Grocery Deliveries in Sharing Economy
11th June 2014
When you buy groceries from Instacart, the company summons a green-shirted “personal shopper” through the firm’s smartphone app. The shopper receives your list, scurries through a grocery store to pick up your items and then heads across town in his own car to deliver your stuff.
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Despite its low-cost business model, Instacart isn’t cheap. The service charges a delivery fee of $3.99 for most orders, and it also makes money by marking up store prices. The amounts vary depending on the item, but I noticed Instacart’s prices coming in at about 20 percent more than I could find at my local store.