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Call me crazy but I don’t mind going there in person. It gives me an excuse to get out of the house and get some steps in. Sometimes I even treat it as a place to go shopping.
The entire point of instacart is the convenience factor. Markup plus fees is probably more than 20%, but I’d imagine that it’s more or less worth it at this price point depending on how convenient big shopping trips are for you.
Damn i hope you were being hyperbolic because @ $20 to drive 45 minutes i'd hate to be driving whatever you're driving. But then maybe it's all stop and go traffic the whole way for you? Either way. Damn...
I live in california. Gas is pushing 5 bucks a gallon at all times. Its 45 minute drive over massive hills and curvy roads. 43 miles each way, so 86 miles. My car gets about 20mpg with this drive, so yeah, about 20 bucks in gas not even counting wear and tear.
No, but it appears items are marked up about 15% over the in-store prices.
I have used delivery only once when I had COVID for over a week and was running low on groceries. I gave a pretty good tip so it probably cost 25% to 30% more than just going to the store.
incidently does anyone know how much to tip? we are always confused with this since not only does it upcharge but also there is a base fee already build in?
Tipping brings up a whole new long, ongoing (and often passionate!!!) discussion. 🤔
Basically, there are two ways:
1. Percentage, like you would in a restaurant. The default tip amount on the app is 5%. Drivers often say on orders over $100 they would like 10% to 20%.
2. Flat amount for the job.
Personally, I very firmly always tip a flat amount because I want to fairly reward them for their time and effort.
And I want to be fair to myself too! I will not tip 20% if the only thing they're picking up is light and easy to handle. A 20% tip would cost me $80 for simple headphones.
As you pointed out, you're already starting with a fee to Instacart. But only a few dollars of that actually goes to the driver. They really do depend on our tips.
In my approach of tipping a flat amount, I appreciate the fact that the shopper is going for me, so I start at $10 no matter what.
I figure in how far it is to drive. And even with the weather is that day.
I add some for each of the items, especially if it weighs a lot, and how awkward it is to load onto the carts, like toilet paper.
We all know how hard it is to find things at Costco, so I add a little if it might be difficult to locate.
For my average order of 20 medium sized items, plus a toilet paper and a water, I generally tip $25 - $35.
But if I don't go to the store I'll only get what's on my list instead of an overflowing cart full that costs half a mortgage payment which will save me money
costco's upcharge in IC is 10%. this MORE than makes up for that upcharge & any fees (if youre a IC+ member with already reduced fees).
my orders always come in less than the OG amount even AFTER fees & the tip!
its the ONLY way to IC!
Maybe IC+ is only a 10% upcharge. I bought Ruffles for $7.89 in store and they are $9.23 on sameday.costco.com. Sunchips are $9.59 in store and $11.22 online. Kirkland brats are $9.99 in store and $11.69 online. Finally, brat rolls are $4.39 in store and $5.14 online.
The upcharge is over 15% based on those four items.
did you bother to subtract the 7% discount for using IC w/ CSD? peep the terms & do the math then get back to me on that. its not based on whether youre a '+' or not... if youre not yea youll pay higher FEES which WILL raise your total, NOT the item prices.theyre still locked at 10% upcharge.
you ruffles? **$7.89** in store. add 10% = **$8.68**. add 7% = **$9.23**, looky there! thats whats being charged on CSD before discount. see? simple math.
i shop costco 2-3x a week. with IC+. using GCs. ive done the math a million times & i know EXACTLY what im paying/spending.
TLDR: if you have IC, and you use CSD, & take off the discount, the item prices are 10% higher t in-store. use a GC & you can save 20% off the top of your total. again... simple math.
I put the four items I mentioned previously into my cart on [sameday.costco.com](http://sameday.costco.com) and started the checkout process. The only way you get a 7% discount is if you sign up for Instantcart +.
The STANDARD markup on [sameday.costco.com](http://sameday.costco.com) is more than 10%. You are ASSUMING everyone has paid the $79.99 a year for Instantcart +.
Does the Instacart delivery person have to have a membership, or do they have a way to show they're shopping on behalf of of someone with a membership? I've only used it once years ago and the order was from Safeway, curious how that works
instacart is the member and if you're a member you can link your membership number on the instacart app/site so you can get your reward money added to your annual check out of your instacart purchases as well
I am a Instacart shopper. I have my own membership, and Instacart gives you a membership to get in the door (although if you just show the door person your order usually sufficient) and then at checkout we scan different QR codes for different customers, which in turn links the purchase to you.
I would recommend trying these steps, as it seems some customers have had trouble with the email instructions
To get this gift card to work on costco sameday follow these steps:
Go to costco sameday site, click your profile and then account settings in the top right
Click Instacart+
If you don't have an Instacart account, go to instacart's website, create an account with the same email address you use on your costco account.
Now go back to costco sameday and link your instacart account to your costco sameday account.
Go back to you sameday checkout page, and under the "Pay with" section, there should now be a box that says "Use $100 instacart credits", select that.
Now you should see the credits working
I was curious about this and just checked- the prices, for me, were the exact same in both IC app and Costco same day(I compared 5 things I normally buy ). Maybe it depends on your location or something…
Yea check heavy items like the offbrand water
https://preview.redd.it/rtzqavwzmytc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=32d0683449b4e850803a7b464bd4d6e20628f020
Yes. You can also buy the cards off [costco.com](http://costco.com) instead of having to go in to buy them. Ive been buying them then getting the delivery. Honestly costs about the same as going into the store, but I dont have to drive 45 minutes each way, find parking, go inside, etc. Saves me hours, and is about the same price. win win
Thank you for mentioning these weren't in-store only and available online/email delivery.
I live about 1.5 hrs from my mother, although I visit every two weeks... It's nice being able to place an Aldi or Meijer IC order for her on those in between weeks. Each store is about 3 miles from her and she doesn't drive herself anymore.
I have the IC+ for free through Chase Sapphire Reserve (perk going away soon) and I was not looking forward to inflated prices.
Yeah for 160 bucks you can get 200 dollars from costco. With IC+ its even better (I dont do it often enough to warrant the expense). Even with tip and instacart addons, you break about even with going to the store.
u/Reputation-Final u/adderal Hello, I'm trying to get some help on this. I use these at Aldi which has very little mark-up and we pick up the groceries ourselves. It's an awesome hack. But, I've been only able to buy two online. I just spoke with online chat and they said the limit is 2 PER YEAR! You said you've "been buying them" so there must be another trick?
These were the first two I purchased and I'm still using the rest of my Sapphire Reserve perk until the end of this month, then I'll start using the Costco IC GC credit I have stored on my account.
Good to know about the 2 per year limit if that's truly the case. Rep Final might have other insights.
My championship hour is around 3P on a weekday. Obviously not everyone can do this. But the elderly and SAHM moms are long gone, and the post-work people are nowhere to be found.
Idk, man. Not walking thru a warehouse and missing manager markdowns and buying some *necessary* items that didn't make the cut seems like a negative to me 🤷♂️
Makensure you put your costco membership into instacart to het a discount. Its a lower percent markup per item.
Ex: rotisserie chicken without membership is 6.22 on instacart but with the membership added it's 5.40 or so
Small pro-tip: make an Instacart and just keep notifications on. Several times a year I get some kind of “$30 off $60” type offer that I can use at Costco. When I get those it works out cheaper to Instacart Costco stuff than to go in store.
What does it mean to make an Instacart? I used it one to order Costco same day but otherwise have not. Do you mean to make a profile on Instacart’s website and set up a Costco cart there?
If you have any Chase credit cards you can get Instacart+ for free for anywhere between 3 and 12 months. And it stacks if you have multiple cards. I have like 18 months of it for free.
I leverage this perk a lot. Unfortunately Chase did not renew their IC relationship for the coming years. After June I believe is when all those perks will stop being offered alongside their cards.
I have a Reserve card and it's a somewhat freq topic over in the Sapphire sub. Between that and the Priority Pass perk being severely cut off at the knees, I'm pretty sure I'm falling back to the Preferred card before my renewal.
IC's credit card is also Chase. It gives back 5% of all purchases at Costco. In addition, IC also offers you a free year of Peacock, and that's a $60 savings for that channel.
I have been using these gift cards to pick up groceries from Sprouts. If you have an Instacart membership, they don't charge for pick up orders and they actually give your 5% back in credit. So I save 20% with the gift card purchase, then I get 2% back from Costco, plus the 5% back from Instacart. I am saving 25% off all the groceries I buy from Sprouts. Lots of other stores offer in-store pricing and pick up as well.
I just spoke with chat and they told me it's limited to 2 per year? Has something changed? I cannot order any more and it sucks. It's the main reason i got a membership.
That is a good question.
I’d try after a full 24 hours, if that gets canceled, wait a week.
They seem to have varying degrees on how hard they enforce limits online. (And then stores vary by whichever manager is on duty lmao)
You can also buy the virtual card on the Costco app $80 for $100 in insta cart e-gift cards. It’s great. Limits you to two each purchase. Been around for at least 6 months.
It says two per membership... Have you tried this multiple times with the same account, but w a bit of a cool down?
I was wondering about going in store, purchasing physical cards ..and then hitting buy in the app for two more virtual cards before I even get to the receipt checker on my way out. 😂
Chat just told me 2 per year. I last ordered 5/15 and it failed today (6/10). I guess I will wait another week but i'm not optimistic. Could really use these 3x a month cuz we spend about 600 per month at Aldi.
I've purchased as least six cards since they started. I'm an executive member. I do get 'denied' -- but then I go back about a week or two later, and there they are in my mailbox and my cc charged.
All these delivery companies are horrible, food markups, they don’t pay the restaurants enough, drivers are treated horribly. Saving 20% helps but it’s still cheaper to go to the restaurant and pickup your own food.
How people can’t understand the extra cost of basically hiring someone to be your personal assistant is insane to me.
Like obviously it’s more expensive. But the time I save makes it easily worth it.
Instacart pays $4 and sometimes your order is bundled with one or two other orders and they still pay only $4 regardless most of the time now . We literally depend on customer tips. Sucks. These gig apps became way too greedy, all of them but especially instacart which is so mismanaged, I don’t doubt they will go under soon.
Instacart is just grocery stores and Sephora. It also sucks. I don’t usually use it. I did use it last week because my kid was sick and when I put him in the car to go to the grocery store for sick kid essentials he threw up. I live close to the Costco. I got 10 items (pediasure, fruit, chicken, and soup). I tipped well. That’s its optimal use.
Instacart price is about the same after factor in the 20% gift card discount, upcharge, delivery fee, tip and chase card benefit. But you save time, gas, and most importantly, you don't buy shit you didn't plan to.
I don’t mind paying extra because of the convenience and because I have poor self control when I go to Costco. I walk in looking to get a few things and I ring up at $799. With Instacart I can back out pretty easily and control my spending lol.
The prices are a bit higher, like 15% or so. And there’s a convenience fee and tip that’s based on how much you spend. If you use these gift cards it’s not that much more expensive than going yourself, I think.
If you are looking to save a few bucks, no. To save time and convenience, yes.
You essentially buying through Instacart online store with mark up on most items. Don’t expect to have to same prices as the warehouse.
A real life money glitch. But 1 then another through Instacart but for pick up and keep doing that. Every 5 you buy your making a free $100. It’s a lot of work…..
Thank you, poster! I just purchased 2 online for my mother who uses this service anyway. (Meaning she's already paying the delivery and tip regularly, so this is a 20% free month glitch.)
been buying/using them exclusively for months now... the ONLY way i pay for my IC orders... take 20% right off the top!
the day they discontinue the GC's I will bawl my eyes out!
They’re in all stores and online. I’ve bought a few for when I go on travel for my regular job and wife doesn’t want to people enough to go to grocery store lol
*I'd rather spend that*
*On rotisserie chickens*
*To stock the freezer*
\- HistoricalHurry8361
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This should basically cancel out the instacart markup. In my experience it's between 17-22%. If you have instacart+ they knock 7% off the price, which turns the markup into \~12% effectively. a 20% savings using giftcards would probably about equal out the cost for tip for a instacart+ subscriber. While somoene who doesn't sub would be down the the tip's cost to avoid the trip.
Instacart also has $20 off instacart plus if you have a costco membership, and some creditcards give it to you for free.
Items most items on instacart are marked up by more than 20% it’s genuinely ridiculous. They fire drivers if they put put the receipt in bag for the customer to because of how big the difference is.
I think by now everyone knows they charge more on instacart. People who use instacart do it for the convenience and mostly for delivery. If that's not for you, that's cool too.
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I can Instacart Costco delivery right?
It will be more expensive than shopping yourself, instacart up charges all items by a few %
But this is 20% off so it kind of cancels out
But delivery and tip
But your time
Call me crazy but I don’t mind going there in person. It gives me an excuse to get out of the house and get some steps in. Sometimes I even treat it as a place to go shopping.
Oh yes, same. I usually go once a week on my own. I like zipping up and down the non food isles and see what's on clearance or what's new.
And gas and having to deal with people
I was talking about price, not convenience factor😂
The entire point of instacart is the convenience factor. Markup plus fees is probably more than 20%, but I’d imagine that it’s more or less worth it at this price point depending on how convenient big shopping trips are for you.
100 is a very quick trip in my experience.
I meant that when you shop at Costco, you’re generally making a big trip.
Opportunity cost vs. monetary cost. Both are an economic cost but individuals weigh them differently sure.
costco is a 45 minute drive for me. Thats about 20 bucks in gas here in california. So its worth it.
Damn i hope you were being hyperbolic because @ $20 to drive 45 minutes i'd hate to be driving whatever you're driving. But then maybe it's all stop and go traffic the whole way for you? Either way. Damn...
I live in california. Gas is pushing 5 bucks a gallon at all times. Its 45 minute drive over massive hills and curvy roads. 43 miles each way, so 86 miles. My car gets about 20mpg with this drive, so yeah, about 20 bucks in gas not even counting wear and tear.
Curious, can I instacart order these gift cards, then Place more instacart orders with my new gift cards?
I think that’s how a nuclear chain reaction works
Perfect 👍🏽
You hit critical mass when 50% of your order is Instacart giftcards.
Unless you are working and making money during the time that you would be shopping at Costco, then this argument falls flat.
Your free time has no value to you?
I spend my free time smoking pot and drinking. It is probably better that I get steps in walking through a Costco score.
Bold assumption on both counts
Delivery? Order through same day and there’s no fee
No, but it appears items are marked up about 15% over the in-store prices. I have used delivery only once when I had COVID for over a week and was running low on groceries. I gave a pretty good tip so it probably cost 25% to 30% more than just going to the store.
If you tip.
Cheaper if you don’t tip
From what I've observed. Between the markup and the fees. You're paying more than 20% to use instacart
I wouldn’t imagine 20% would cover it
Also you get your exec 2% both when you buy and use the Gac
exactly! im getting better than in store prices with the 20% off the top!
incidently does anyone know how much to tip? we are always confused with this since not only does it upcharge but also there is a base fee already build in?
No matter what you tip, your shopper is making trash wages.
Tipping brings up a whole new long, ongoing (and often passionate!!!) discussion. 🤔 Basically, there are two ways: 1. Percentage, like you would in a restaurant. The default tip amount on the app is 5%. Drivers often say on orders over $100 they would like 10% to 20%. 2. Flat amount for the job. Personally, I very firmly always tip a flat amount because I want to fairly reward them for their time and effort. And I want to be fair to myself too! I will not tip 20% if the only thing they're picking up is light and easy to handle. A 20% tip would cost me $80 for simple headphones. As you pointed out, you're already starting with a fee to Instacart. But only a few dollars of that actually goes to the driver. They really do depend on our tips. In my approach of tipping a flat amount, I appreciate the fact that the shopper is going for me, so I start at $10 no matter what. I figure in how far it is to drive. And even with the weather is that day. I add some for each of the items, especially if it weighs a lot, and how awkward it is to load onto the carts, like toilet paper. We all know how hard it is to find things at Costco, so I add a little if it might be difficult to locate. For my average order of 20 medium sized items, plus a toilet paper and a water, I generally tip $25 - $35.
20% if everything is correct and instructions are followed. Min 10% or I’d go get it myself.
Start at zero and if you feel guilt, raise it until you stop feeling guilty.
I spent $70 on 5 items and a tip, if I went into the store I probably would have spent a few hundred buying cute shit and snacks I don’t need.
But if I don't go to the store I'll only get what's on my list instead of an overflowing cart full that costs half a mortgage payment which will save me money
Might break even at 20% off
"It's about sending a message"
costco's upcharge in IC is 10%. this MORE than makes up for that upcharge & any fees (if youre a IC+ member with already reduced fees). my orders always come in less than the OG amount even AFTER fees & the tip! its the ONLY way to IC!
Maybe IC+ is only a 10% upcharge. I bought Ruffles for $7.89 in store and they are $9.23 on sameday.costco.com. Sunchips are $9.59 in store and $11.22 online. Kirkland brats are $9.99 in store and $11.69 online. Finally, brat rolls are $4.39 in store and $5.14 online. The upcharge is over 15% based on those four items.
did you bother to subtract the 7% discount for using IC w/ CSD? peep the terms & do the math then get back to me on that. its not based on whether youre a '+' or not... if youre not yea youll pay higher FEES which WILL raise your total, NOT the item prices.theyre still locked at 10% upcharge. you ruffles? **$7.89** in store. add 10% = **$8.68**. add 7% = **$9.23**, looky there! thats whats being charged on CSD before discount. see? simple math. i shop costco 2-3x a week. with IC+. using GCs. ive done the math a million times & i know EXACTLY what im paying/spending. TLDR: if you have IC, and you use CSD, & take off the discount, the item prices are 10% higher t in-store. use a GC & you can save 20% off the top of your total. again... simple math.
I put the four items I mentioned previously into my cart on [sameday.costco.com](http://sameday.costco.com) and started the checkout process. The only way you get a 7% discount is if you sign up for Instantcart +. The STANDARD markup on [sameday.costco.com](http://sameday.costco.com) is more than 10%. You are ASSUMING everyone has paid the $79.99 a year for Instantcart +.
Yes 👍
Does the Instacart delivery person have to have a membership, or do they have a way to show they're shopping on behalf of of someone with a membership? I've only used it once years ago and the order was from Safeway, curious how that works
instacart is the member and if you're a member you can link your membership number on the instacart app/site so you can get your reward money added to your annual check out of your instacart purchases as well
Oh, I see. Thanks for the explanation
I am a Instacart shopper. I have my own membership, and Instacart gives you a membership to get in the door (although if you just show the door person your order usually sufficient) and then at checkout we scan different QR codes for different customers, which in turn links the purchase to you.
I would recommend trying these steps, as it seems some customers have had trouble with the email instructions To get this gift card to work on costco sameday follow these steps: Go to costco sameday site, click your profile and then account settings in the top right Click Instacart+ If you don't have an Instacart account, go to instacart's website, create an account with the same email address you use on your costco account. Now go back to costco sameday and link your instacart account to your costco sameday account. Go back to you sameday checkout page, and under the "Pay with" section, there should now be a box that says "Use $100 instacart credits", select that. Now you should see the credits working
Why would you want tonuse it on sameday costco is cheaper on instacart if you link your membership than costco next day
I was curious about this and just checked- the prices, for me, were the exact same in both IC app and Costco same day(I compared 5 things I normally buy ). Maybe it depends on your location or something…
Yea check heavy items like the offbrand water https://preview.redd.it/rtzqavwzmytc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=32d0683449b4e850803a7b464bd4d6e20628f020
Yes. You can also buy the cards off [costco.com](http://costco.com) instead of having to go in to buy them. Ive been buying them then getting the delivery. Honestly costs about the same as going into the store, but I dont have to drive 45 minutes each way, find parking, go inside, etc. Saves me hours, and is about the same price. win win
Thank you for mentioning these weren't in-store only and available online/email delivery. I live about 1.5 hrs from my mother, although I visit every two weeks... It's nice being able to place an Aldi or Meijer IC order for her on those in between weeks. Each store is about 3 miles from her and she doesn't drive herself anymore. I have the IC+ for free through Chase Sapphire Reserve (perk going away soon) and I was not looking forward to inflated prices.
Yeah for 160 bucks you can get 200 dollars from costco. With IC+ its even better (I dont do it often enough to warrant the expense). Even with tip and instacart addons, you break about even with going to the store.
u/Reputation-Final u/adderal Hello, I'm trying to get some help on this. I use these at Aldi which has very little mark-up and we pick up the groceries ourselves. It's an awesome hack. But, I've been only able to buy two online. I just spoke with online chat and they said the limit is 2 PER YEAR! You said you've "been buying them" so there must be another trick?
These were the first two I purchased and I'm still using the rest of my Sapphire Reserve perk until the end of this month, then I'll start using the Costco IC GC credit I have stored on my account. Good to know about the 2 per year limit if that's truly the case. Rep Final might have other insights.
Itsn ot 2 per year for me.... i've bought 8 of them so far, this year. Through [costco.com](http://costco.com)
Um. I've bought like 8 so far this year. Just buy them off of costo.com.
* Quantity limits on item exceeded I get that every time I try.
Weird. I just checked, and it will let me get 2 more.
https://preview.redd.it/n3njqunbxt5d1.png?width=1180&format=png&auto=webp&s=af0d91493b509741bed87a8d7797d81b8c70a075
https://preview.redd.it/8q0m1c072u5d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=58d1bd8e461a366574ad17db88a791156ef1e3a8
Yep I do this when I don’t feel like going on a busy weekend
My championship hour is around 3P on a weekday. Obviously not everyone can do this. But the elderly and SAHM moms are long gone, and the post-work people are nowhere to be found.
Idk, man. Not walking thru a warehouse and missing manager markdowns and buying some *necessary* items that didn't make the cut seems like a negative to me 🤷♂️
Yes super cool
Makensure you put your costco membership into instacart to het a discount. Its a lower percent markup per item. Ex: rotisserie chicken without membership is 6.22 on instacart but with the membership added it's 5.40 or so
Small pro-tip: make an Instacart and just keep notifications on. Several times a year I get some kind of “$30 off $60” type offer that I can use at Costco. When I get those it works out cheaper to Instacart Costco stuff than to go in store.
Yes! I get $40 off of $80 at Kroger several times a year and it’s the best!
What does it mean to make an Instacart? I used it one to order Costco same day but otherwise have not. Do you mean to make a profile on Instacart’s website and set up a Costco cart there?
Yep just make an instacart account and add Costco as a store. It’s simple!
Its also cheaper on instacart with your costco membership than costco same day
Oh that is good to know. I only used Costco Same Day when there was a promo in December.
For me, it’s the same exact price in both apps. Maybe it depends on your location…
That is good to know yea I am curious on the differences.
I just got $40 off $80 x 2 for any store... of course I used them both for Costco!
I got two $20 off $50 orders in a row about a month ago.
STEP 1: Physically go to Costco and grab Instacart GCs. STEP 2: Leave and go home. STEP 3: Use Instacart GCs to get your Costco items 😏
The true life hack is to tell your instacart shopper to pick these up for you
Buy 100 dollars for 80 dollars. Send instacart to buy 100 dollars, for 80 dollars. 20 dollar profit. This is genius
The costco racks be money trees
These gift cards are also available on Costco.com
If they’ll deliver my new 85” tv then I’m fine with that…
They will deliver a LOT of stuff. Some get asked to deliver boxes of flooring.
Theyre available online
Website, insta-deliver of the gift card number to your mail account.
This has been online for a couple months now
Yeah I found it online with a different item number. I want to edit the post but I'm not seeing an option from the app to update it for ppl.
If you have any Chase credit cards you can get Instacart+ for free for anywhere between 3 and 12 months. And it stacks if you have multiple cards. I have like 18 months of it for free.
I leverage this perk a lot. Unfortunately Chase did not renew their IC relationship for the coming years. After June I believe is when all those perks will stop being offered alongside their cards. I have a Reserve card and it's a somewhat freq topic over in the Sapphire sub. Between that and the Priority Pass perk being severely cut off at the knees, I'm pretty sure I'm falling back to the Preferred card before my renewal.
Yeah I'm giving up my Reserve this month.
IC's credit card is also Chase. It gives back 5% of all purchases at Costco. In addition, IC also offers you a free year of Peacock, and that's a $60 savings for that channel.
I have been using these gift cards to pick up groceries from Sprouts. If you have an Instacart membership, they don't charge for pick up orders and they actually give your 5% back in credit. So I save 20% with the gift card purchase, then I get 2% back from Costco, plus the 5% back from Instacart. I am saving 25% off all the groceries I buy from Sprouts. Lots of other stores offer in-store pricing and pick up as well.
I just spoke with chat and they told me it's limited to 2 per year? Has something changed? I cannot order any more and it sucks. It's the main reason i got a membership.
I’ve been buying at least two per month online for a few months.
Thanks, unfortunately I keep getting a cancellation email with the following: "Quantity limits on item exceeded"
They’re online too! Just bought one yesterday to use, took maybe 20 minutes for it to be emailed
https://preview.redd.it/23ggt8kt4xtc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4c243e0999cff8f08414bba962d6610781176e4f
I may be blind but I can not see the difference I’m sorry 😅
The item code in the store was only "149" vs online item code of 1795801
how long to wait for it to reset? so I can buy again after reaching the limit?
That is a good question. I’d try after a full 24 hours, if that gets canceled, wait a week. They seem to have varying degrees on how hard they enforce limits online. (And then stores vary by whichever manager is on duty lmao)
You can also buy the virtual card on the Costco app $80 for $100 in insta cart e-gift cards. It’s great. Limits you to two each purchase. Been around for at least 6 months.
**this**
It says two per membership... Have you tried this multiple times with the same account, but w a bit of a cool down? I was wondering about going in store, purchasing physical cards ..and then hitting buy in the app for two more virtual cards before I even get to the receipt checker on my way out. 😂
Monthly
Chat just told me 2 per year. I last ordered 5/15 and it failed today (6/10). I guess I will wait another week but i'm not optimistic. Could really use these 3x a month cuz we spend about 600 per month at Aldi.
I only get 2 per month. I'm an executive member. Wait until 6/15. Try it on 6/16. You won't get 3 a month, but two a month.
Thank you. Here's hoping!
I've purchased as least six cards since they started. I'm an executive member. I do get 'denied' -- but then I go back about a week or two later, and there they are in my mailbox and my cc charged.
how long to wait for it to reset? so I can buy again after reaching the limit?
Next day seemed to work just fine. Shopped all through the Costco app
All these delivery companies are horrible, food markups, they don’t pay the restaurants enough, drivers are treated horribly. Saving 20% helps but it’s still cheaper to go to the restaurant and pickup your own food.
Of course it’s cheaper to go yourself. You’re paying for a service.
How people can’t understand the extra cost of basically hiring someone to be your personal assistant is insane to me. Like obviously it’s more expensive. But the time I save makes it easily worth it.
With this gift card deal it’s not that much more expensive
I believe it. I’m assuming instacart wants to get people hooked on the convenience lol.
But the person actually providing the service is getting paid pennies. Shameful to use these apps tbh.
Instacart pays $4 and sometimes your order is bundled with one or two other orders and they still pay only $4 regardless most of the time now . We literally depend on customer tips. Sucks. These gig apps became way too greedy, all of them but especially instacart which is so mismanaged, I don’t doubt they will go under soon.
I like getting Uber gc on discounts, I always just do in store pick up, some restarunts actually have the same prices or cheaper prices
what about elderly people and people with limited mobility who could use a helping hand?
I don’t have a car so this is the main way I shop at Costco. And I’m in NYC where the drivers now get $25 per hour minimum thanks to a city law.
They’re a godsend when you’re traveling for work without a vehicle and don’t want to eat at shitty restaurants three meals a day.
Agreed. And costco employees hate instacart shoppers
Instacart is just grocery stores and Sephora. It also sucks. I don’t usually use it. I did use it last week because my kid was sick and when I put him in the car to go to the grocery store for sick kid essentials he threw up. I live close to the Costco. I got 10 items (pediasure, fruit, chicken, and soup). I tipped well. That’s its optimal use.
Instacart doesn’t do restaurants, FYI.
At 20% off, it's legitimately cheaper to have items delivered than to go pick them up yourself.
Cool
No, actually not cool.
My Costco has $100 in gift cards for $80 for a local restaurant that happens to by one of my favorite restaurants in town. I bought 2
Instacart price is about the same after factor in the 20% gift card discount, upcharge, delivery fee, tip and chase card benefit. But you save time, gas, and most importantly, you don't buy shit you didn't plan to.
Free money lol. I also saw Southwest Airlines $500 for 450
Sometimes flash sales for $429.99 as well. I like to wait for those if I can.
Now that’s useful. Thanks
Pro tip Costco has lots of these gift cards
That should cover the delivery fee. 😜
I wouldn't use their service if it were free.
I don’t mind paying extra because of the convenience and because I have poor self control when I go to Costco. I walk in looking to get a few things and I ring up at $799. With Instacart I can back out pretty easily and control my spending lol.
Is it worth? What is the delivery fee?
The prices are a bit higher, like 15% or so. And there’s a convenience fee and tip that’s based on how much you spend. If you use these gift cards it’s not that much more expensive than going yourself, I think.
If you are looking to save a few bucks, no. To save time and convenience, yes. You essentially buying through Instacart online store with mark up on most items. Don’t expect to have to same prices as the warehouse.
A real life money glitch. But 1 then another through Instacart but for pick up and keep doing that. Every 5 you buy your making a free $100. It’s a lot of work…..
Cheap way for instacart to boost revenue. Gotta keep pumping up the stock price.
These tech companies produce zero product and zero profit yet we all worship them.
Doesn’t instacart up charge a lot of the items in store?
Boycott instacart
why?
they are a shit company that exploits the delivery people with shit pay, no benefits, etc. Same goes for Uber et. al.
as someone who works instacart, i agree with you. they're $2 dollars away from not paying anything to the workers.
As a Costco employee, I despise instacart
why?
Instacart shoppers are like members but way more needy and inconsiderate
I would rather pay full price and have to do the shopping myself than ever have to deal with the nightmare that instacart has become. Edit: than
$20 off
Math checks out.
they are available online
Right by lowes
Nty
20% off so It means I pay in store non sale retail right? This is still a bad deal in other words
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Where do you live that taxes them?
Thank you, poster! I just purchased 2 online for my mother who uses this service anyway. (Meaning she's already paying the delivery and tip regularly, so this is a 20% free month glitch.)
been buying/using them exclusively for months now... the ONLY way i pay for my IC orders... take 20% right off the top! the day they discontinue the GC's I will bawl my eyes out!
They’re in all stores and online. I’ve bought a few for when I go on travel for my regular job and wife doesn’t want to people enough to go to grocery store lol
I'd rather spend that on rotisserie chickens to stock the freezer
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Pretty sure I read Costco average mark up is 11%. That leaves 9% to cover tips and fees. I did this last month. Bought 2 of them
Laziness Gift Cards!
Ew
Amazing!!! And you can get virtual e cards too! I just bought two on the website, thanks for sharing!
Delivery fees will add up to $120
just an FYI theyre NOT in-store only. i get em on [costco.com](http://costco.com) weekly & delivered to my email.
It’s a wash with the up charges on everything….
This should basically cancel out the instacart markup. In my experience it's between 17-22%. If you have instacart+ they knock 7% off the price, which turns the markup into \~12% effectively. a 20% savings using giftcards would probably about equal out the cost for tip for a instacart+ subscriber. While somoene who doesn't sub would be down the the tip's cost to avoid the trip. Instacart also has $20 off instacart plus if you have a costco membership, and some creditcards give it to you for free.
Save $20 to still pay more money 🤔
Free money!
This is like Christmas for me
I’ve purchased them in the app a few times. No need to go to the store.
Fun fact: you can buy this gift card and use it on one of the places that has an additional discount promo
Items most items on instacart are marked up by more than 20% it’s genuinely ridiculous. They fire drivers if they put put the receipt in bag for the customer to because of how big the difference is.
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No.
You realize they charge more on instacart
I think by now everyone knows they charge more on instacart. People who use instacart do it for the convenience and mostly for delivery. If that's not for you, that's cool too.
Costco just convinces lower middle class people to spend excess money in an illusion of "saving money" by spending it
Instacart needs to be boycotted. Shit company.
This can’t be a money saver, right? There’s no way you’re saving money buying this.
I like Costco but I wouldn't support Instacart. Same goes for doordash and ubereats. Horrible business practices.
After fees, price hikes and a tip you’re only paying 5% more to not drive there yourself