Why are Instacart workers calling on Costco for support?

My name is Schana Cummings, and I’m an Instacart shopper in San Diego. I’m standing with my fellow workers to demand that Costco, one of Instacart’s key partners, stand with us in our demand for better pay & treatment.

Costco is not only an important partner for Instacart, accounting for 24% of their total sales — their orders are also especially difficult, dangerous, and low-paying for Instacart workers.

I need to take you on a little journey — a journey that will enlighten you on what happens as soon as you hit the confirm order button for your Costco delivery. Whether you order through the Instacart app or through “Instacart-powered” Costco delivery, this is what it’s like for us workers.

Many of my customers are under the impression their groceries are being delivered by Costco — or that Costco employees put the order together, and Instacart shoppers only deliver it. I'm here to clarify that. The Instacart shopper — an independent contractor — does it all.

Now, I am going to put you in a shopper's shoes. Imagine this: You are sitting in your car (yes, a lot of us sit in our cars in the parking lot of a store) and you hear the deafening notification that you have an order to shop.  You look at the list only to realize that its 24 items and 40 units, which means that there is more than one of most of the products. Then upon further investigation, you see that 18 of those items are 24-packs of water. You know from delivering orders like this that one case of water weighs roughly 30 pounds.

You have two carts, one full of water (around 500 pounds), wading through the sea of people, trying not to hit someone (because Costco is ALWAYS a madhouse!) while you lovingly pick out fruits and vegetables like you are buying them for yourself.  Then off to the dairy department, to fight with the 50 people that have their carts blocking the entrance, to grab that one gallon of milk. Whew, you made it through, but you're not done yet! Let's get that ten pounds of protein that the customer ordered.

After you've acquired all the standard items, it's time to figure out where those not-so-traditional items are — which, in itself, can take a while because there isn't any real semblance of order in the Costco aisles. An hour after you started, it's time to check out. But don't get excited yet — with the lack of cashiers and only four registers open, that's going to take you about 30 minutes as well. Now that it's finally over, it's time to load that 500-plus pounds into your vehicle. I hope you have a big one, or you're going to be taking multiple trips. One last step: Let's deliver those groceries to the customer. You drive 15 miles, get to their house and unload that 500-plus pounds.

You are finally done. It was a little stressful and you may be sore, but you’re feeling good about the work you did…until you look at your pay. You just spent an hour and a half at Costco shopping for over 500 pounds of groceries and 30 minutes at the register checking out, not to mention the fact that you might have had to make more than one 15-mile trip…and you only made $23.

Since you are an independent contractor, you take out $.58 a mile (15 miles at $.58 a mile is $8.70) for fuel and wear and tear (yes, we pay those expenses). Let's not forget those pesky taxes. Independent contractors cover an extra 7.65% of payroll taxes that would typically be covered by an employer. After backing out mileage and taxes, your take-home pay is just $13.21. And remember, you worked for two hours on this order. That boils down to about $6 an hour, to haul around 500 pounds. Yes, some requests are more manageable, and the hourly rate can go up to about $10 an hour — but tell me, can you survive and provide for your family on pay like this? It’s less than the minimum wage in many areas. Independent contractors also have to pay for our own health insurance. That won’t happen at this rate of pay, so good luck seeing the doctor if you hurt yourself hauling cases of water upstairs.

Costco is known for treating its employees well with fair wages and enticing benefits. They were named America's Best Employer of 2017; this begs the question, why would a company that bolsters an excellent employee work environment contract with a company that is known for cutting wages and stealing tips from its drivers?  Instacart is known for the deplorable way they treat their shoppers.

After this journey with me, do you think that Costco should partner with Instacart, or do you think that they should work with a company that emanates a business model closer to their own? I know where I stand.