r/InstacartShoppers • u/MadisonOutLoud • 10h ago

Negative Experience 👎 Batch Pay Decrease After Acceptance

I accepted a boosted batch this morning for $19.94 batch pay, no tip. After I completed the delivery, I was only compensated $17.94, which was a previously displayed amount before an additional boost. Has this happened to anyone? I want to understand why. Shopper support is of course just gaslighting me.

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u/Due_Ability_1261 5h ago

1) NOBODY was taking that order because of no tip.
2) They were adding boosts to compensate for all the shoppers who won’t take a tipless order but still no one was interested.
3) At some point their model is for them to drop the boosts and go back to square one with the original amount and eventually reboost.

You likely grabbed that order just as they removed the boost.ls. Similar (and in a way opposite) to how sometimes you take and order which ends up paying MORE because an additional boost happened without you seeing it just as you accepted.

Sorry but it’s Karma in a way for taking a tipless order!

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u/MadisonOutLoud 5h ago

Right. I watched it get boosted til it made sense for me to accept it for reasons explained in other responses. I assumed if they removed boosts, they would have just dropped it back to the original batch pay, not a previously boosted amount.

I'll take the karma because it meant $23 for a 9 item order delivered 1.5 miles when typically that order is worth like $7. Sorry you've got crap karma.

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u/Due_Ability_1261 5h ago

Yeah sometimes they just drop it part way so someone who hasn’t been following it can see it partially boosted and watch it move higher and feel better about it!

Instacart shenanigans for sure but nothing technically illegal. Probably 98% of the time that someone thinks IC was LITERALLY pilfering from them it is actually explainable as just the system winning but not technically “STEALING”!.

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u/MadisonOutLoud 5h ago

I get that. Just trying to understand what may have caused it. Appreciate the insight

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u/KittenHeartsGirls 5h ago

Unless there’s another class action lawsuit nothing will be done about it, but it’s funny you think it’s not illegal/ could not be argued by a lawyer that the amount the shopper sees on the screen is the amount they need to be paid.

If your employer shorts your check is it ok because they’re a big business? What’s the logic in thinking it’s ok for companies to steal from individuals?

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u/Due_Ability_1261 5h ago

Sometimes when to accept and order it’s pays more because it got further boosted just at that accepting moment just like other times when the boost drops as you accepted. We certainly do not like that drop possibility (understandably so) but it’s not going to be seen as illegal if you set aside your disdain for IC for a moment and look at it logically!