There is a way to make money if you have a decently fuel-efficient vehicle, time and relatively good shopping skills. It’s called Instacart. Overall, it’s a hustle and a grind to make money this way. Honestly, I don’t know how the company gets away with hiring people to work below minimum wage, while tips make up the difference. Nevertheless, I will outline some of the observations I have made up until this point if you are considering picking up some extra hours doing this sort of thing.
BAGS
Here are two of the big Ikea bags sitting in the trunk of my Mazda 3. Sometimes you can do a double “batch” and put an entire order in one of these. You may use additional cold or hot bags separately and leave water cases separate. One time I loaded two 6×1 Gallon jug cases (that’s 12 Gallons) up a flight of stairs in one Ikea bag. Yes, condos and apartments can be brutal.
The app guides you through the process of learning delivery and photographing your bags to prove that you are capable of hauling hot and cold goods. This is a bag from Walmart that works well for me. It is a very tall zipper cooler bag. Overall, you want to separate, organize and minimize trips back and forth. Many times you’ll just unpack plastic bags at the customer’s door and take a picture if they do not answer.
CAR
My car is a Mazda 3 Skyactiv, so I average about 32.7 mpg. The weather is cooling down, so not running the AC improves efficiency. You could be driving 30-60 miles a day depending on how much time you devote to this. A hybrid or EV could do the job far better. A Prius could be great for this. Something I have not explored is the bulk delivery feature – for trucks and SUVs.
MAXIMIZE TIME
This work requires you to trade your time and energy for money from the number items, the tips, or the mileage driven. A gas hog car will weigh you down in this game. Traffic, store lines, and gas prices are all in your way and out of your control. Be safe and keep a positive mindset and some days you’ll get ahead!
CONCLUSION
I’m not sure how long I’ll be doing this work. I’ve delivered groceries, Michael’s crafts, office supplies and Halloween costumes. I’m approved for Pharmacy deliveries too, but so far, I have not completed any of those.
It’s a powerful app. I mean, to be able to decide to turn it on and have a scheduled delivery batch assigned right away is pretty cool. I’d say do it if this kind of thing fits into your lifestyle.
For light orders, I bet Aptera would be a neat delivery vehicle! The Spark EV might be too, except for the lack of cargo space.
This use case scenario is a very interesting vehicle test. It does not require an extreme range, but if you go with an EV you’ll need some type of charging infrastructure. Stop and go driving may not suit your ICE vehicle. Hybrids like Prius may be the holy grail of this type of work.
Toyota has a more palatable design in store for the 2023 Prius. This might be a good thing for both new and used buyers. It looks something like a gen 1 and Dodge Dart had a kid. It gets That Auto approval, and with Toyota’s reputation, you know it will be very dependable.