Atrocious $62.58 High Mileage Instacart Order ($22.14 Tip)
Let’s break this $62.58 high mileage Instacart order down into average numbers so we can look at the real data behind this atrocious offer. For all my breakdowns, these are absolutely the best-case scenarios. We are assuming you are already sitting in the parking lot of the store, the store is basically empty, and no items are out of stock where you would have to contact the customer, you don’t hit any stoplights, you cruise at an average speed of 60 MPH, and it doesn’t take you forever to unload the car.
The Real-World Delivery Speed
First, let’s look at the time investment required to complete this order. The customer ordered 35 items, which totals up to 37 units. Even if you are an extra fast shopper, on average picking up 1 item every minute, that means you are spending 35 minutes walking the aisles, grabbing the items, handling the extra units, and checking out.
Next, we look at the distance of this $62.58 high mileage Instacart order. The delivery itself is a staggering 53.5 miles from the store, making it a massive 107-mile round trip back to your starting point, since you will more than likely be out in the middle of nowhere. Cruising along at a steady highway pace, you will spend roughly 107 minutes total sitting behind the wheel to drop the groceries off and head right back to the store parking lot. When you add your 35 minutes of shopping time to your 107 minutes of travel time, it takes a total of at least 142 minutes to complete this entire order from start to finish.
Crunching the Net Profit of This $62.58 High Mileage Instacart Order
Now let’s subtract the real expense of operating your vehicle to find out what actually goes into your pocket. If you are driving a highly fuel-efficient vehicle that averages a generous 50 MPG, you are going to burn through a little over two gallons of gas. With gas priced at an average of $4.00 per gallon, you are looking at close to $8.56 in fuel costs to cover that long 107-mile road trip. On top of that, we have to factor in standard vehicle maintenance at 4 cents per mile, adding another $4.28 of wear and tear to the trip.
When you combine that $8.56 gas cost with the $4.28 maintenance expense, your total vehicle overhead is $12.84. Now we take the $62.58 gross payout from Instacart and subtract our $12.84 total vehicle expense, your actual net profit drops to $49.74.
The Pathetic Hourly Rate & Minimum Wage Reality
To find out what your time is truly worth on this offer, we divide that remaining $49.74 net profit by the 142 minutes of total labor it took to do the work. The math reveals you are grinding for a mere 35 cents per minute. When we scale that out by multiplying those 35 cents across a full 60 minutes, this grueling highway marathon leaves you earning a real-world rate of just $21.00 per hour.
While $21.00 is not terrible, in my opinion, it is still a decline. It might be different if it were just for 2 or 3 items, but adding the extra time shopping for 35 items makes it a bad order. A regular employee gets a guaranteed hourly check without having to shell out massive chunks of cash for fuel or destroy their own vehicle’s lifespan. This pay really does not pay much when shopping for so many items, but some people, especially when they don’t see these kinds of orders all the time, might take it. This $62.58 high mileage Instacart order was officially DECLINED by me.
A Solid Earner Packed with Standard Margins