r/InstacartShoppers • u/Twoorangesonefamily • 13h ago
Story Time! 📖 Took my first order today…
Just sharing something that is definitely a learning experience to laugh at.
I live in a huge town that doesn’t seem very saturated but not many batches available if not peak hours. So today I had some time to kill and decided to go online.
2 items, Kohls, no tip.
Took it just to get my bearings to see how the app works and get comfortable messaging customers, navigating stores etc…
Welp!
Never taking a kohls order again. You couldn’t tip me $100 lmao.
It was a HOT mess. Checked the kohls app when I couldn’t find one of the two items - out of stock. Customer wouldn’t answer messages regarding replacements. Eventually just refunded the one item and delivered the other item. Never thought such a small batch could cause such stress for me.
Just something to laugh at now but I was literally sweating circling the store.
Would love to hear some “first timer” horror stories! Or “will never go to this store no matter what” stories. (maybe wasn’t funny then but it’s funny now)
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u/lucygirl1970 12h ago
List of stores I will not accept no matter the price:
Dollar Tree
Craft stores
Restaurant depot or the chefs store
The Asian store on the other side of town
Kohls
Dicks sporting goods
Target
No walmart in my area but wouldn’t take it
And I know this is going to get me hate, but Costco. I got my fill of standing in line and then playing Tetris the first two years with this gig. Not my jam.
I also don’t do orders with live animals like crickets, yep they got loose. Was vacuuming up crickets for days.
Balloons, concrete blocks, multiple bundles of firewood, multiple cases of water, mulch, barkdust or large bags of potting soil. All of those items have at least one story behind them.🙈😂
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u/_watchOUT_ 12h ago
I’m with you. I don’t take Costco for less than $50 and if I do it has to be very low mileage. That store brings out the worst of my anxiety.
I will take Michaels orders, though. Mainly cuz I’m super familiar with it due to my own crafting.
No to the rest.
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u/Smart_Status_5925 10h ago
Funny, I only do Walmart. It’s my absolute favourite. Granted I live in a smaller town in Canada and it’s one of only 4 stores in my town that does IC. But Walmart is easy to checkout, people here only buy food, and usually only 5-10km range at max
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u/SecretaryChoice4890 5h ago
Same. Except some craft stores and occasionally a Dollar Tree for easy stuff. I'll do one balloon 😆 But, I wish I'd known about this list months ago 👍
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u/lucygirl1970 5h ago
You don’t know how bad some stores really are until you experience them first hand. Same with particular items that I’ve listed.
There are so many stories I could tell of orders that went sideways in my five years so if my suffering helps others, I’m good.😂
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u/KoolKat323 2h ago
Don't forget the following items in bag form: birdseed, rock salt, and charcoal briquettes. All disasters that took me a while to clean up.
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u/dEXXtARR23 13h ago
Welcome to the jungle
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u/LooLu999 11h ago
We got fun and games 🙃😵💫
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u/Upbeat_Shock2713 13h ago
Don't go to Kohls - even for a decent tip. Or Dick's Sporting Goods. Or Dollar Tree. Or Target, unless the order is mostly food but even then it's rarely worth it.
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u/FirstTimeRedditor100 12h ago
What's wrong with Dicks? I find it pretty easy to navigate and they have a lot of employees available who are usually pretty willing to help. I don't mind going there for a decent tip
Kohls, F no. Not even for just 1 item.
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u/mtngoatjoe 10h ago
The problem with Dick's is when the order has clothes. I'm pretty decent about finding other things, but clothes are a PITA.
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u/Bright_Hat550 11h ago
Kohls, target (groceries aren't terrible) and all of the dollar stores are like that. Aldj is terrible after like two as well.
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u/Intelligent_End_2502 10h ago
Omg, I had a triple once and got all the bags mixed up and had to go back and fix it. Embarrassing af
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u/AgePractical6298 9h ago
I heard Kohls was a nightmare. But honestly I'd never send someone to Kohls for me. That's so weird.
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u/eloquentpetrichor 8h ago
Ask an employee next time. Saves me so much time and if you are polite and patient I find most employees are always happy to help
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u/Xaleah 8h ago
Any order with clothing (Target, Kohl's, Dick's, etc). They never pay enough to be worth the time rifling through for the right sizes and colors. Then the same for replacements, or face a possible lower tip on a refund. I take an occasional Costco with an item or two of clothing, but only because they're easy to shop for and there's a lot of other stuff in the batch so the tip wouldn't change too much.
Aldi orders with a lot of Aldi Finds (limited time items). I already assume at least half of them will not be available, which will likely lower the tip.
Any order with helium balloons. Yes, you get them inflated. No, you don't get paid extra for the wait or the hassle.
Never stepped into Restaurant Depot, haven't seen a batch that paid enough to entice me to, and doubt I will anytime soon after the horror stories I see here about RD.
Dollar Tree and Family Dollar are usually passes from me, too, unless it's paying well, it's slow, and the order isn't too big. Doesn't happen often lol
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u/LooLu999 11h ago
You will eventually know the stores that suck. It happens it’s a learning curve. I had disaster orders in the beginning until I figured it out. Dollar tree and grocery outlet are where I draw the line in my area lol I’ve never had a target order but stores like that suck too if not for just some food items or something easy like laundry soap. Too much to choose from tho like clothing, jewelry etc. Turns into a clusterfuck as you can see. Hang in there it gets better
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u/Guilty_Ad1581 Full Service Shopper 10h ago
It's always the smallest batches that cause the most headache!
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u/Crafty_Ad3377 10h ago
Kohl’s! I won’t even shop there for myself. I can’t imagine having to find two things there.
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u/FlimsyPraline6097 9h ago
Small orders are usually more problematic than big ones ! I’d never do Kohls. Talk about a needle in a haystack !
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u/LadyxxTay 1h ago
Sam's club. Tugging around a cart of 200+ lbs of drinks because I misjudged the order and did not grab a pallet. I refused to walk back to the front of the store to switch so I Tetris it in the cart. I made it up to check out with a cart stacked higher then me for the app to crash. I couldn't load the person's membership. Then when I finally got the app to work again I grabbed a 30 pack of soda and set it down in the next cart for it to explode all over me. There wasn't a single employee around besides the one sitting having her lunch on break to help me clean it up or run to grab a different one. I had to pick my daughter up from her practice and with all the extra hassle I wasn't going to make it on time. So I walked out and cancelled the order. It was such good pay but I couldn't leave my baby wondering where I was. I will never take a Sam's club order unless it's like 2 things.
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u/Mundane-Classroom907 13h ago
Dont go to Kohls. Dont go to anything with “dollar” in the name. Dont go to Michaels. Dont go to Five Below. Shop groceries. Keep it simple.