Instacart shoppers have gotten used to hanging out at grocery store parking lots while waiting for orders. But now, some Costco stores have started asking them not to, according to interviews with shoppers and a review of Reddit posts and discussions on the policy.
One Reddit poster shared a screenshot of the Instacart app showing potential stores in the Los Angeles area for the shopper to visit. Below one of two Costco locations was a notice: "Store policy requires waiting at offsite parking." The other Costco location did not include the same warning.
"I'm sure there are some people who are doing dumb stuff in parking lots," one commenter on the Reddit post said. "But for the vast majority of us, we're just waiting in our cars, minding our business. Possibly with the engines running if necessary. So the stores probably want their lots available for customers instead."
Instacart does not require shoppers to wait in a store's parking lot to be eligible for an order. But it does tell its contractors that they have better odds of scoring an order or a batch of orders if they are close to a store, according to conversations with Instacart shoppers. The app also shows contractors where the busiest stores for Instacart orders are.
Many Instacart shoppers used to be able to claim orders even when they were at home or miles away from the store. But competition for orders has increased. Instacart hired additional shoppers during the pandemic, but as more customers felt comfortable shopping in-person, demand for grocery delivery has slowed from highs early on in the pandemic. As a result, many drivers pull into store parking lots and watch the app in hopes of scoring better orders.
Instacart told Insider that it allows Costco and other retailers it works with to set policies like the offsite requirement. "Shoppers who are shopping an active batch may utilize the Costco parking lot," Instacart said.
"Access to batches extends beyond each Costco parking lot," the company said. "If a particular store has a specific policy related to its parking lot, it should not have an impact on shoppers' ability to see available batches."
It's unclear how Costco is monitoring its parking lots or enforcing this requirement. A Costco spokesperson did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Unlike other big-box stores such as Walmart and Target, Costco has invested comparatively little in simplifying the fulfillment of e-commerce orders.
The warehouse club instead operates with a three-track system that relies on Instacart for same-day services for fresh and frozen goods picked from local warehouses. Costco has cracked down on unauthorized membership sharing but allows non-members to purchase items through Instacart.
Meanwhile, two-day orders for non-perishable groceries and standard delivery for everything else available on the website are typically shipped from dedicated fulfillment centers.
Walmart and Target offer same-day delivery options that are relatively seamless within their respective websites and apps. Shoppers at either chain can pick between having orders delivered to their homes or arranging curbside pickup at a store. The companies have been fine-tuning both systems for several years.
Costco, in contrast, only began experimenting with curbside pickup at a few stores in early 2021.
Are you an Instacart shopper or a Costco employee? Do you have a story idea? Reach out to Alex Bitter at abitter@insider.com or Dominick Reuter at dreuter@insider.com.
