I used Instacart through the pandemic until vaccines were available. I knew about the markups, but couldn’t easily figure them out. -That’s not the problem I have with Instacart.

The big problem is their ability to leverage a discount from the store, which is even harder to figure out (outside of hearsay). -This makes it far more difficult for personal shoppers to compete on their own, or for customers to acquire a quality personal shopper they can rely on for a competitive rate.

I’m waiting for the day all these shitty delivery services come crashing down. But sadly I think there’s enough idiots out there to keep them in buisness.

That said these practices aren’t unique. Almost any place where you buy X + a service will charge a markup on the initial item + their service fee.