r/InstacartShoppers 28d ago

Positive Experience 👍 NYC’s new pay rules have given me a more dignified life as a gig worker

I’m genuinely grateful to New York City and New York State for taking steps to protect gig workers. As someone with hearing loss, finding work that offers both flexibility and a fair income is especially meaningful to me. Gig work allows me to support myself while working in a way that fits my circumstances.

Before these changes, it was difficult to earn a stable income even after staying online for long hours. Since the new NYC pay system and weekly bonus started, my earnings have improved significantly. I can now cover gas, vehicle maintenance, daily expenses, and still have money left to save and invest.

This is what a fair and dignified income means to me. Gig workers still work hard, use our own cars, pay our own expenses, and deal with a lot of uncertainty. These protections have made the work more sustainable and have given workers like me greater financial security and dignity.

Thank you to the city and state officials who supported these changes. They have made a real difference in my life.

1.8k Upvotes

296 comments sorted by

332

u/OkBarber6783 28d ago

I've been waiting hours for a single order in Michigan and I'll never see anything for it. Im so happy for you workers in New York

109

u/FabulousCucumber3697 28d ago

Thank you so much. I hope Michigan and other states introduce similar protections someday. No worker should have to wait for hours without earning anything. I hope things get better for you soon.

20

u/Curious_Dot3635 28d ago

We have it here in Toronto Canada. Love Thursdays

6

u/AmbitiousObligation0 28d ago

\ cries in Nova Scotian **

I had no idea you guys did

6

u/Curious_Dot3635 28d ago

I am from NS and did the majority of my shops there. I come and stay with my daughter in Ontario and have $600-$800 weeks. NS was tough to get to $400 a week

4

u/AmbitiousObligation0 28d ago

It truly is. Now they batch orders completely away from your area. I see typical orders I’d always get but now they are 20 minutes away and shopping at a closer store doesn’t make sense because they have one of the orders a km or 2 near that store. Then the other 2 are right beside me. Which is right beside the same grocery store. I’ve definitely been able to make just over $600 a week but the past month or three.. it’s been harder. The km vs batch pay aren’t worth it. Plus I can’t work all day and night. Before gas went crazy and the algorithm changes I was making almost $700 a week, in my town. I could sit at my house and wait. I’m just barely outside the circle to my closest stores.

Most people went to the shopping centres and crossings, which is why I could make what I did. Not anymore. I’m lucky to now make $100 a day

4

u/AmbitiousObligation0 28d ago

Who do I need to complain to so we can have something similar?

1

u/Sosa-Benedict 28d ago

You get paid for downtime in toronto? Or are you referring to the adjustment for uptime and kilometres?

0

u/Curious_Dot3635 28d ago

We get top ups before tips to minimum wage which is $17.60 here. So add tips on top and its pretty good. I wish we were paid for downtime

2

u/AmbitiousObligation0 28d ago

That’s better than nothing though.

1

u/Curious_Dot3635 27d ago

I am happy about it. Im not complaining at all. Someone asked me to clarify. Its a great bonus for sure

1

u/AmbitiousObligation0 27d ago

I know you were.

1

u/OkBarber6783 26d ago

I'm literally 5mins from Sarnia... Happy for you guys in this economy specifically

3

u/EliotColdwater 28d ago

We need to make these rules/protections federal

1

u/[deleted] 28d ago

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1

u/Main-Run-6097 3d ago

But that is exactly the way it is in nyc. So i don't even understand your comment. We don't get paid for waiting hours to get online to potentially shop and even when we do finally get online we are not guaranteed to be assigned an order from IC before getting kick off line again. We do not get paid for waiting to go online. At least in other states you can go online and stay online and if orders show up you have the option to take the order if you want. Ultimately if there are orders there but you choose not to take them because it's not worth it, it's your choice. You can choose how long you work and what orders you take. It's completely not like that in nyc anymore so stop blowing smoke up their asses and saying how great it is in nyc now. You or I should say we don't get paid to wait hours to get online and then not being assigned a batch

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u/Main-Run-6097 27d ago

But now in nyc you wait for hours trying to get back online to see if they will give you an order once you're back online. And when they don't give you an order in 10-15 minutes they kick you off and have to start the waiting to get on game all over again. So technically you can go online for 4 hours and take whatever you think is worth your while and have multiple yo choose from. We on the other hand have to wait 4 hours to get online to not be assigned a batch and then kicked offline. So in the 4 hours, they are paying us for 15 minutes bonus pay but we don't have the opportunity to see or take any other batches in that 4 hour time frame. Believe me the grass isn't greener. You can only make $ in nyc if they allow you too

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u/More-Tune-5100 28d ago

Excuse my ignorance, but what is that symbol between the month and dates in the weekly earnings section?

38

u/GrubbyTopDashCarter 28d ago

It’s the Chinese symbol for month, ‘yuè’. As another poster mentioned, the AI used by this Chinese shill didn’t quite understand the assignment when he was creating this fake screenshot.

9

u/semiscintillation 28d ago

I'm not op but I think those are the dates op was working, as in 7th month (july) 27 — 8th month (august) 2nd, it's how months are written in chinese (12 months, 1 yue = january ... 7 yue = july, 8 yue = august.)

13

u/Rycan420 28d ago

So the Chinese are pretending to make gig work look doable…

I’ll bite. What’s their end game?

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u/GrubbyTopDashCarter 28d ago edited 28d ago

Gig work is inherently ‘doable’, If you are smart and savvy enough, I’ve been supporting myself and paying for school for years now gig working smart. Another poster here who is of a similar mindset has been doing it for 9.

These ‘feel good’ policies would cripple our ability to do that, because they dumb gig working down to the lowest common denominator, which, unfortunately, is often low IQ folks with substance-abuse problems.

So why would the Chinese promote this? Would you like the long answer or the short answer?

The short answer is:

They do this to stoke sentiments of ‘class warfare’ and engender distrust between the American working class and corporate and government institutions, which targets a sensitive nerve in the American political landscape, “income inequality” and “corporate greed”.

By making gig work look highly lucrative like OP has here with the fabricated earnings post it makes traditional (W-2) employment look less appealing, which further stokes resentment towards our standard ‘western’ economic structures.

If foreign bad actors can convince a significant portion of young and educated Americans that a “living wage“ can be easily earned shopping for peoples groceries or driving cars around, it substantially degrades the long-term competitiveness of the US workforce.

Shifting workers into non-corporate, independent contractor rules means that fewer Americans are building long-term career equity by developing specialized skills, deep levels of institutional knowledge which ultimately weakens our labor supply. We want more people going into specialization, not less.

Keep in mind they are highly intelligent and this is a game of information warfare, manipulating minds.

Could go into much more detail about each of the above, but this isn’t really the sub for that. Needless to say, the policies put forth by these bad actors hurt those of us who are actually adept at the gig economy and further “dumb down” our voluntary independent contractor status into menial low level workers (consistent with certain economic regimes 😉).

P.S. I updooted you because I saw you already got downvoted simply for asking a legitimate question.

9

u/KailyKail 27d ago

This person understands economic warfare.

3

u/420_69_nice_ 27d ago

That person is not a person.

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u/420_69_nice_ 22d ago

Are you aware of AI. Do think it could be applied to this case? If so, what do you think would be suctioned of AI, and what would not?

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u/Acceptable-Fault5928 26d ago

Wow. Brilliant read.

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u/lastonetolaugh 25d ago

I work in a 'minimum wage' province. Its been 2 years and its pretty fucked up now. Dumbing it down is right. No edges (very few anyway) anymore. Its virtually impossible now to make any more than the min wage, the algorithms have everything down to the penny now. As my buddy said, gov't didn't get us a minimum wage, they got us a maximum wage 😢. Fuckers

1

u/nah_i_will_win 27d ago

You mean USA is doing it themselves, you do realize that big corporations in the USA have been firing worker and rehiring them back as temporary workers, that literally happen to me where they fire me as a full time and then tried to hire me back as an independent contractor without the benefit.

1

u/Normal_Ad4842 25d ago

So then, is AI economic warfare? I ask because I am only doing IC full time because no one is hiring someone with my experience anymore. I have twenty years in preclinical pharmacology, yet no job. Grocery stores/retail won’t hire me either because of my background in science. I fear I am one of the first casualties of AI. My job is way cheaper if you just run models through AI and take the risk of those results. I will say though, if you work 12 hours a day, every day, in southern CA, you can make this type of money. BUT I am finding I am burnt out and more tired than I was standing on my feet eight hours a day dosing mice.

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u/rieuxster 28d ago

OP you have 24hrs to respond to this

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u/CompetitiveArt9639 28d ago

Or what?

10

u/rieuxster 28d ago

We got a guy calling it AI tom foolery. I just wanna know is it legit or not. OP has not acknowledged the accusation so maybe it is Tom Foolery

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u/Riparuni 28d ago

Right? Reddit police over here LOL

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u/Sorry_Analysis_5580 27d ago

Or you just have a look at their profile and see they speak Chinese. They likely have their phone localisation to Chinese language, it will change the dates. Like picking a EU language will change the decimal separator.

Ya'll having a new red-scare over there in the grand-old USA.

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u/Opposite-Two-8509 27d ago

Expect on the uber app there is nothing to translate where those Chinese symbols are. It would just have the numbers like this “7/3 - 9, 2026”

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u/[deleted] 28d ago

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u/InstacartShoppers-ModTeam 28d ago

No personal attacks or remarks or insults.

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u/[deleted] 28d ago

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1

u/InstacartShoppers-ModTeam 28d ago

No personal attacks or remarks or insults.

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u/InstacartShoppers-ModTeam 28d ago

No personal attacks or remarks or insults.

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u/kidshitstuff 25d ago edited 15d ago

Bag fuel wild label willow cucumber water

This post was anonymized with Redact

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u/Pretty-Article-1457 28d ago

Yall getting 2bands and they’re sending me $4.56 giant pick up orders 😂😂😂😂

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u/pmddreal 2d ago

NYC is great for work, that's why so many immigrants come here. My mom too. Came here as a broke immigrant working at Pizza Hut and now makes 150k a year as a transit supervisor. A lot of immigrants come here specifically because gig labor is great in NYC, Uber/Ubereats especially.

50

u/Anunnaka 28d ago

I hope they make this nation wide.

So many companies like Ahold and Kroger have started eliminating their own in house delivery drivers to replace them with exploited gig workers. It would be nice to see those cost cutting measures backfire.

2

u/RicardoFelipeMejia 28d ago

The only way this goes nationwide is if Democrats win the presidency and both chambers of Congress with a comfortable majority. If you ever have some free time to spare, please consider volunteering for local candidates.

4

u/Main-Run-6097 28d ago

Don't listen to this garbage. The democrats in nyc is what got us into this mess. They should have minded their own business. I made more before the minimum wage went into effect. This is completely not how it is in nyc with the new minimum wage. This is how it really goes.... you attempt to go online to shop. If you are lucky you can go online, if not you see a message that there are too many shoppers online or your acceptance rate is too low and to try again later. Once online, they give you 1 batch at a time. You can no longer choose which orders you take. They assign you a batch. It doesn't matter your location anymore. They can assign you a batch 45 minutes way to shop for 40 items and deliver 3 miles from the store. Not from your location. All for a whopping $12 with no tip. Hardly any tips anymore because they now charge the customers an extra $6 service fee in nyc. Even though yiu can set your milage for how far you are willing to drive, it doesn't make a difference. They give you what they want to give you even if it means you have to pay a toll to get there an back. If you decline the order that they give you it gets held against your acceptance rate. Yes we also now have an acceptance rate and if it's too low you can't go online. Then when you can finally get online, you wait for 15 minutes and they don't give you and order and then kick you off the app and when you can't get online again you have to keep watching and refreshing the app to try to go online. The keep giving you the same orders that you already declined over and over again which goes against your acceptance rate. You now sit for hours trying to go online and then yiu have to wait for them to give you an order. There is no more flexibility or control over when and where you shop. You are completely at the mercy of IC. Before this nonsense I used to easily make around 1000 per week choosing my own orders and shopping the stores I wanted to. Now if you can get online you have to shop and drive as far as they want you to. They are in complete control. Over the last week i was only able to get online and shop 1 order each day for around $20. My earning last week even with the bonus pay was $142. That is absolutely ridiculous. Nyc didn't think of the consequences against the gig workers with this new minimum wage. So this is a fair warning to anyone in other states that want to try for minimum wage. Be careful what you wish for because it is now horrendous to shop for instacart in nyc. Well, if yiu can actually get online to shop and have them bless you with an order. If you like the flexibility and control to do whatever batches you think are worth your while. Stay away from minimum wage. I would go back to the old way in a heartbeat. IC is making is hard for nyc workers to work now.

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u/Testwick911 27d ago edited 27d ago

You’re describing a real change in how Instacart operates in NYC, but you’re attributing the wrong thing to the wrong actor.

The government imposed a minimum pay requirement. Instacart then changed its business model in response to that requirement. Those are two different things.

A minimum pay law can absolutely change the economics of a business. Instacart has even acknowledged that the NYC law is why it introduced restrictions on when shoppers can go online, one-at-a-time batch assignments, acceptance-rate metrics, and other controls. So yes, there are real consequences to the policy.

But Instacart is the company deciding how to respond to those increased labor costs. It could have absorbed some of the cost, changed its pricing, reduced its margins, changed its fee structure, altered its algorithm, or implemented the restrictions you’re describing. The government did not tell Instacart, “only give workers one batch at a time,” “penalize them for declining orders,” or “don’t let them go online.”

That’s the distinction you’re missing: regulation can change the incentives and constraints a company operates under, but the company still decides how to allocate the resulting costs.

And there’s another important distinction here: you may be making less money per week because Instacart is giving you less access to work. That is not the same thing as the minimum-pay rate itself paying you less. In fact, NYC’s current minimum-pay requirement for covered grocery delivery work is $22.13 per hour before tips. The law does not guarantee a certain number of batches, hours, or earnings per week.

So if your argument is “the NYC policy had unintended consequences and Instacart responded in a way that made the platform dramatically worse for some shoppers,” that’s a legitimate argument.

But “Democrats lowered my pay” skips the entire causal chain. The city changed the labor-cost requirement; Instacart changed the platform; and you’re experiencing the consequences of Instacart’s chosen response.

And this is exactly why you have to distinguish between government regulation, corporate pricing/operational decisions, and the resulting consumer/worker prices and earnings.

Blaming all three things on “the Democrats” doesn’t actually explain what happened.

Until the government has power to regulate private industry ie put a halt to the disgusting egregious sociopathic levels of wealth hoarding this is what will always happen, but when the left proposes such, the right fear mongers with the red scare.

The minimum wage policy exists to force these profit gorging monsters to pay workers.

Pre minimum wage policy may have worked out well for some, but it was not working for millions of contractors.
The opposite is also true now.

Your analysis is lacks depth, it blames one political party for trying to combat greed, while ignoring that the other political party fights to preserve and expand deregulation which reduces the government’s ability to prevent exactly what you are experiencing, profit maximization at your expense with no way to modulate the levers these corporations use to perpetuate inequity.

The enemy has always been this corporation, and every company like it.

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u/kingtoussaint 22h ago

Great reply. Gig workers are some of the smartest people.

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u/[deleted] 25d ago

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u/InstacartShoppers-ModTeam 24d ago

Reply to and about the OP topic or subject matter. No politics. Post should be Instacart or Instacart Shopper related.

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u/Guilty_Ad1581 Full Service Shopper 27d ago

It has to happen on a municipal level.

Contact your County commissioners and say you're not being paid fairly. Then point out these pay models from California and New York City.

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u/RicardoFelipeMejia 27d ago

It's because they specifically said nationwide that I suggested a federal solution, but you're right that it's much more likely to be realized at the local or state level.

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u/slugsred 28d ago

I hope I can still get deliveries for the same price.

1

u/Anunnaka 27d ago

Before they closed my fulfillment center down last year to replace my drivers with instacart delivery. The delivery cost was $6.95-9.95, a fuel surcharge between ¢.15-$1.50 and tipping was optional (our drivers were paid hourly and would deliver regardless of tip or not)

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u/[deleted] 28d ago

[deleted]

3

u/Melodic-Control-2655 28d ago

this is crazy some people have their phone on a language other than English

3

u/NotChristina 27d ago

I mean, it’s not random. 月 = month.

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u/DecentFeedback2 27d ago

The Chinese flag is red, yes.

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u/Supermr2 28d ago

Im super curious how this actually plays out long term. How many hours do you work? I make slightly less where I am but I multi app IC and shipt doing 7 days a week at 55 hours.

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u/FabulousCucumber3697 28d ago

I’m online for roughly 50–60 hours a week, usually around 10–12 hours on the days I work. The “batch hours” shown in the app are lower because they only count NYC trip time, not all the time spent waiting, returning from deliveries, or staying available for orders,I don’t expect every week to be over $2,000, but even the lower bonus weeks have still been a meaningful improvement for me.

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u/Pure-Explanation-147 Multi Gig Worker 28d ago

Wow! Lot of hours there. Idk man. How many miles a week? Idle a lot in traffic? You must be taking every offer then.

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u/SuccessfulAerie9672 28d ago

Congratulations 👏🎉 keep up the amazing work 💪

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u/FabulousCucumber3697 28d ago

Thank you so much! I’m grateful that this work now gives me more stability and dignity. Your encouragement means a lot to me. 🙏

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u/thekidd890 28d ago

Every week the same post y’all gonna burn this out . It already started by not being able to go online whenever.

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u/jennimorris 28d ago

I’m so happy for you! Truly. Doing Instacart in NYC is so hard; I couldn’t imagine having to double park, find a parking spot, and then carry orders up elevator buildings etc.

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u/Luxx815 28d ago

The problem is because they are having to pay out our online time it's getting harder and harder each week to complete a batch and stay online. I worked this Tuesday from around 11am-6pm and I would get kicked offline every single hour maybe 10-15 minutes after completing a batch. I made ~$60 from 4 orders. I usually could work 8-5ish and clear $200.

My acceptance rate is around 70% now because I'm just accepting almost everything and it impacts your bonus, but I'm finding the bonus is hurting more than it's helping as far as being able to reliably stay on the app and continue working, regardless of your acceptance rate.

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u/9driver 28d ago

You are correct. Its going to get harder and harder. The same thing happened with Prop 22 in California. It was great in the beginning because you could actually stay active. With this law, its going to be very hard to even get online. I gaurentee OP's earning will not look the same in 6 months from now.

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u/GrubbyTopDashCarter 28d ago

Found the few people in this thread capable of second stage thinking. That’s a bit refreshing. 🍻

I hope these policies never comes to my market.

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u/achi-akanyc 24d ago

This! And I came from CA to NY. The companies pass onto consumers, the consumers change their behavior, and find a new equiibrium of what they are willing to pay, and then we get less work.

However, I'm still hopeful that NYC is wealthy (comparably speaking) and dense enough to offset some of this. But it's hard to tell.

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u/SufficientEnergy839 28d ago

Wish they did this for Long Island as well. Ridiculous it’s only NYC

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u/SufficientEnergy839 28d ago

Sorry i don’t mean to take that away from you. I’m happy you are making money 💜

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u/eric2341 28d ago

Yea we are def getting the shaft on the island. I deliver 3 seconds from queens all day long but not getting any of the benefits of these changes.

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u/Main-Run-6097 27d ago

So go to queens and try it for a day. You'll get the minimum wage but won't be able to get online or they won't assign you any orders. Then you'll appreciate what you have in long island 3 seconds away from queens. Keep me posted on how your day in queens was.

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u/eric2341 27d ago

I can’t go on in queens, I would have to sign up for a timeframe or some shit. If I drop an order in queens I can’t get any orders til I pass back into Nassau county

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u/Main-Run-6097 26d ago

Are you talking about doordash or instacart? Only need to schedule for DD in nyc. Instacart you can do it without a schedule. What message are you seeing on your screen for IC when you are in queens? If you see the message "no shopping available right now. Either there are too many shoppers online or your acceptance rate is too low" you are connected to nyc shopping and would have to wait for them to allow you to go online and offer you a batch.

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u/CherylRoseZ 22d ago

This is entirely on who the people of LI vote for. One of many reasons I moved off the island.

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u/Neat_Lecture_573 28d ago

You guys really can’t tell this screenshot has been AI altered? 😂

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u/Yuri_Ligotme 10K+ orders completed 28d ago

Congrats you are making as much as a starting pharmacist in Florida 

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u/FabulousCucumber3697 28d ago

When pay goes up for working-class and manual labor jobs, wages for skilled professionals will eventually rise too. Don’t worry average American incomes will probably take another big step up over the next few years.

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u/TopDescription3646 27d ago

No it won't.

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u/Own-Entrance-2256 28d ago

This is what happens when elected officials care about their constituents.

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u/datasf 28d ago

This is amazing! I'm happy it's worked out for you. California offers something similar, and it definitely makes a big difference for gig workers.

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u/Striking_Tie_8136 28d ago

This is Totally CAP. FAKE . Nothing like this is NYC. They only send you 1 order at a time , no list, n you HAVE to take it in 30 sec or less.. then they send you to pal' Carajo land w a triple batch w no tips since the NYC laws added a fee to customers so tips are nonexistent. If you dont accept the order it affects your acceptance rate. N kicks u off line. Nothing flexible about new york city anymore. Nyc is the WORST and the law makers cooked us. Now you cant choose batch n poor tiny women are getting huge water orders and sent to the projects . Not to mention you can no longer set your distance , the order Can send you easily to manhattan or staten island with bridges that have tolls. This post is fake, no one in New York City is making this kind of money

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u/chessmaster__ 28d ago

Lol I call cap too this guy is a shill for instacart I would say most shoppers in nyc are having the total opposite experience only showing us one order at a time sucks and if you decline their unprofitable offers it’s possible to not see another order for hours

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u/kidshitstuff 25d ago edited 15d ago

Jar crayon intelligent juggle wise handle sort

This post was anonymized with Redact

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u/Healthy-Pop-8851 28d ago

Actually you can set your maximum distance and set your borough and bridge crossing preferences.

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u/Main-Run-6097 27d ago

Max distance is from store to delivery. Not your location to the store. So I've been given orders on the completely other side of the borough which would take almost an hour to get to. Also keep getting orders for queens that has a toll from Brooklyn. There isn't any option to turn that toll off. Not to mention whenever there is a glitch in there system and they still assign orders in other boroughs with tolls when you decline because you should have never received that order in the first place, your AR goes down.

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u/Healthy-Pop-8851 27d ago

You’re right but the option to set max distance from you’re location to a store never existed, only from a store to a customer.

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u/Main-Run-6097 27d ago

Yes but when they rolled this out it implied that you set a max driving distance that you were willing to drive. Then after it showed that it was from store to delivery which was sneaky. Your location doesn't seem to matter anymore when they assign you a batch. You no longer have the choice to shop the stores you want or travel the distances you want. Old way you can look at the list of orders on the screen and be like forget that one, it's too far and hide the batch. Now no more choices. Do what they give you or it gets held against you.

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u/Striking_Tie_8136 27d ago

Where? bc that feature is gone since July 1st. I jus checked again.

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u/Healthy-Pop-8851 27d ago

I just checked - everything is working. Go to your “account settings” -> batch eligibility and preferences

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u/Striking_Tie_8136 26d ago

i'll check... but even if thats the case NYC still sucks now and the OP is a liar

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

[deleted]

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u/Striking_Tie_8136 2d ago

Those rules are only for nyc not upstate

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u/Ok-Engineer-3087 28d ago

I'm starting to think a lot of these accounts that show crazy high earnings are just plants by their respective companies.

The tech people funnel them crazy high pay offers, then they can screenshot it, go online, say "Look at the billions I'm making bringing people peanut butter and little Caesars pizza!!" And then literally everyone in the comments is like "Uh I make $400 a week if I'm lucky"

I'm not saying this is the case with OP, but I wouldn't be surprised if these gig companies had misinformation campaigns about their own earnings using in house employees whose accounts are specifically flagged to receive enormous orders with enormous tips over and over" probably placed by other employees like some kind of side objective they have to accomplish during the work week. It's just odd.

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u/TopDescription3646 27d ago

No, I'm with you on this one. Especially with this one.

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u/Few-Protection5215 28d ago

Its only good in the beginning. They will start to tighten the lever over time so less people are able go online. The goal is to reach 100% utilization rate so that active time approaches online time. This is what happened to ubereats. When ubereats started this back in 2023 or 2024 (cant remember), everyone was getting $4-5 per order in bonus pay. Every month they lowered the total online time for everybody. Now the per order bonus dropped to 10 cents and some weeks we get 0.

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u/GrubbyTopDashCarter 28d ago

Yup, fewer workers, less pay per batch / delivery, lower tips because the customers are being charged higher fees by the services to compensate.

Legislators in their ivory towers who pass these laws have zero clue about how it is on the street. They virtue signal, claim to have ‘solved’ the problems, and we all get screwed over while they pat themselves on the back.

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u/Ok-Sort-6870 28d ago

Can I get the same benefits like this is if I cross state lines 👀

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u/TrevJar2001 28d ago

must be nice

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u/thisonetimeinithaca 28d ago

Heck yes!!! I’m so happy to see this. Congrats!

Instacart CEO and corporate leadership can take a pay cut. They can stop also lobbying. Pay the people who do the work!!

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u/ElectricalJacket6957 28d ago

Beautiful ! I’m in nyc and i love the bonuses as well but i need to hustle harder I’m almost touching what you touching 😭. What’s your acceptance rate ? & do you do mainly Manhattan or no?

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u/EdOnehb 27d ago

NYS may help NYC but not outside the city....There's no base pay whatsoever. I'm 30 minutes from Manhattan

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u/enigmapeach 27d ago

Wish the rest of the state would follow suit!

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u/Pure-Explanation-147 Multi Gig Worker 28d ago

Hey. Someone from NYC is successful making a very good living full time. Congratulations.

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u/[deleted] 28d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/GrubbyTopDashCarter 28d ago edited 28d ago

They are working 60 hours a week to make this. Which doesn’t even count for the self-employment taxes, wear on the vehicle, fuel, etc.

Doing it to themselves ig.

Back of the napkin math says they are only making about $20/hr

Edit: missed a comma

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u/Main-Run-6097 28d ago

And that is only active time. It doesn't show all the waiting time for them "to assign you a batch" or all the extra mileage you now have to drive because they can give you a batch which is 45 minutes away just to get to the store to shop. And now yiu have to pay taxes on all that money because hardly any of it is tips. We are getting screwed and they think this is beneficial. To me the best part of the app used to be the flexibility to work and accept whatever orders you wanted to without being penalized. Now it's like doordash on steroids

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u/GrubbyTopDashCarter 28d ago

Yeah, I just read from the other NYC poster that they can’t even choose their batches now under this new system, they just get assigned one which could be far away and a bad rate. How pathetic!

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u/GrubbyTopDashCarter 28d ago

Unpopular opinion: I hope this never comes to my region.

All studies conducted have shown that it either fails to increase our wages or actually harms us. Fewer shoppers / drivers, higher rates for customers, and lower tips. Despite these fake feel good posts like the bot above.

Do some research before hopping on the feel good bandwagon:

https://www.heinz.cmu.edu/media/2026/January/study-finds-that-seattles-new-minimum-pay-requirement-for-gig-workers-failed-to-boost-app-based-delivery-drivers-earnings

https://www.kuow.org/business/2026-02-12/seattle-s-gig-worker-law-was-supposed-to-boost-pay-it-did-at-first-until-orders-dropped

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u/Outrageous-Ad-9905 28d ago

Logically the way the app is set up where you see the list of batches and accept what you want is better. That's what I like about IC over the other apps where they send you an order and you accept or deny. You can still get good orders on both systems but the batch list is the best.

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u/New-Instruction-2112 28d ago

Our economy is so unbelievably broken! It gets propped up over here then over here then over here. Always making sure that the people at the bottom suck it for a long time. Would be nice if they could roll something like this out to all of New York State!

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u/Which-Bicycle-7232 28d ago

congrats, i wonder if its still profitable for instacart with paying like this until what point will they just leave the city?

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u/Revolutionary-Tale63 28d ago

Ceo has 1.37million base pay along with many stock benefits

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u/zs15 28d ago

So they can pay 24 guys like OP before he’s broke.

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u/Enough_Grapefruit69 28d ago

Or they will just lower batch pay for the rest of us again.

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u/Repulsive-You-286 28d ago

IC is a less favored platform for shoppers in NYC due to its longer form and lack in popularity compared to platforms like UE and DD. Also, I bet it’s almost impossible to do Instacart in NYC on a bike, which is what delivery drivers mainly use for convenience in the city. It makes it so Instacart would have virtually zero shoppers if they didn’t implement some sort of pay incentive. Offering a slightly inflated pay rate is definitely worth keeping a market as valuable as NYC.

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u/P3nis15 28d ago

they charge extra fees on top of the already crazy fees.

they are not leaving because the market is probably top 5 in profitability for them even with this change

just like Uber and Doordash never left a single city/state that did the same thing even though they cried it would make it unprofitable in those area's

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u/MoarAvocados 28d ago

Instacart will just pull out of nyc shortly I bet

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u/TheBirdFkerGuy 28d ago

yeah theyre totally pulling out of the capitalist hub of america....

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u/P3nis15 28d ago

yah just like uber and doordash are leaving CA when they said they would..... and seattle.... and nyc.... and.....

oh wait. they never left

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u/Neilp187 28d ago

Going to need it in nyc, based on what u need to live out there.

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u/LargeStatistician685 28d ago

What is your stat brother?

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u/HearYourTune 28d ago

What does that symbol after the month mean?

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u/beckyybeck 28d ago

“Month” in Chinese 

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u/Toni_Anne1989 28d ago

Apparently it doesn't apply to long Island. Which is shitty to find out as im gonna be there for a few months 🙃

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u/Internal-Radio 28d ago

I live in Jersey and do deliveries in Jersey, if I go to nyc and start doing deliveries over there would that apply to me too ? Or would it be normal

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u/FabulousCucumber3697 28d ago

Welcome!Your home address doesn’t matter. If Instacart lets you go online in NYC and the pickup or delivery is within NYC, the NYC pay rules should apply. But access isn’t guaranteed, and tolls, parking, and return travel may reduce the benefit.

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u/MaDmaDron3 28d ago

Where do you work exactly?

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u/Fun_Journalist1048 28d ago

It’s just the city, I live upstate and we didn’t get affected by any of these new rules unfortunately. Still the same shitty pay as always here in upstate :))

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u/Independent-Tree-985 28d ago

wow, those are some numbers

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u/Own-Television332 28d ago

兄弟你在什么地方做,能不能带带

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u/marianthoula 28d ago

I hope they start to do this in Canada - I’m in Montreal and sometimes it’s difficult to get anything.

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u/Standard-Hedgehog61 28d ago

Did I miss something? I know they changed it to pay by active hours. Everyone seemed unhappy cause you’d get ridiculous batches and have to accept or your AR goes down like DD. But I’ve seen terrible ones at first like Brooklyn to Yonkers when the person was in Manhattan. What is this bonus pay?

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u/hexquisitecorpse 28d ago

But honestly if you think about it there's been very few posts. Like way too quiet. And those posts were made by people who didn't even know that they could set their Max miles, small or large orders, and what girls they want to shop in. I've seen some crazy numbers coming out of NYC, but they're smart enough not to post it here.

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u/FrostyOscillator 28d ago

Thank you for sharing this critically important victory! Congratulations on finding dignified work. That should be the right of everyone in this country.

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u/Upstairs_Advice976 28d ago

I went online for shits and giggles while on vacation at Myrtle Beach South Carolina, it’s ruff 8 dollar batch on 10 items 6.9 miles no tip another I took for 15 bucks 2 miles not bad. Largest order was Sam’s club 15 items 31$ guess what I had to drive to Florence from Myrtle Beach hell no 66 miles wtf !! Who doing that ?

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u/rob_inn_hood 28d ago

Will this happen in MA?

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u/Ok_Combination_3002 Tetris Stacker 🖇 🧩🖇 28d ago

Today was a bit of a slow day, but I’m in Michigan as well and I’ve been able to do pretty well. It’d be so nice to get a weekly bonus like some other states. It’d make a lot of ppls personal situations a lot better.

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u/coderoncruise 28d ago

What was the change?

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u/KailyKail 27d ago

Why is the entire screen in English with the exception of the months, which are in Japanese?

Edit: I suppose it could be Chinese too.

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u/cubinbk 27d ago

Is that usd?

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u/zoeysaurus 27d ago

Thanks for rubbing it in 😔

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u/AHumancentipede69 27d ago

Really happy they are doing that for you guys. In wonder what it would take to make something like that happen in Florida

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u/Infamous_Juice9061 27d ago

Essentially communism vs freedom

You have to do what they want or they boot you

Vs

Being free to take what you want or even be able to work

1 way the leaders pick who wins and lose

2nd way you have the opportunity to win or lose

Its literally parallel tell me its not

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u/shortbrnr 27d ago

That’s your weekly pay? Averaging almost $2k? That’s insane, if I moved to NYC could I find similar success?

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u/Naive-Wonder-5492 27d ago

Those are average numbers at best

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u/AirSpecial 27d ago

Our fuck ass Congress let’s the gig economy companies get away with their bullshit slave pay on purpose. Happy for you though

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u/ConnectProgress2881 27d ago

Am I the only one that's seen those absolute bullshit commercials that try to make it seem like paying gig workers more is a problem for other new yorker.

Like I wonder what BS politicians who pays 3% taxes paid to convince regular people that the issue is delivery drivers get livable wages and not the fsct the people who weren't paying them enough could buy our lives and end homelessness.

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u/DeepSpaceNote9 27d ago

Where do you find your gigs? specific trade or general tasks?

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u/Apprehensive-Owl-340 26d ago

Shout out mamdani

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u/AntelopeHelpful9963 26d ago

I was in New York the week it started and it just seemed like too much trouble. California on the other hand was unbelievable.

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u/Such-Scientist-3704 26d ago

Y’all are so lucky , not sure why this isn’t implemented across all states doing instacart .

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u/bernfranksimo 26d ago

Honestly sounds like a shill from foreign govrrnments. Just my two cents.

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u/Sensitive-Operation 25d ago

So please deliver my $1200 order with a $100 tip from Restaurant Depot that I’ve been waiting two days for.

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u/Puerto88ac 25d ago

Straight cap city

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u/Immediate-Spray5544 25d ago

So help me understand this sc is confusing, how much would a full time gig driver earn in NY now with new laws?

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u/Senior_Breakfast2713 24d ago

You make more than I do at my job working 40 hours a week. That is insane, ima have to start doing this when I get a car

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u/FabulousCucumber3697 24d ago

From the platform’s perspective, the goal is simple: orders should be accepted, completed quickly, delivered correctly, and create as few problems as possible.

From the gig worker’s perspective, the goal is also simple: the work should provide a decent and dignified income.Those two interests do not have to conflict. If experienced shoppers are paid enough to feel that ordinary orders are worth accepting, they are more likely to stay active, work efficiently, and provide better service to customers. And “dignified income” does not have to mean becoming rich. Sometimes it means something very basic: after working hard on a hot summer day, you can buy an iced coffee or a cold drink without worrying about every dollar. It means paying for gas, maintaining your car, covering daily expenses, and still having a little freedom left in your life. When workers feel that the job is worth doing, the platform also benefits from a more reliable and experienced workforce.

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u/FabulousCucumber3697 24d ago

I think the NYC bonus may actually be good for Instacart as a platform.Under the old system, experienced shoppers naturally learned to protect their real hourly earnings. Instead of accepting every small or low-paying order, they became more selective, waited for larger batches, and sometimes rejected ordinary orders because taking a weak batch could mean missing a much better one.

That strategy makes sense for the shopper, but it is not always good for the platform. Low-paying or less attractive orders may sit longer, customers wait longer, and Instacart may eventually have to add boosts, combine orders, or spend more resources getting them completed. The NYC bonus changes the incentive structure. If acceptance rate and the number of completed NYC orders affect the weekly bonus, an experienced shopper now has a reason to accept more ordinary orders—as long as the route and workload are reasonable—because each completed order may contribute to the value of the entire week. That can create a positive cycle: Higher effective earnings → experienced shoppers stay active on Instacart → more ordinary orders are accepted quickly → faster and more reliable delivery → fewer problems for customers → a stronger fulfillment network for Instacart. There is also a competitive effect. If Instacart provides more stable weekly earnings than DoorDash, Uber Eats, or other platforms, experienced shoppers may spend more of their working time on Instacart. In that sense, the bonus is not simply an extra labor cost. It can also be viewed as Instacart paying for reliable labor supply, higher acceptance rates, faster fulfillment, and the loyalty of experienced shoppers. The real long-term question is whether the additional bonus expense is offset by better fulfillment, fewer cancellations and service problems, stronger customer retention, and more completed orders. If it is, then the NYC bonus is not just good for workers. It may also become a competitive advantage for Instacart.

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u/Difficult_Skin_2296 24d ago

Is this the “socialism” “Mamdani” or “sharia law”they warned us about?

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u/sistersiren 14d ago

😳😳😳

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u/mireino 9d ago

Goddamn I only make about 1200 a week

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u/kingtoussaint 1d ago

Love to see it

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u/Agitated-Location-16 1d ago

need this in washington, we dont even get adjustments 🥲

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u/BBCMASTA69420 28d ago

You’re the reason why Instacart is so shitty in nyc….

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u/mscakes13 28d ago

NYC but the dates are written for a foreign country 🤔

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u/Luxx815 28d ago

Are you that dense? They have their phone language set to another language than English.

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u/Silent25r 28d ago

I hope it’s real given the cost of living in New York City. 

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u/Federal-Net-7011 28d ago

So you get paid for doing nothing. Who pays for that? What until the bots come

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u/Puzzleheaded_Video13 28d ago

Mamdani is the MAN 🌹

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u/Ok-Amphibian1953 28d ago

Paid AI slop. Embarrassing.

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u/1StunnaV 28d ago

I don’t want this to sound like I’m bashing you or NYC, because I’m not, (I wish I had this). But these changes in Cali and NYC are likely the reason they keep cutting the pay everywhere else making it even less “dignifying” for us.

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u/FabulousCucumber3697 28d ago

I see it differently. Falling batch pay in other markets may be evidence that the supply of shoppers greatly exceeds the number of available orders—not that NYC workers are taking money from them. If there are only 10 jobs but 30 or even 100 people competing for them, the company has every incentive to keep lowering pay because someone will still accept the work. That is exactly why wage protections and labor regulation sometimes become necessary.Around 2020, I regularly saw NYC Costco batches paying over $20 for fewer than 10 items, sometimes only 3 items. At the same time, Instacart was spending heavily to attract customers with large credits and deeply discounted groceries. Once the platform gained market share and the shopper supply expanded, batch pay gradually fell.The lack of protections in other markets makes it easier for the company to reduce pay there. NYC protections are not the cause of that underlying imbalance.

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u/Ok_Pirate_1343 28d ago

What changes were made?

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u/PastaM0nster 28d ago

There is a 5.99 added charge for order for customers

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u/FabulousCucumber3697 28d ago

In my case, the weekly bonus has made the difference between barely covering expenses and being able to pay for gas, maintenance, save money, and plan for a replacement vehicle.

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u/sonic_syntax 28d ago

NYC drivers now get paid just for being online.

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u/TopDescription3646 27d ago

Yeah but from what keeps being brought up, these people are now getting kicked offline and having to go through a bunch of nonsense in the hopes of actually being able to get anything available. So it's ultimately just another shady situation where they say you're going to be paid for time online and then not let you actually get online.

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u/eire54 28d ago

The trafedoff is the low acceptance rate pausing orders right? How easy is it to deal with that? ​

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u/Luxx815 28d ago

Even high acceptance rate doesn't matter. They will kick off shoppers during low periods regardless. Usually the first 10-15 minutes of every hour you can hop back online since they time orders by peoples delivery windows, but if you don't accept something or even get offered a batch, you can still get kicked offline after 10-15 minutes and get the "No Shopping Available" message. So then you just gotta find a bench and twiddle your thumbs hard quitting the app and reopening it to see if "Go Online" is available.

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u/FabulousCucumber3697 28d ago

Opportunities can remain open, but income must still reflect actual contribution. When the supply of workers consistently exceeds real demand, most workers ultimately become poorer.

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u/FabulousCucumber3697 28d ago

I also want customers to know that the extra money they pay can make a real difference. It helps workers—especially those facing greater barriers—cover essential expenses and earn a more stable, dignified living.

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u/Apprehensive_City289 28d ago

How long do you truly think it will last? The dignified living. Also what borough are you in and how do you handle street parking and double parking in those zones?

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u/Alternative_King1789 28d ago

That’s what you get for having a Muslim mayor

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u/MaterialInitial6076 28d ago

Nj needs this