Delivering for California Shoppers: Guaranteed Minimum Earnings

With the recent passing of Proposition 22 in California, we’re introducing a number of new features and offerings for California shoppers. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing more information about what California shoppers can expect when these updates start rolling out later this year.

As part of our new offerings for shoppers in California, we’re introducing guaranteed minimum earnings — a guarantee that you will earn at least 120% of minimum wage and $.30 per mile you spend shopping and delivering.

The same shopping experience you know and expect

As we introduce new updates in the state of California, we want to be clear that many aspects of the shopping and delivery experience will continue to be the same.

As always, you’ll continue to choose the batches you want to shop, where and when you want. Prior to accepting a batch, you’ll be able to view the upfront batch details, such as batch payment, estimated customer tip, number and units of items, and retailer location.

You’ll continue to be paid on a per-batch basis, and can view your earnings for each batch in the Earnings section of the Shopper app. You’ll always receive 100% of customer tips, which are separate from your batch payment. Additionally, you can continue to cash out your earnings same-day via Instant Cashout, or wait and get paid with your weekly direct deposit.

Introducing guaranteed minimum earnings

While many aspects of shopping that you currently experience will not change, we are making some updates to earnings as part of the new guaranteed minimum earnings offering.

As a shopper in California, you’re guaranteed to earn at least 120% of local minimum wage for each hour you spend shopping and delivering, plus $.30 per mile driven each week — this is called a guaranteed minimum.

Before accepting a batch, you’ll see upfront batch details including batch payment, estimated distance, store, number and type of items, and customer location. After you shop a batch, you’ll see your batch payment in the Earnings section of your Shopper app.

Each week, a weekly adjustment will be added to your earnings if the total of your Instacart batch payments is less than the guaranteed minimum. The guaranteed minimum is calculated based on the total number of hours you shopped in the previous week, as well as the total distance you drove from batch acceptance to the customer. If the total amount you earned in a week from batch payments is less than the guaranteed minimum, you’ll receive a weekly adjustment. This weekly adjustment is determined on Thursdays and can be cashed out via Instant Cashout or paid via direct deposit.

Customer tips are not included in your guaranteed minimum earnings calculation — you always receive 100% of customer tips on top of your guaranteed minimum earnings from Instacart.

Bringing guaranteed minimum earnings to California

We’ll be rolling out guaranteed minimum earnings gradually over the course of a few weeks, to ensure we’re able to provide a seamless experience as shoppers adjust to this new offering. This means not every zone will receive the guaranteed minimum earnings update at the same time.

Please note that as we introduce guaranteed minimum earnings in your zone, you will not be able to shop in zones that have not received this product update. This includes states outside of California that will not receive the guaranteed minimum earnings update.

If you are traveling to a region where guaranteed minimum earnings has not been rolled out, and you would like to change your location in order to shop there, you can do so by contacting the Care team in the Shopper app. Please note you can only change your location on Mondays each week, as guaranteed minimum earnings are calculated on a weekly basis.

Maximizing your earnings

As we look toward the future, we want to provide you with more clarity and opportunities to maximize your earnings on the Instacart platform.

Moving forward, we’ll be making access to batches more dynamic by considering factors such as customer ratings, timeliness, current location, order accuracy, certifications, and more. Over the coming months, we’ll be rolling out features to help you optimize time and distance. Factors like timeliness and order accuracy play an important role in the customer experience, which is why we believe it’s necessary for shoppers to understand their significance.

We’re always working towards surfacing the batches that are the best match for you. As a result, certain batches may not be shown, such as those that are very far away or that have items you aren’t certified to deliver. If there are no available batches in your area, we may also share information about nearby areas that are busy or may have more available batches.

As we roll out these new features, we would love to hear your feedback. Please feel free to reach out via the California Shoppers group in Shop Talk to share your thoughts.

Thank you for being part of our community.