Cornershop Shopper Review – Is This Gig Better Than Instacart?
When it comes to gig economy jobs, food and grocery delivery jobs are some of the most popular options.
You're probably familiar with companies like DoorDash or Instacart as well that pay you for delivering food and groceries to people.
But today, we're talking about a newer delivery side hustle you might not have heard of: Cornershop.
This Uber-owned grocery delivery side hustle is growing quickly. And that's why our Cornershop review is covering how much Cornershop pays, what the job requirements are, and if this side hustle is worth it.
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What Is Cornershop?
Cornershop is a grocery delivery service that began in 2015. Currently, the platform operates in dozens of U.S. cities and nearly 30 Canadian cities.
The Cornershop platform is very similar to Instacart. Customers order groceries and everyday essentials online. Then, a Cornershop Shoppers shop and deliver those products to their doorsteps.
Uber acquired a majority stake in Cornershop in 2021. With new funding and goals, the platform is now expanding to take on the likes of companies like DoorDash and Instacart.
How Does Cornershop Work?
If you want to start a new side hustle and become a Cornershop Shopper, you're in luck.
The sign-up and job process is extremely similar to other grocery delivery jobs like Instacart and Shipt.
1. Meet Cornershop's Shopper Requirements
The first step in becoming a Cornershop Shopper is to meet its shopper requirements.
Here are Cornershop's Shopper requirements to become a U.S. shopper:
- Be at least 19 years old
- Have a valid driver's license and eligibility to work in the United States
- Have a vehicle in good condition
- Meet all driving history requirements (basically no major violations in the last 7 years)
- Owning a cellphone and cooler bag
You also upload photo of government ID and your insurance when applying.
Unlike Instacart, Cornershop Shoppers can also deliver smaller orders on a bike or motorcycle. If you're making money with a bike, you still need proof of eligibility to work in the United States.
Finally, your city needs to have Cornershop available so you can actually sign up.
This is a much smaller grocery delivery app than the likes of Instacart, although the platform is growing quickly.
Cornershop is currently available in dozens of cities in the following states:
- Arizona
- California
- Colorado
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Nevada
- New Jersey
- New York
- Ohio
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Texas
- Virginia
- Washington
Right now, Cornershop is mostly available in major cities. But again, the platform is expanding, so keep an eye out for it coming to your city.
2. Sign Up To Drive For Cornershop
You can sign up to become a Cornershop Shopper by heading to its website and clicking on the “Become a Shopper” option.
You start your application by entering your city, locality, and vehicle type.
Next, you enter your:
- Full name
- Password
- Phone number
The next step is to upload all of your documents and personal information. This includes photos of your insurance, government-issued ID, and a photo of your cooler bag.
You have to upload all of these documents to become a Cornershop Shopper.
Next, you complete a short questionnaire about yourself and upload a profile photo. Finally, you sign your contract and wait for approval.
According to its website, it takes around 1 to 3 business days to become an active Cornershop Shopper.
Cornershop also sends you an additional grocery delivery bag and your Cornershop Shopper card, which is a prepaid card you use to pay for delivery items.
3. Accept Grocery Orders
Once you're an active shopper, you can accept incoming delivery orders using the Cornershop Shopper app.
The Shopper app is available on both Android and iOS. Overall, it's very similar to the Instacart Shopper app and shows you a list of products your customer needs delivered.
The majority of items are groceries, and the Cornershop Shopper app organizes items by category so you can shop more efficiently.
When you accept an order the app displays several pieces of information:
- The store you're delivering from
- How many miles you have to drive
- The customer's name
- A promised delivery time
- How many items are in the order
- Your Cornershop Shopper pay (not including tips)
This is similar information you get with jobs like DoorDash and Instacart, so it's nice you know what's involved in a delivery before accepting.
And you don't have to accept low-paying orders or difficult orders if you don't want to. There isn't a minimum acceptance rate for Cornershop Shoppers.
4. Shop & Deliver Groceries
Once you accept an order, you use the app to indicate when you arrive at the store. From there, you shop for grocery items and mark them as found by scanning the product barcodes or entering the information in the app.
This video from YouTuber Gig Mom shows an example of how to complete a Cornershop order and what life is like on the job as a shopper.
The Cornershop Shopper app streamlines everything, and it's very similar to completing Instacart batches.
You can also message or call your customer if you have questions or to inform them about a product being out of stock.
Once you collect every product, you head to checkout and pay with your Cornershop Shopper card. You also take a picture of the receipt.
Finally, you use the in-app map to navigate to the drop-off location.
5. Get Paid
Once you arrive at your customer's address, Cornershop asks you to text them or notify them you're there. It also says the customer should look over the order to verify there aren't any problems.
But in a nutshell, your delivery is done once you drop-off everything and mark the order as complete.
Payments can take a while to process and appear in your account. Cornershop pays shoppers via bank transfer every Thursday morning.
You also keep 100% of all tips like you do with most gig economy jobs. Customers can tip through the Cornershop app or in cash.
How Much Does Cornershop Pay?
It wouldn't be a fair Cornershop Shopper review without talking about how much money you make!
According to Indeed salary reviews, Cornershop Shoppers earn $16.43 per hour on average. This is slightly lower than Instacart pay and DoorDash pay, but it's still higher than minimum wage.
This is also to be expected since Cornershop is a growing grocery delivery service, so you don't have as many orders as with other driving gigs.
Cornershop also splits order payments into two components: the shopping part and the delivery part, so earnings look a little bit confusing.
But ultimately, expect to earn around $15 to $20 per hour as a Cornershop Shopper, with the higher hourly rate requiring some luck and good tips.
Cornershop vs Instacart – Which Gig Job Is Best?
It's natural to compare being a Cornershop Shopper versus Instacart Shopper since these two gigs are so similar.
In terms of life on the job, both apps are almost identical. You get paid to shop for groceries and household essentials, and Cornershop's Shopper app cloned a lot of Instacart features.
However, Instacart has a higher earning potential than Cornershop in most markets because it's more popular, so you get more order requests.
Instacart also works with more stores than Cornershop, and you can deliver things like prescriptions from CVS.
Finally, Instacart instant pay also lets you cash out earnings instantly for a small fee. If you want quick money, this beats waiting an entire week for Cornershop to pay you.
In short, Instacart is better than Cornershop for making money. But this is largely because it's more popular, and Cornershop is a nice secondary option you can use to get more gigs.
Other Cornershop Driver Reviews
One great way to decide if Cornershop is worth working for or not is to see what other drivers have to say.
In one Reddit post, shoppers were comparing delivering for Cornershop versus Uber Eats.
Here's what these shoppers had to say about their experience on the job:
- s0d0pe310 says: “It's way better pay than IC. Especially when there are multipliers. It's just not as busy as IC. You can take photos in customer chat.”
- Ninertoo says: “I personally love Cornershop. The OP is speaking from a newbie pov. There is a way to see expected payout ( which by the way is before tip and is usually good enough by itself) the weight bonus is 2.25 every 22lbs so I’ll take water requests all day. An extra 4.49 for every case of Costco water.)”
- Phila21767 says: “Cornershop sucks in Philly. I signed up about a week ago and been on and off it. I haven’t seen one order I would consider shopping.. they do pay per item so I guess that’s good hit I don’t think they show the tips upfront which is not good.”
As you can see, some shoppers love working for Cornershop because they state it pays more than Instacart.
But in some markets, Cornershop is slow and barely has orders.
This variability is the nature of food delivery gigs, and it's amplified by the fact that this is a new app.
So, use Cornershop as a secondary delivery app alongside Instacart. But don't rely on it as your only gig economy income.
Pros & Cons
If you're wondering if Cornershop is worth working for or not, here are some pros and cons for this delivery gig you should consider.
Pros:
- Competitive pay
- You know how much orders pay in advance
- Easy-to-use app
- Nice pay bonuses for delivering heavy packages like cases of water
- You keep 100% of all tips
Cons:
- Cornershop is still expanding to new cities
- Not as busy as other grocery and food delivery apps
- Pays less on average than Instacart and DoorDash
Other Cornershop Alternatives
Now that you know how much Cornershop pays shoppers, it's time to cover a few alternatives you can use to make more money.
As mentioned, Cornershop is still slow in many markets. This means it's important to multi-app so you get as many order requests as possible.
Some of the best apps like Cornershop include:
- Instacart: The leading grocery delivery in North America that's in over 5,000 cities.
- DoorDash: Make money by delivering with the leading food delivery app in North America!
- Uber Eats: Another leading food delivery app that's available in thousands of cities across the world.
- Amazon Flex: Lets you earn $18 to $23 per hour by delivering packages for Amazon.
- Roadie: A great delivery app that lets you make money with a truck, large sedan, or cargo van.
Again, you should test how much Cornershop pays in your market and how busy it is. But for now, stick to these alternatives to get more orders per hour.
Extra Reading – The Best Ways To Make $3,000 Fast.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Cornershop Shoppers Get Tips?
Cornershop Shoppers can get tipped through the app or in cash and keep 100% of all tips.
Does Uber Own Corneshop?
Uber acquired a majority stake in Cornershop in 2021 to expand into the grocery delivery market.
When Does Cornershop Pay Shoppers?
Cornershop pays shoppers every Thursday through bank transfer for the previous week of deliveries. There isn't an instant cash out option at this time, so you have to wait a week to get paid with this gig.
Extra Reading – The Best Same Day Jobs That Pay.
Is Cornershop Worth It?
So, is becoming a Cornershop Shopper worth it?
In our opinion, working for Cornershop is worth it if you're already using gig jobs like Instacart and DoorDash to make money. This is because you can use Cornershop to supplement these two apps and accept the occasional high-paying order.
That said, Cornershop isn't worth it if it's the only app you use. This is because it's not popular enough in many markets to provide a steady stream of orders.
There's really no harm in signing up for Cornershop just to see how much it pays in your market. And as this app expands into new cities, you might be surprised at how much you can make!
I hope our Cornershop review at least helps you decide if this gig job is worth testing.
And remember, you can also try out gigs like DoorDash and Instacart if you haven't already to make as much money as possible.
Best of luck with your shopping!
Looking for even more ways to make extra money? Checkout:
- The Best Gig Apps Like Wonolo To Make Money.
- How To Make $1,000 In 24 Hours.
- How To DoorDash For The First Time.
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Cornershop Shopper Review
Name: Cornershop
Description: Cornershop is a grocery delivery app from Uber that pays you for shopping and delivering groceries to people's doors.
Operating System: Android, iOS
Application Category: Gig Apps
Author: Tom Blake
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Earning Potential
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Hourly Pay
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Ease Of Use
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Available Cities
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Getting Paid
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Requirements