@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago

I don't have a lot of information about this but in the Before Times I worked with a couple of people who operated a side business of getting groceries and running errands for housebound or elderly people. They didn't advertise, it was word of mouth, but it is something you could consider.

You could put up flyers and put them in areas that your target demographic hangs out (VFW, senior center, the grocery store bulletin board). Use large, bold font.

The way they handled it required more personal interaction (going over receipts with someone vs. their shopping list) but once they had a few regulars it was a fine business. It didn't make much but I think they wanted it to be closer to a service than a massive money maker.

Just something to consider if you feel the new apps (which can be a barrier to the elderly) aren't meeting your needs.

[–] oohgodyeah@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

Have you considered listing your services on Dumpling? https://www.dumpling.us/personal-delivery-tools/pdt-signup

[–] MsPenguinCat@midwest.social 1 points 11 months ago

First of, let me state that while I have a shopper account, I never ended up keeping any of the orders I accepted. But, I have actually used it and done every part but shopping, and I know a bit about how it offers

Unfortunately, it is likely you will need to be closer to the store to get any orders. Your current proximity to the customers does not affect what orders you see, as they care more about proximity to store. I can't say for certain of you will actually be able to see orders from so far away. When I started, I could only see stores in my home city. I live in Virginia now and despite the being many many more stores in "reasonable" proximity, I still only can easily see orders near me.

The big issue you are going to face with this plan is determining if they actually offer groceries to your area. I assume they do as you signed up, but I can't imagine it is cheap to order there or easy to find a driver to accept the order. But let us imagine they do offer. You won't ever be able to do enough at a time to justify the time it takes to go back and forth. There is a max on the number of customers they will let you shop for at a time, and I believe it is 2 if they are at the same store with similar home addresses and shopping times. So, if you are only doing your home town, it would realistically be 2 orders every 90 minutes. That assumes your are at the store already. If you are really really fast at shopping, it is 75 minutes. But you still have the drive to and from that is killing all of your working time.

The other problem you will face is dealing with other shoppers who will simply accept anything no matter how ridiculous it would be for them. These are usually part of the constant batch of new shoppers that gig companies pick up as they don't know enough yet how best to pick and choose. Or, they are the other group who pick it up and do it while they are doing orders on food delivery apps as well. Not a lot of those around, but I have seen it.

So, moral of the story is don't do this. If you want to deliver groceries to your town, I would offer that service yourself.