TikTok Is Divided Over This Huge Instacart Grocery Order

Grocery delivery services have experienced immense growth since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. According to EMarketer, this growth can be attributed to the tens of millions of first-time buyers entering the digital grocery space in 2020. In 2019, 92.3 million people, ages 14 and up, bought their groceries online. In 2020, that number skyrocketed to 131.6 million, and it is forecasted that it will be even higher in 2021.

Companies like Instacart benefitted from the increased demand for delivery; during the pandemic, the company provided a way for people to get their groceries safely and efficiently. Although the availability of vaccines has caused some consumers to return to stores, many have continued to grocery shop online due to its convenience.

As Instacart continues to grow, its workers face challenges related to "plummeting pay, safety concerns, and a punitive rating system" (via The Guardian). Willy Solis, who has been an Instacart shopper since October 2019, told The Guardian that when Instacart decided to bundle individual orders together (doubling and tripling the order size) and set the default tip to only 5%, he was making an average of 50% less on each order.

Instacart shopper, Kierra Diamond, showcased one of these massive orders in a recent TikTok and received mixed comments.

Kierra Diamond's short TikTok video showcases a cart and conveyor belt full of groceries with a text overlay saying "To the person with 115 items on Instacart," and the background music is "I Hate U" by SZA. There are over 2,000 comments on this video with some saying that she shouldn't complain because she could see the size of the order before accepting.

"That's your job. Don't accept it if you're gonna complain, sis," commented one user. "It's funny that people that work for Instacart whine about small orders and then also about big orders," added one user. 

Others sided with Diamond, noting that everyone has a right to complain about their job. "Everyone in these comments acting like she ain't allowed to complain about a job when in reality everyone complains about they jobs," commented another user.

Some Instacart customers in the comments admitted to placing similarly large orders, and Diamond responded that she appreciated this order because the customer tipped $30, so she made $87 total. Diamond also commented that "it's a TikTok ... literally just a TikTok," to explain that she was simply making a joke, she didn't make the video to complain.