The Instacart Faux Pas A TikToker Is Begging Customers To Stop Making

We've all witnessed the explosion of food delivery services over the last few years. According to Business Wire, these delivery services experienced a 164% increase in sales in 2020, and sales have continued upward since. And with more and more people ordering delivery, it only makes sense that we also have more and more incidents of customer challenges.

This isn't to say that all customers are intentionally making things more difficult for delivery drivers. However, not everyone knows how much they should be tipping a food delivery driver, nor does everyone realize the limitations placed on drivers by both their employers and certain communities.

For instance, while you might expect that you can have food delivered just about anywhere so long as it's readily accessible — fun fact: DoorDash does actually deliver to Alaska by plane (via Food & Wine) — this isn't exactly the case. In fact, one Instacart driver recently took to TikTok to spread awareness of one such delivery struggle. 

As customers, we don't always think about challenges our delivery drivers might face or realize how much effort goes into making however much money they make. One Instacart driver posted a TikTok to vent some of her frustration about getting orders to be delivered to restricted areas.

"If you live on a military base, do not order from Instacart," she says in the clip. "How do you expect me to deliver it to you, especially when you won't even meet me at the guest entrance? How do you think I'm allowed on base? I'm not, okay? You're wasting both of our times."

Some people commented that drivers can sometimes get temporary passes, to which the TikToker responded, "In this case, they didn't let me." Others commented that when they worked for grocery delivery services, they would cancel after realizing orders were for on a base, as it wasn't worth the hassle. Still, others said that deliveries to military bases frequently had them waiting in guest parking for hours, further limiting their earnings. 

In any case, this is a lesson that anyone ordering from delivery services should fully think through what their drivers will experience when trying to shop for and deliver to them.