You may have read my posts either on shopping for Instacart or for Shipt. If you haven't, I recommend reading both of those first. This post is to talk about the best way to use both of them, specifically if you live in California. Why only in California? Well California has a new law in effect that guarantees a certain amount of earnings for app based workers. Some other states or areas may have similar laws, but I will only speak to California specifically since that is where I live.
First, what is the guarantee? The guarantee is that you earn 120% minimum wage in your city per hour worked plus $0.30 per engaged mile. California minimum wage is $14.00 an hour so 120% is $16.80 an hour. This is all BEFORE tips. But when exactly do these guarantees start? That is different for each company because of the way their apps are set up.
The guarantee starts the moment you accept a batch and ends the moment you mark as delivered. So you are guaranteed for the time and mileage to the Store, shopping at the store, and driving to the delivery spot but not driving back (unless you have already accepted another batch). So for Instacart, I recommend not driving after your delivery and waiting there until you get another one so you can count all those miles.
The guarantee starts from the moment you swipe "Heading to Store" and ends the moment you mark it as delivered. This means it is very important to remember to swipe "Heading to Store" the moment you can so you are paid for that time and mileage. Now, this can get tricky because of the scheduling on Shipt. For example, I once had an order that I delivered and then I had over an hour until my next one. I turned on Instacart (I'll talk about this in a moment) and started heading toward the store that was next on my Shipt orders. Should I have already swiped "Headed to Store" even though there was still a lot of time? I feel I should definitely be paid for the time and mileage between the dropping off and heading to the store but I understand it isn't fair to charge them while waiting to do the next order. Or is it? Luckily I got an Instacart order then so it didn't really matter but there was still some miles unaccounted for in either app. I'm not sure how well they regulate this and there aren't really any instructions so I guess use your best judgement.
This is all calculated at the end of the week. They add up all the hours and miles to come up with the weekly guarantee for what you worked and if you made less than that (before tips) they will pay the difference. If you made more than the guarantee (before tips), you get just that.
Now, how can you use this to your advantage while using both apps? I like to set up my schedule on Shipt and accept as many deliveries in that time as I can. Make sure you plan well on Shipt: shop for multiple orders at the same store at the same time, pick up small orders from other stores on your way, plan the best route to pick and drop things off that saves the most amount of time. This isn't really about the guaranteed earnings because if you're doing it correctly, you should be making much more than the guarantee. This is about doing as many as possible which leaves more time for Instacart, which is where you can really use the guarantee.
If you have an empty hour or more on Shipt, turn on Instacart. You can even turn it on at the beginning of your shift and leave it on as you may be able to shop for both Shipt and Instacart at the same time. I haven't tried this but it is possible if you are really good at planning. But, make sure you have enough time to do an Instacart batch. Because you will be doing Instacart in such short bursts, only one or two between your multiple Shift orders, most likely the base earnings will not be the guarantee.
It also might depend on your area. Maybe Instacart is more popular so you do mostly Instacart with a sprinkling of Shipt. Either way, do both at the same time. With the ability to plan ahead on Shipt, you can make it work pretty easily. I've noticed that the base amount for Instacart is much lower than Shipt. I've also noticed people seem to tip greater amounts on Shipt. This means you will get a greater adjustment for the guaranteed earnings on Instacart but the potential to earn more on Shipt which I why I prefer to do Shipt mainly and Instacart to fill in the gaps. But that may be different in your area. Test out which works better for you. Have fun shopping!
