Why Is Instacart So Slow? What Shoppers And Customers Need To Know

Instacart is the most popular grocery delivery service in North America, and it's currently available in over 5,000 cities in the United States and Canada.

But, it doesn't matter if you're making money with Instacart or are using it to get your customers: Instacart can be painfully slow some days.

So, why is Instacart so slow? And, more importantly, how can Instacart Shoppers make more money?

This guide is covering everything you need to know to ensure you're making the most of this side hustle or getting your groceries on time.

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Why Is Instacart So Slow?

If you're not getting enough Instacart batches, it's hard to make decent money with Instacart because you don't have enough work to stay busy. Or, even worse, you might be accepting low-paying batches that aren't worth the effort.

So, if Instacart is slow for you, here are some of the most common culprits that might be causing problems.

1. A Low Instacart Shopper Rating

One of the main reasons Instacart is slow is that you have a low Instacart Shopper rating.

Your Shopper rating is one of the factors Instacart considers when assigning batches. According to Instacart, you should aim for a 4.6 star average to get more orders and avoid deactivation.

Your Instacart Shopper rating is the average rating of your previous 100 deliveries, so a single delivery won't make Instacart slow. However, if you keep getting low ratings, don't expect Instacart to flood you with batches and high-paying orders.

Instacart customers rate you after each delivery, so really, you have to work on customer service to keep your rating high.

Some tips to improve your Instacart Shopper rating include:

Messaging your customer about replacements or items being out of stock
Being friendly when texting and dropping off groceries
Being on time with deliveries

This is a very basic tip for Instacart Shoppers, but keeping your rating high is extremely important for this gig job.

2. Not Shopping At Peak Periods

Another reason Instacart is slow is that you're not shopping at the best Instacart times.

Jobs like Instacart rely on supply and demand, so if there aren't many customers ordering groceries, there are fewer batches to go around for Shoppers.

Some of the peak Instacart hours you should deliver at are:

Weekdays: Delivery from around 4:00pm to 9:00pm since people order groceries when they get home from work.
Weekends: Almost any time on the weekend is a great delivery time since this is when people normally shop for groceries and are home to accept orders.

The Instacart Shopper app also has a tool that tells you the best times to shop in your market, although you should still test different times to find what works best in your market.

3. An Unlucky Market

Sometimes, Instacart is so slow because you're not in a good market for grocery delivery gigs. This is also one of the main reasons shoppers say Instacart sucks for them.

This is a bit of a tough pill to swallow, but it's important to recognize when a food delivery app just isn't pulling its weight for your income. So, if you live in a very small town or far away from grocery stores, you have a few options.

The most obvious would be to try other Instacart locations and to deliver in busier markets if possible to try and get more orders. This is what many people do with similar gigs, like delivering in the best DoorDash markets instead of slower areas.

Alternatively, you can do what a lot of gig drivers do and multi-app.

Multi-apping involves using multiple food delivery apps at once to maximize earning opportunities. Usually, drivers do this with DoorDash Shipt, and Uber Eats alongside Instacart.

It takes a bit of practice to get used to multi-apping, but the rewards are worth the effort.

After all, if Instacart is slow but you find you're getting lots of DoorDash orders, you can focus on making money with DoorDash and pause Instacart for a few hours until it picks up again.

Start making money with Uber Eats!

4. Competition With Instacart Shoppers

As mentioned, your Instacart Shopper rating is one metric Instacart uses to assign batches. However, the number of other Instacart Shoppers in your area can also impact your access to orders.

So, the issue might not be that Instacart is slow in your area. But, you might be competing with so many other Shoppers that the app feels slow.

In this scenario, it's vital you improve your Instacart Shopper rating as quickly as possible.

You can also try out tips like:

Getting approved for Instacart alcohol deliveries
Getting approved for Instacart prescription deliveries
Mixing up the times you shop at

Instacart might still be slow with these tips, but you're giving yourself more opportunity to get orders and make more money at the end of the day.

5. Waiting In Bad Areas

One final reason for Instacart being slow is that you're waiting in the wrong areas when you're online and ready to shop.

Your proximity to grocery stores is another factor Instacart considers when assigning batches. So, if you're waiting on your sofa at home for orders, you're not going to have as much luck then if you're waiting in your car right by major supermarkets and shopping centers.

This is a common tip for any driving gig, especially for grocery and food delivery gigs, so use your location to your advantage!

Why Does Instacart Take So Long For Ordering?

Now that you know why Instacart is so slow for Shoppers, let's cover the two main reasons getting your groceries can be slow as an Instacart customer.

1. You Live Far Away From Stores

The most obvious reason Instacart takes forever to deliver your groceries is that you live very far away from supermarkets.

This is an unavoidable problem for food delivery apps, and it makes sense. After all, why would a Shopper want to deliver groceries to you if you live super far away?

To lessen this problem, try placing larger Instacart orders, not super small ones with just a few items.

Larger batches pay more, so you're making it more worthwhile for Instacart Shoppers to drive out all the way to you.

2. You're Not Tipping Your Shoppers

Like the first reason, not tipping your Instacart Shopper is another reason Instacart is slow in your area.

Instacart Shoppers see tips before accepting a batch, and the tip is worked into the total payment amount they're getting for an order.

good-Instacart-batch — Note how the Shopper see that $16.71 tip!

So, if you don't tip, fewer Instacart Shoppers are willing to accept your order because it's not worth their time.

This is the same reason DoorDash is slow or other food delivery apps can take forever, so you should be tipping your delivery driver!

Tips For Instacart Shoppers

If you're wondering how to make more money as an Instacart Shopper despite the app being slow, you're not out of options.

As mentioned, shopping at different times and improving your shopper rating are two ways you can start getting more money from Instacart.

Additionally, mixing in other driving gigs is one of the best ways to make more money while you're out on the road if Instacart is being slow.

Other popular delivery gigs you can try include:

DoorDash: Make money with the leading food delivery app in North America.
Amazon Flex: Earn $18 to $25 per hour by delivering packages for Amazon.
Uber Eats: Deliver food with your bike, car, or scooter to make extra cash.
Roadie: Deliver packages for people and local businesses and get paid.
GoShare: Use GoShare to make money with a pickup truck, large sedan, or cargo van by completing deliveries.
Walmart Spark: This gig pays you to deliver packages and is similar to Amazon Flex.

Jobs like DoorDash and Uber Eats are ideal if you want to stick with food and grocery delivery, especially if you want to make money with your bike or scooter and don't have a vehicle.

But a combination of driving gigs ultimately gives you more opportunity to be selective, letting you make more money per hour while out on the road.

Pro Tip: If you use multiple driving apps, use a mileage tracking app like Everlance to automatically track your income and expenses so you're ready for tax season.

Extra Reading – How To Make $1,000 Fast.

What Do Other Instacart Shoppers Say?

So, what do other Instacart Shoppers have to say about their experience?

Well, there's lots of chatter on the Instacart Reddit about why the platform is slow as of late. Here's what some other Instacart Shoppers are saying in one thread about why Instacart is so slow:

Annual_Coconut7466 says: “We’ve been trying to warn all you new shopper go find something else it’s over saturated.”
nomuggle says: “There are more shoppers than customers, so there’s really nothing you can do.”
Nutgirl2020 says: “Because Instacart keeps hiring new shoppers. Also because of their greed they keep losing customers because the customers are finding that the amount of money they’re paying fees is not worth their service.”

This is honestly a bit of a bleak outlook, but it highlights why multi-apping and experimenting with your market is so important to make more money.

So, keep shopping for Instacart, but don't be afraid to mix in jobs like Uber Eats or DoorDash as well.

Extra Reading – How To Make $100 A Day Guaranteed.

Final Thoughts

So, why is Instacart so slow?

Well, as we explained, there are plenty of reasons you might not be making as much money on Instacart as you'd like.

However, you have some control over things like your Shopper rating or the times you deliver at, so you can experiment to try and make more money.

And, there are plenty of other ways to make quick money in a day, so you don't have to stick with Instacart if it's slow in your market.

Best of luck with your hustling!

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