The Information reported this week that the company plans to launch a pilot version of a 15-minute delivery plan as early as next year.
Two people with knowledge of the proposed program say that it depends on the company that manages the delivery of goods from the same grocery stores that already offer to its existing customers. Several logistics companies are being courted by Instacart to submit proposals to become its management entity, and if all goes to plan, Instacart could be promising 15-minute deliveries in a U.S. city by February.
When you dine out at Burger King, do you feel ok with making small personal adjustments to your order, or do you just order your burger as-is, accepting that it's not the kind of place where you get picky? If you walk into a crowded Starbucks during the morning rush, do you order the ultra complicated drink you saw an influencer talk about on TikTok, or do you opt for something simpler out of fear of inconveniencing a barista? If you don't like the food at the restaurant, do you send it back to the kitchen or vow to order something different next time?
Either you are the type of person who is willing to sacrifice a little comfort in order to hopefully minimize the suffering of the people cooking, delivering, and selling your food, or you are the other way around. The latter isn't morally wrong, but the story is complicated, just as we've become so divorced from the realities of our food systems, never pausing to wonder how a cherry tomato made its way from a farm out in California to our salad plates. Our convenience always has a cost, whether it is a farmer, a waiter, or a gig worker who is suddenly tasked with rushing your pancake mix to your doorstep inside of an ever-shrinking delivery window.
The problem with the pilot program is that the company already treats its workers like garbage. Drivers walked off the job last month, demanding that the company return to a commission-based pay model and restore the 10% default tip. Those demands, born out of a desire to have a pathway toward making a living wage, are made worse by the fact that gig workers have struggled to deliver groceries throughout the pandemic at great risk to their own physical and mental well-being.
When something sounds too good to be true, it usually is, and there is no reason to believe that the shoddy labor practices of Instacart will be any different with any tighter delivery window in play.
It isn't worth it if the cost of convenience is obvious distress for a minimum wage worker. If you forgot to add scallions to your first grocery order, please forgive the waiter for your forgotten side of ketchup, and then take the humiliation of realizing that the chicken recipe is going to have to do without them. The world will be a little nicer for it.
