Dive Brief:

• Instacart announced last week a series of upcoming features for its workers that will impact earnings for both larger and more complex batches and also smaller convenience orders.
• The company also said that it will begin encouraging customers to tip more during inclement weather.
• These updates are the latest in a string of new digital tools that aim to make gig work for Instacart more efficient, safer and more lucrative for workers. 

Dive Insight:

The three features set to launch in the coming weeks include adjusting pay for heavy batches and long-distance ones and launching peak earning times — an extension of its peak earning days feature, which Instacart debuted last fall. With peak earning times, workers will be able to see when demand is higher on an hour-by-hour basis and also see which times of day have higher-paying batches.

With these changes, Instacart workers will receive additional pay of at least $2 for batches that have heavy items. Pay for long-distance orders will now factor in the expected distance the worker has to drive to the store once they accept the batch. 

“For example, a small batch with 5 items offered to a shopper 10 miles away could pay $10 or more in Instacart pay to account for the expected extra time spent driving,” Instacart stated in the press release. 

Instacart said that it has introduced more than 25 features for its workers, including its Cart Star rewards program and tip protection, during the last 18 months. Instacart also spotlighted that it is listening to feedback from its workers in order to better align pay with the amount of effort needed for each batch. 

The ongoing rollout of new tools for workers comes at a time when Instacart is vying with other companies to hire and retain gig workers.

At the end of June, DoorDash unveiled numerous updates to its app for consumers, merchants and workers. The new labor-focused features included the ability for consumers to add or increase their tips post-checkout, the chance for workers to turn on location sharing for five contacts, the option to earn a guaranteed hourly minimum rate on top of tips and the ability to earn while en route to a preferred location, allowing workers to handle orders while commuting. 

In March, both Uber and DoorDash separately announced updates to help boost driver benefits. 

“At the core of these updates are several approaches we take to shopper earnings that distinguish Instacart from other app-based platforms and are designed to create more flexible opportunities for shoppers to earn on their own terms,” Instacart said in the press release.