Instacart is booming right now as more people look to use the service while they’re quarantined or isolated at home. According to the company, they’ve seen a 150 percent increase in orders, and this sounds like a good thing, but Instacart workers are scared. However, Instacart workers worried about their safety during the coronavirus outbreak are threatening to strike nationwide because they feel their safety isn’t being looked after. According to WCVB News, Instacart workers have been looking to the company to provide workers with hazard pay and protective gear. It makes sense, and they’re out shopping for people who can’t or aren’t able to and risking themselves catching COVID-19. Instacart shoppers don’t make a decent hourly wage; instead, they are compensated based on a formula which “factors in the number of orders per shift and the number of items per order,” according to HuffPost. Right now, these shoppers are fighting against staying safe from exposure to the coronavirus and empty shelves. Chances are they’re also dealing with short customers who may not want to tip if their whole order wasn’t fulfilled. But that’s about the worst thing you can do right now. Both the head company and people using the service need to do better. Instacart shoppers have banded together and are threatening a strike, walking out and leaving hundreds of people to shop for themselves during the pandemic. According to WCVB News, Instacart currently has “more than 200,000 contracted workers who make multiple trips a day to various grocery stores to fulfill and deliver orders that customers make through the app.” The workers aren’t asking for a lot: they want the company to pay a hazard pay of $5 on every order and are asking for Instacart to raise their default tip amount to 10 percent. Totally reasonable. And not only should they get those asks from the company, but anyone who is using the service needs to pay up and tip better.
