To meet increasing customer demand for online grocery deliver and pickup during the COVD-19 pandemic, Instacart has announced plans to bring on an additional 300,000 full-time service shoppers across the United States during the next three months.
Instacart’s grocery delivery platform allows users to shop from leading grocery stores, such as Costco and Safeway. When an order is received, a designated grocery shopper collects the items and delivers them to the user’s home.
Instacart Adding Drivers
Amid the coronavirus outbreak, Instacart has seen a sharp rise in demand. To meet the demand, the company is bringing in 54,000 new shoppers in California and 27,000 new shoppers in New York. Other states including Ohio, Georgia and Illinois, will get thousands of new Instacart shoppers to meet the intense demand for home grocery deliver.
In a press statement, Instacart’s founder and CEO Apoorva Mehta commented:
“The last few weeks have been the busiest in Instacart’s history, and we’ve been proud to serve as an essential service for you and the millions of customers relying on you to deliver their groceries and household goods. Our teams are working around the clock to safely serve all members of our community, and we’re incredibly grateful for Instacart shoppers like you who have stepped up as household heroes during this time.”
Other Businesses Add Workers Too
Instacart is not the only delivery service modifying operations to accommodate the increased demand during this challenging and unprecedented time.
UberEats waived fees during the coronavirus outbreak. The company announced it would reduce its commission. And waive some fees for 30 days. This is part of an emergency support package to help partner restaurants. The partner businesses are struggling to cope with the disruption to their business.
Other retailers are having to modify operations. Modifications accommodate to the changing shopping habits during the COVID-19 crisis. Convenience and discount stores like 7-Eleven and Dollar General have announced taking on more staff. They’re gearing up to meet the needs of the coronavirus pandemic.
Pizza delivery companies continue to recruit thousands of cooks, drivers and managers. They cater to the increasing demand for home delivery.
Transportation and logistic hiring remains on the rise. It went up by 7% in mid-March compared to mid-February. The increase comes from businesses involved in ensuring people have sufficient food and other essential items during quarantine. These businesses continue to evolve under increased pressure to meet unprecedented demand.
Image: instacart.com
This article, "Instacart Adding 300,000 Freelance Drivers to Meet Coronavirus Shopping Demand" was first published on Small Business Trends
March 26, 2020 at 06:34AM
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Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead, Khareem Sudlow
