If you need to make a little extra money on the side –up to $21 per hour — shopping for Instacart might be an excellent way to do so. Whenever we go grocery shopping, we’re used to taking money out of our pocket to pay the grocery bill — not with Instacart.
With Instacart, rather than taking money out of your pocket, you will actually get to put money in your pocket when you shop.
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What Is Instacart Shopper
Instacart Shopper is a grocery pick-up and delivery service operating in over 5,500 cities throughout the United States and Canada. The company was founded in 2012 and has its headquarters in San Francisco, CA.
Instacart has partnerships with over 25,000 grocery stores in the United States and Canada–including major stores like Walmart, Kroger, Sam’s Club, Safeway, and more.
What Does An Instacart Shopper Do?
Instacart has two different shopper roles: full-service shoppers and in-store shoppers. In-store shoppers are Instacart employees who work part-time shopping and staging groceries for pick-up and delivery. They don’t need a vehicle for this as they are not the ones doing the delivery.

Full-service shoppers, which is what we are recommending for you, is an independent contractor. As a full-service shopper, you will shop and deliver groceries to Instacart’s members.
Full-service shoppers have the discretion to select the time they want to work, and the orders they want to fulfill.
You can work as a full-service shopper on the side during your spare time.
Who Can Become An Instacart Shopper?
It’s easy to become an Instacart Shopper. You only have to meet these requirements.
- 18 years of age or older
- Eligibility to work in the U.S. or Canada
- A functional smartphone
- A registered, functioning vehicle
- Vehicle insurance, in accordance with local laws
- Ability to lift 30+ pounds
- Ability to follow Instacart’s food safety policies
If you meet all of the requirements above, you can sign up for an account with the platform.
How To Sign Up For Instacart
Before you sign up as a shopper for Instacart, you should first decide what kind of shopper you want to be. Do you want to be an independent contractor (full-service shopper) or an employee (in-store shopper)?

Sign Up As An Independent Contractor Full-Service Shopper
To sign up with Instacart as a full-service shopper, you will have to visit the Instacart app or website. Once you’re on the sign-up page, you will provide your name, e-mail, and mobile phone number.
If for some reason, you don’t complete the sign-up process, you can pick up where you left off by simply entering your mobile phone number. Your unfinished application will come up, and you can resume the process
As an Instacart full-service shopper, you will receive orders on your phone. You can select the orders you want to fulfill.
Sign Up As An Employee In-Store Shopper
The process to sign up as an in-store shopper is almost the same as signing up as a full-services shopper. The difference is that as an employee, you will have to go through additional processes like a review of your application, and an on-boarding process.
Once you are on board, you can select the dates and times you want to work. The process is very flexible. You can pick and choose the times you want to work.
How Much Will You Earn As A Full-Service Shopper?
The amount of money you earn as a full-service shopper on Instacart is entirely dependent on how many orders you fulfill and the distance you have to travel to fulfill those orders.
As you know, a full-service shopper is an independent contractor with the discretion to work as many hours as they like. This means your total earning potential is dependent on you.

Instacart does provide a projected earning for each order you fulfill.
Your orders will come from within a certain radius of where you live. You don’t have to worry about fulfilling orders from out of state.
Instacart disburses your total earnings every week.
How Much Do You Earn As An In-Store Shopper?
In-store shoppers are employees who earn an hourly wage. As an in-store shopper, you can work up to 29 hours a week. Your income is dependent on how many hours you work.
Another Way To Make Money As An Instacart Shopper
Shoppers, both in-store and full-service, can earn additional income when they refer a friend to shop with Instacart.
The process for doing so is easy. You just have to be in good standing on the platform, and you must have completed at least 40 hours of service within the last six months. You will get a referral code that you can give to your friends and family. When they sign using your referral code, you’ll get a commission from Instacart.
According to Glassdoor, Instacart shoppers make up to $21 per hour.
Who Should Join Instacart Shopper?
Instacart is excellent for people who need the flexibility of setting their own work hours and schedule. This is especially true for full-service shoppers. Full-service shoppers are independent contractors with the discretion to complete as many deliveries as they want. The more deliveries they complete, the more income they’ll potentially make.
For in-store shoppers, Instacart allows only up to 29 hours of work per week, which is not considered full-time employment. If you already have a full-time job, Instacart can serve as an excellent second job to supplement your full-time job.
Instacart Background Check
To work on Instacart, you’ll have to complete a background check. This understandable because Instacart shoppers make deliveries to people’s homes. It is crucial to Instacart that they’re not hiring criminals to make these deliveries.
Instacart uses Checkr to conduct its background checks. The process takes about 10 days to complete. However, when there’s a high volume of people to check, it sometimes takes longer than 10 days.
If you’ve submitted to an Instacart background check, you can check the progress of the process at Checkr applicant portal
Shoppers are scheduled for shifts based on their availability. They can work up to 29 hours each week. To get the most hours with Instacart, you’ll have to be available to work the maximum amount of hours allowed per week.
To make the most money with Instacart as an in-store shopper, you’ll have to work at least 29 hours a week. Full-service shoppers will have to work overtime, which means anything above 40 hours a week.
You can also increase your Instacart income by referring the service to your friends and families.
To cancel your Instacart shopper account, you will have to click on the upper-right hand corner next to your profile to submit a deactivation request. Once Instacart receives your request to deactivate, it will go ahead and deactivate.
Ten days. Instacart background check usually takes 10 days to complete. However, it may take longer if the company doing the background check has a substantial backlog.
Yes, Instacart is a legitimate company. It operates on over 5,500 cities in the United States and Canada.
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Final Thoughts On Signing Up As An Instacart Shopper?
With the high pandemic-induced unemployment rate, getting a gig job to supplement your income can be a great idea. Many people are still too cautious about going out in public because of the virus outbreak.
Right now would be an excellent time to apply to be an Instacart Shopper–especially a full-service shopper. As a full-service shopper, you can work on your own terms. You are not an employee, and you can make as much money as you want depending on how much time you are willing to put in.
According to Glassdoor, Instacart shoppers make up to $21 per hour. The average wage, however, is $13 per hour.
If those figures sound attractive to you, then sign up for Instacart Shopping.
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