Shipt Shopper Review | How it Works & What To Expect

What: Shipt pays you to shop for and deliver groceries

Expected pay: $7 – $20 per delivery

Husl$core: $$$

Commissions & fees: Not applicable

Where: Nationwide

Requirements: Be 18 or over; have a valid U.S. driver’s license, auto insurance, a reliable vehicle (1997 or newer); ability to lift 40 pounds; smart phone (iPhone or Android); insulated cooler bags and shopping experience.

Review:

Like many of the delivery platforms, Shipt says you’ll get paid generously — as much as $22 per hour — to shop for and deliver groceries. But these projections factor in tips, which are not guaranteed. The hourly rate also relies on you being able to shop extremely quickly and efficiently. That’s also a long shot because you’re buying someone else’s groceries and must contact them if a particular item isn’t available to see if they want to substitute.

Shoppers complain that they spend half of their time frantically text-messaging customers to ask about viable substitutions. Naturally, that makes it challenging to complete the shop in the allotted hour. In rural areas, shoppers also complain about transportation time. Being late or cranky can get you a bad review. Even marginal reviews can get you booted from the platform.

Officially, the pay formula amounts to $5, plus 7.5% of the order, plus tips. That said, the platform does pay a higher delivery fee for small orders that would otherwise net a minimal commission. And, if you deliver a set number of orders without problems, the platform will allow you to shop two grocery lists at a time, making the pay far more attractive. In some cases, Shipt offers bonuses to new workers, but they’re tough to get.

After accounting for gas, wear and tear on your car and possible parking expenses, the net pay is likely to slightly exceed minimum wage.

If you love shopping and driving, also check out Dumpling and Instacart. Or, for well-paid straight-delivery work, Amazon Flex.

What their users say:

(from Indeed)

“I’ve found that the customers who do tip make the overall monetary experience worth it as they are very generous. Just varies day to day and order to order. Down side is that if you do take too many orders and need to drop one unexpectedly depending on time of day customer service can take a while to speak with a rep. I’ve spent 5 minutes on hold to 4 hours on hold (lesson = don’t accept more than you think you can truly accomplish on time!)”

“Shipt pay itself is okay if one hustles and shops a quick high dollar ($100+) job but the tips are what makes it. When I left Shipt, tips were declining precipitously to the point that a perfect, on-time delivery, for a tedious $100 order was generally yielding a $5.00 tip (have a pizza guy deliver $100 in pizzas with a $5.00 tip and see how that works…). Speaking with current Shipt shoppers, I’m told that tipping has improved but it was very lean for a while and certainly could be again.

“Your role at Shipt is managed through an app which allows you to create your own schedule. They pay you 7.5% of the customer’s receipt, plus $5, so if a customer pays $100 you get $12.50 ($7.5 + $5). But you are not guaranteed orders, so you could be on the schedule and on call, but have nothing to do.”

“Shipt has been an absolute blessing to work for. They allow you to have the flexibility that life demands as a single mom with 2 kids.”

“Super easy to do with a smart phone and a car. But the pay is low, if you count the cost of driving.”

Substitution woes

“If the item is out, you are sitting there attempting to contact the customer asking for sub options or trying to locate a store employee to see if more is in the back. Customers don’t respond at all so you’re sitting there burning up time! You are highly graded on your stats and if are late or customers rate you awful, you get fired or don’t get orders offered to you. Most orders only pay $7-10 dollars if you’re lucky! You can’t take double orders until you get 10 orders in.”

“The pay is low and they do not reimburse. They say we dont need permission to substitute but then customers get angry. I made over $700 in a week and then BOOM I’M FIRED. The distances between store and delivery are insane.”

“I am a new shopper at Shipt. I love it so far! My pay is averaging just about what Shipt promises. If you are in a busy metro, are familiar with grocery stores, are a people pleaser and a problem solver, you will succeed. Most of my orders have all been less than 10 min away. My first one was 5 min away. I also run my own skin care biz full time and worked in restaurants for 18 years. This job is perfect for people who are NOT new to commission only jobs, have had restaurant or food industry exp, or customer service orientated jobs and are self starters.”

Low net pay

“I gave it a go for 2 weeks and after crunched numbers just to realize I was making about $9.75 an hour. Great for Shipt and Target AWFUL for shoppers. That was my experience.”

“My biggest problem with this job is that I live in Miami, where NO ONE tips. So I waste gas and run my only vehicle down into the ground for NO TIPS. I did this job for 2 solid days and then I put it on hold because $44.46 isn’t going to do much of anything but put wear on my vehicle. Also the Shipt customers were barely answering their messages when I would run into problems. Thank god I could solve them but the customers barely answered so I purchased according to the list.”

“I have never made $22/hr on just the order. I have made it with tips, when I get tips, but by the time you factor in gas that you spent, it’s far less than $22/hr.”

“The numbers that Shipt boasts 15-25/hour are a lie. The more common number $7-$12 You only get that if the customer tips and it usually takes over an hour closer to 2 hours for a large shop because of travel time. Store time can take up to an hour and then driving can take up to 30 min if not more. You cannot choose what store you want to work in your area if there is more than one in your zone. And you can expect delivery addresses that are 30 min away, probably more because of traffic.”

“When I calculated the time I spent shopping and driving, plus the auto expense (I used 50 cents/mile to calculate), not worth the time and effort. More like maybe $8/hr considering time and driving expense.”

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