My 51st Instacart paycheck 💸 🛒

Thanks to an end-of-the-week snow, I ended up having my best week of Instacart since April 2023. I am thrilled with how week 51 unfolded and am excited to talk about how it all went down.

Monday, January 8th

No work because I was out of town.

Tuesday, January 9th

No orders = No work

Wednesday, January 10th

Wednesday was my first day finally getting to work during week 51. I didn't get started until well into the afternoon because I had several things to do during the morning. It was back day at the gym, then I had to go to the grocery store for myself, and I also spent a little time scheduling an appointment to install new tires on Friday.

I made about $43.54/hr on this day.

The only order I accepted on Wednesday was from a repeat customer, but one I haven't had since I first started doing this job. They live in what looks like a boarded-up abandoned building across the street form the market, but somehow it's a house full of people. I believe it is a halfway house for people trying to get off of drugs. They may be getting off hard drugs which I'm always happy to hear, but they have zero control over their sugar addiction.

I had two full carts and all of it besides a bunch of sardines was nothing but artificial sugar. I underestimated how much work this order would be, but it still took me less than an hour in total. The most difficult part was finding a second cart because they are scare at my main store. There is a huge problem with thieves taking the carts off the lot and never returning them.

I got it done and was very happy to be finished. Another bonus was the fact that the house was only a few streets away from where I live, so not much driving on this one.

Thursday, January 11th

Thursday I was determined to achieve my goal at all costs. I knew that I was going to most likely be off for the majority of Friday since I had an 11 am appointment to get new tires put on my car. This meant I needed a good day on Thursday since this week had been slow so far.

I made about $50.99/hr on this day.

Thankfully, Instacart gave me a promo and it was a pretty good one. I struggled to get orders consistently to complete the promo though. You'll notice large gaps before and after my third order. I remained patient and eventually was rewarded with some work.

The promo netted me an extra $32.69, which equals out to about $6.53 per order. Not only did I get enough orders, but I accepted ones that didn't have high batch pay which meant I got the most bang for my buck from the promo.

Friday, January 12th

As I expected, I didn't get to work very much on Friday. My appointment to get new tires on my car took longer than it should have. They had my car from 10:30 am until 2 pm. Kind of defeats the purpose of an appointment if you ask me. Now that it's over with though, I can relax because I no longer need new tires.

I made about $21.07/hr on this day.

After I got my car I only got one order all afternoon. It was for one of my regulars, one who I am beginning to realize is a cheapo. He's a super nice guy and always jokes around with me, but he always leaves the same $10 tip. I knew that when I accepted this order, but he had me in the store longer than I should have been because he kept asking me for more things without raising the tip. It ended up being more work than I originally signed up for. I kid you now, he had my sniffing candles to find him one that "didn't smell girly, but reminded me of the beach". Such an odd request, but I think I got him one that he'd enjoy.

I like having customers who I can deliver to without having to use GPS. It makes me feel like I know my way around. I do not however enjoy waiting outside in a windstorm for 5 minutes for the guy to answer his phone and let me inside his garage like he prefers. Nice guy, a nice house, but just an okay tipper. I can't help that I know so many other customers who are much more giving for far less. It is what it is, I didn't have to do this order, it was my choice. I figured it'd be better than a $0 day. It ended up being one of my lowest hourly days since I first started doing this. Oh well.

Saturday, January 13th

Saturday went how I had hoped it would. I got my first order at 9 am and stayed busy most of the day. I was a bit discouraged because my first order had a bunch of items out of stock, so I lost a little over $5 on the tip since they were percentage tippers. Then, all I seemed to be getting was small orders with low tips. I forced myself to do a bunch of those and then it began to pay off.

I made about $41.98/hr on this day.

I ended the day with by far my best order of the day. It was for one of my newish regulars. I think they were stocking up for the forecasted snowstorm. They made sure to leave me a very nice tip for my efforts. I went ahead and called it quits after that one because my phone was close to dying. I needed to go home and fast charge it, but I also had plans to go to dinner with my parents. I figured I may as well get a head start on the evening ahead since I made over $100 in a fairly short amount of time.

Sunday, January 14th

Sunday surprised me in a big way. We were expecting a snowstorm in my area to arrive on Monday or Tuesday, but I woke up Sunday morning and it was already snowing pretty heavily. Since I just got new tires this week and my Lincoln MKZ is AWD, I wasn't too worried about it. I bundled up and threw on my snow boots, then it was just another day for me.

I made about $52.70/hr on this day.

It turned out that everyone in town panicked and thought this was the big storm. This was the busiest day I've had doing Instacart in many months. I had orders nonstop from around 8 am until after 2 pm when I called it quits for the day. This is how I wish every day was.

Another fun thing that happened is I delivered an order to a business that is owned by a family friend. After I delivered they called me to tell me they needed it delivered to another address. I ended up getting a $50 tip from them, part of it was a Venmo payment. Not only that, but we agreed that I would become their new personal delivery person instead of them having to spend a bunch of extra money on fees. This is my first customer to propose such a thing. I of course was more than happy to accept.

End of week hours and pay 🤑

My weekly pay was about $500 and I worked just under 11 hours.

I made about $46.44/hr on average this past week.

Doing it again next week 👀

After the first snow of this winter, I now wish for it to happen more often before spring comes. I don't mind a little bit of snow, especially if it means I have loads of customers who normally don't place Instacart orders all of a sudden wanting to do just that. This was a fantastic week and one that I needed a lot considering I may have to take a few days off next week when the real snowstorm arrives. That and tax season, I'll take all of the money I can get right now.

I hope you have enjoyed this insider look at what kind of pay is possible while working for Instacart.

^{Follow my curation trail}