Can You Get Alcohol With Instacart?
Instacart comes as a relief and convenience to many.
With Instacart, you only need to order and wait for someone else to do your shopping and deliver your groceries to your preferred destination.
But you might be wondering, can you get alcohol with Instacart? Yes, you can, but not in all states.
Indeed, you will be able to get alcohol with your grocery deliveries in 14 states.
However, unlike other deliveries, it is obligatory to receive alcohol in person as all recipients must be sober and of age.
In addition to that, Instacart will not leave alcohol unattended.
Instacart follows alcohol policies when dealing with alcohol deliveries. Indeed, alcohol is delivered to select retailers and markets.
To know if your area qualifies,you will need to check from your Instacart app or their website.
The legal restrictions that apply to alcohol orders include age restrictions at 21 years and above.
As proof of this age qualification, Instacart will require a photo ID that shows birth date during delivery.
In some instances, a shopper will verify your age by scanning the front and back of your ID as they deliver your alcohol.
However, the shopper might also enter your information manually. This is especially so when you are a green card holder as these can’t be scanned, requiring manual entry.
I would advise you to meet all the requirements; since you can’t receive your order if any requirements are not met.
Identification documents include United States-issued driver’s license with a photo, Green card, United States-issued military ID, United States-issued passport, and State-issued identification card.
Is It Easy To Purchase Alcohol Through Instacart?
Yes. To buy alcohol through Instacart, you will need to open the Instacart app on your mobile and select your area.
You will also need to clarify your city, store, and shop. Alternatively, you can visit the Instacart website and follow the procedure.
As I have pointed, it’s crucial to be present during delivery to facilitate the collection, with your identification document at hand.
Additionally, I would advise you to always to ensure you tip your shopper not only for alcohol delivery but for all deliveries.
These drivers make your life easier with their timely deliveries and choice items as per your instructions.
Did you know that they consider expiry dates as they pick your items? Other things they always check is if the items are damaged or if they are fairly priced.
Indeed, they make your purchase as if they were making their own.
Is It More Expensive To Get Alcohol Via Instacart Than Through Stores?
Yes. In most instances, Instacart will markup alcohol prices.
This increase in alcohol pricing can go up to 18%, although Instacart insists that they maintain an average of 15% more.
Consequently, if your grocery purchase is worth much, the effect will be felt well as you pay.
There are few instances where Instacart has operational partnerships with stores for the provision of alcohol without a markup.
Buying from the partner stores is a great way to have your alcohol without a price increase.
Several stores do not markup their alcohol prices when buying via Instacart, including Kroger, Safeway, Petco, and Publix.
Unfortunately, there are many big brand names that markup their prices, like Costco and Aldi.
Before you decide on whether to buy your groceries and alcohol via Instacart.
it’s critical to consider the price markup, weighing it against the convenience it offers.
To avoid the price markup, you might need to visit the store and contend with fighting the crowds down the aisles.
This problem is confounded by the trickery of stores to change their layout to enhance sales.
Is Instacart Too Slow?
Yes, but not always. Indeed, Instacart has been rightly accused of slowness when it comes to delivery.
While they advertise deliveries within an attractively short time, you might have to wait for some time before you get your groceries.
But is Instacart simply sitting around, doing nothing about this? Well, Instacart has tried to address this issue in several ways.
Let me talk about the new “priority delivery.”
Since there is much difference between saving off some minutes, Instacart provides the “priority delivery” option where orders are fulfilled in about 30 minutes.
While this cannot be termed entirely successful, it has eased part of the stress associated with waiting for your deliveries beyond the stipulated time.
However, this is a service for quick errands where bulk deliveries are exempted. However, it’s important to note that you will pay more for the quicker deliveries.
Unfortunately, many drivers are unwilling to claim these small orders as they might not be worth the gas they will burn to the stores.
Can I Make Instacart Faster?
Yes, and it’s easy. While it’s convenient to use Instacart online grocery delivery services, many people worry about the speed with which their groceries are delivered.
The waiting is too painful, especially if you do not know how to make Instacart faster.
If you want to understand how you can make Instacart faster, you will only need to know how it is done and get your deliveries within time, sometimes paying less.
Many customers want their groceries delivered faster in today’s fast-paced world than what the largest grocery delivery services can offer.
This is rather concerning as the real reason for people to opt for the online delivery option is to save on time to do other things.
Therefore, customers are justified to expect faster deliveries from their preferred grocery delivery service.
But you can speed up the delivery if you consider a few things.
It sounds incredible to imagine that you will receive your deliveries within one hour, as Instacart’s advertisement goes.
However, this is not always the case. Indeed, the increased demand for Instacart services almost guarantees that this is not possible.
You can even wait for over 5 hours at peak delivery times.
However, it’s not unreasonable to expect your delivery within two hours when it’s off-peak delivery times.
All the same, you can make this a thing of the past if you steer away from peak hours.
You can order ahead of time and get yourself organized so that you will never lack stuff.
You do not want to experience last-minute order-related frustrations as they can be tormenting.
To fully make Instacart faster, it might help to understand how your orders are purchased.
When you place an order, and Instacart employee goes to do your shopping to later deliver at your preferred destination.
If they cannot find some items in your order, they will visit the next store, and you know this will impact your delivery time.
As I hate waiting for hours to get my order delivered, I use the “Fast & Flexible” option that makes my orders delivered instantly.
You can access this feature from your app and see the difference it makes! Indeed, your our deliveries will be availed in a shorter time when using this feature.
Is There Any Logical Explanation For Instacart’s Price Markup?
Yes. In most cases, I can say that Instacart is justified to deliver your groceries at a higher price than what you would get them for in your grocery store.
I know you will scarcely will want to hit the road to the grocery store for the remainder of the week’s groceries once you get from work.
Indeed, you can avoid the hassle associated with the evening traffic snarl-ups by engaging Instacart to get the groceries for you.
But there is a catch! There is a price associated with this convenience.
After all, you do not expect anyone to make life easier for you at their own expense; you will need to pay for this. And at times, it might hurt your pocket.
The payment that will be required from you will cater to both delivery and service fees.
There is a default delivery fee paid for every delivery placed through Instacart. This delivery fee is $3.99 for orders over $35.
However, you might need to pay more for smaller orders as this is the minimum delivery fee.
The larger the order, the more likely is the fee . From the app, you will be able to see the delivery window that has different pricing.
For instance, you will pay more if you choose deliveries within a shorter time.
Indeed, in Boulder, Colorado, $35 worth of groceries from Whole Foods will cost you $3.99 for delivery within two or more hours in the future.
However, the same order will cost you $5.99 if you want it delivered within one hour.
Again, if your order is under $35, you will pay $7.99 to be delivered at least two hours after ordering but $9.99 for the same order to be delivered within one hour.
Again, note that your order needs to be worth $10 in the minimum as Instacart doesn’t send it’s shoppers if the order is smaller than that.
Again, you will be paying more with Instacart for service fees. This fee is at 5 percent on any purchase.
However, if your order is small, you will pay $2.00 as the minimum. To calculate the 5 percent, your orders subtotal is considered exempt from sales tax and the driver tip.
This fee covers operational costs that include insurance, background checks, and customer support.
Does Instacart Shopper Tip Increase Order Value?
Yes and No. Some people get away with not tipping their drivers. While not rewarding your driver might not deny you delivery, it’s a good thing to do.
It’s good to reward for the speed and reliable service that you receive from your driver.
While the default tip is 5 percent of your order total, you can always tip more or less, all at your discretion.
It’s possible to change your tip as you checkout from your app. If you tap to edit, you can edit what tip you would like to give to your driver.
Indeed, it’s possible to leave it at between 5 and 20 percent or avoid leaving anything at all.
But remember, 100 percent of your tip goes to your shopper, meaning that Instacart doesn’t benefit from this in any way.
Does Busy Pricing Increase What I Pay Through Instacart?
Yes. Instacart will charge more when there are periods of high demand.
This higher charge goes to the management of the number of orders that come into the platform.
This additional fee is added to your order as you check out.
This strategy helps Instacart to alleviate the number of orders that come during peak hours and, at the same time, compensates drivers for this time.
Therefore, I would advise you to check if busy pricing is in effect as you choose your time for delivery.
However, there are other times when discrepancies exist between what you pay and what others pay for the same item.
This occurs at times, but unfortunately, you will never notice it. Still, item pricing on your Instacart app might deviate from costing in the grocery stores.
Some stores will charge you more than what you see from the app. Again, items on sale in the app and the ones on sale in the stores might differ.
You may need to consider that the prices on the Instacart platform are largely averages of pricing in stores in your area.
Consequently, you might find that your final bill might not reflect what was initially expected from the app calculation.
But the differences are not glaringly huge.
Conclusion
You can get alcohol with Instacart from several states. However, you should adhere to the requirements that Instacart has put forth for alcohol delivery.
Precisely, you will need to pick your alcohol in a sober state, showing your identification documents that will prove that you are above 21 years.
Instacart has weaknesses like other grocery stores that touch on delivery effectiveness.
Many customers complain of late delivery, but you can address this by ordering ahead of time and using the fast and flexible option.
Additionally, you can order for off-peak delivery.
