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Instacart has raised another $200M at a $4.2B valuation

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Re: Instacart has raised another $200M at a $4.2B valuation

#141

Post by clay_the_ripper »

octernion wrote: post #56
clay_the_ripper wrote: post #14

I have never had a good experience with instacart. I’ve ordered from them probably 10-15 times and every single time, without fail, they either forget an item or replace an item with another item that I don’t want. This makes the service unusable, because if I’m cooking dinner that night and want to order instacart, there’s a high likelyhood I’ll be missing something crucial for my recepie, meaning I’ll have to go to…

as an engineer at instacart, it's very disheartening for me to see the top-rated comment on HN is "I can’t wait for instacart to go out of business." even if we did not provide value to you (which i apologize for -- it is a priority of ours to improve the replacement experience in particular as it is very frustrating to customers), i am not sure why that implies that we do not provide a valuable service for others an…

You’re right, this was a bit harsh. I’m sure lots of good people work at instacart, and this was not intended to seem like I’m excited for anyone to lose their job.

I guess a more accurate statement would be “now that I’ve discovered amazon prime now is available in my area, I’m excited for the competition between these services to offer me a better quality product at a better price”.

Sorry if I offended. Cheers.

Re: Instacart has raised another $200M at a $4.2B valuation

#142

Post by clay_the_ripper »

octernion wrote: post #96
Pyxl101 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you responding to the same screenshot that tfehring is commenting on? https://imgur.com/a/j47ls It says: > "A mark-up is added to item prices at this retailer to cover the cost of the Instacart service. Prices are based on data collected in store and are subject to delays and errors." There is no good, ethical reason why a delivery service should show me an item price that's different from what's in the store. It…

as i have noted elsewhere in the thread, that is a message -- from the retailer -- that the prices are different from in-store (and again, online pricing is their prerogative). instacart is not marking anything up. edit: it seems clear that we can do better in terms of communicating this, so i've passed that feedback on to the team.

Thanks for the clarification. I always assumed that this markup was from instacart and not the retailer. I guess I always found this very frustrating because instacart always says “we’re super transparent” but they never actually tell you what the mark up is. I guess instacart doesn’t even know what the markup is, which would explain why it isn’t communicated.

Re: Instacart has raised another $200M at a $4.2B valuation

#143

Post by itronitron »

octernion wrote: post #56
clay_the_ripper wrote: post #14

I have never had a good experience with instacart. I’ve ordered from them probably 10-15 times and every single time, without fail, they either forget an item or replace an item with another item that I don’t want. This makes the service unusable, because if I’m cooking dinner that night and want to order instacart, there’s a high likelyhood I’ll be missing something crucial for my recepie, meaning I’ll have to go to…

as an engineer at instacart, it's very disheartening for me to see the top-rated comment on HN is "I can’t wait for instacart to go out of business." even if we did not provide value to you (which i apologize for -- it is a priority of ours to improve the replacement experience in particular as it is very frustrating to customers), i am not sure why that implies that we do not provide a valuable service for others an…

In order for instacart to survive, it needs to partner with regional grocery chains by providing them with the 'ecommerce' side while the grocery chains provide delivery. I live in a metro area where a local chain now provides excellent delivery service (and the employed delivery people won't accept tips) and hope they succeed long term. I don't use Amazon for groceries although it might be available, and I never shop at Whole Foods because their stores are way too large. Whole Foods would dominate if they roll out 'whole foods Express' stores which would be much smaller (think 7-11) so that people can get in and out without feeling like they are walking through the Natural History Museum. Families buy the most groceries and are the most time constrained, but I'll never use instacart until they drop the whole gig-economy frontline workers as contractors bullshit.

Re: Instacart has raised another $200M at a $4.2B valuation

#144

Post by nugi »

gehwartzen wrote: post #134
octernion wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

as i have noted elsewhere in the thread, that is a message -- from the retailer -- that the prices are different from in-store (and again, online pricing is their prerogative). instacart is not marking anything up. edit: it seems clear that we can do better in terms of communicating this, so i've passed that feedback on to the team.

Why is it that grocery stores charge an Instacart shopper more than a regular customer? What extra work does the store have to do for the Instacart shopper that they wouldn't for a regular shopper? Intuitively it seems like the store should be more incentivized to offer lower prices to Instacart since they provide a steady stream of business, reliable payment, etc.

Shh, its the cost of the kickback they are trying to talk past. Its just another fee.

Re: Instacart has raised another $200M at a $4.2B valuation

#145

Post by acct1771 »

gehwartzen wrote: post #134
octernion wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

as i have noted elsewhere in the thread, that is a message -- from the retailer -- that the prices are different from in-store (and again, online pricing is their prerogative). instacart is not marking anything up. edit: it seems clear that we can do better in terms of communicating this, so i've passed that feedback on to the team.

Why is it that grocery stores charge an Instacart shopper more than a regular customer? What extra work does the store have to do for the Instacart shopper that they wouldn't for a regular shopper? Intuitively it seems like the store should be more incentivized to offer lower prices to Instacart since they provide a steady stream of business, reliable payment, etc.

Eh, their shoppers sound dumb from the anecdotes here, are likely tending to be picking up larger orders a lot, and generally plugging up the store at a higher rate than other shoppers.

Re: Instacart has raised another $200M at a $4.2B valuation

#146

Post by acct1771 »

Gargoyle wrote: post #40
clay_the_ripper wrote: post #14

I have never had a good experience with instacart. I’ve ordered from them probably 10-15 times and every single time, without fail, they either forget an item or replace an item with another item that I don’t want. This makes the service unusable, because if I’m cooking dinner that night and want to order instacart, there’s a high likelyhood I’ll be missing something crucial for my recepie, meaning I’ll have to go to…

I used them as my sole source of groceries for about 3 years and had no problems with products or deliveries at any point. I do agree about the fees, which I always unchecked and I always tipped the driver in cash despite Instacart urging me not to. In my case the driver was also the shopper on every delivery, but I understand that's not how it always works and tipping cash is a bad idea when they're different people…

For our anecdotal evidence, what area do you have these experiences?

Re: Instacart has raised another $200M at a $4.2B valuation

#147

Post by lazerpants »

cryptoz wrote: post #136
lazerpants wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Someone with a gun took my driver's license from me a few months ago Unless this person was a police officer, and you're glossing over a lot of the story, you can obtain a new one at your local DMV and resume operation of motor vehicles...

> you can obtain a new one at your local DMV and resume operation of motor vehicles... No, my driver's license was from another country. It would have required either thousands of dollars to replace or re-taking the test in the US. Neither options has been something I can do just yet. I'll take the US test soon. If you're going to victim-shame and tell me, > that's not exactly such as simple thing to do and would be…

Please don't be so mellow dramatic. Here, it took me about 10 seconds of googling to find out how you can replace your license after I figured out where you were from:

https://www.ontario.ca/page/replace-drivers-licence

Re: Instacart has raised another $200M at a $4.2B valuation

#148

Post by cryptoz »

lazerpants wrote: post #147
cryptoz wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you can obtain a new one at your local DMV and resume operation of motor vehicles... No, my driver's license was from another country. It would have required either thousands of dollars to replace or re-taking the test in the US. Neither options has been something I can do just yet. I'll take the US test soon. If you're going to victim-shame and tell me, > that's not exactly such as simple thing to do and would be…

Please don't be so mellow dramatic. Here, it took me about 10 seconds of googling to find out how you can replace your license after I figured out where you were from: https://www.ontario.ca/page/replace-drivers-licence

You are incorrect about how 'simple' it would be for me to replace the license. Please stop assuming you know everything about someone's life and telling them what to do. You are wrong - I cannot follow those instructions to get a new license replacement for a variety of reasons. I was not being melodramatic, I was being honest and real. Stop insulting me and stop being rude.

Re: Instacart has raised another $200M at a $4.2B valuation

#149

Post by octernion »

clay_the_ripper wrote: post #141
octernion wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

as an engineer at instacart, it's very disheartening for me to see the top-rated comment on HN is "I can’t wait for instacart to go out of business." even if we did not provide value to you (which i apologize for -- it is a priority of ours to improve the replacement experience in particular as it is very frustrating to customers), i am not sure why that implies that we do not provide a valuable service for others an…

You’re right, this was a bit harsh. I’m sure lots of good people work at instacart, and this was not intended to seem like I’m excited for anyone to lose their job. I guess a more accurate statement would be “now that I’ve discovered amazon prime now is available in my area, I’m excited for the competition between these services to offer me a better quality product at a better price”. Sorry if I offended. Cheers.

just saw this -- no worries, and thank you for your response. i think that is very reasonable and we are excited to go head-to-head with amazon on all fronts (delivery experience, quality of jobs offered, retail offerings/selection/etc).

Re: Instacart has raised another $200M at a $4.2B valuation

#150

Post by octernion »

Density wrote: post #138
octernion wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

as an engineer at instacart, it's very disheartening for me to see the top-rated comment on HN is "I can’t wait for instacart to go out of business." even if we did not provide value to you (which i apologize for -- it is a priority of ours to improve the replacement experience in particular as it is very frustrating to customers), i am not sure why that implies that we do not provide a valuable service for others an…

I appreciate you as an engineer, and to weigh in against an Amazon troll, but like please keep hn neutral

i am not entirely sure what you mean by this -- sorry. i was not trying to be divisive and offer a personal perspective as an engineer. can you clarify please?
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