Instacart brings grocery delivery to Berks and Franklin counties

(Chambersburg) — Chambersburg-area residents can have someone shop for them at BJ’s Wholesale Club or CVS and deliver the items to them on the same day.

Instacart, the nation’s fastest-growing grocery delivery service, tomorrow will start serving an area of 27,000 households — including Chambersburg, Shippensburg and the townships of Greene, Guilford and Southampton, Franklin County and Berks County.

Instacart shoppers will deliver groceries and items from BJ’s Wholesale Club and CVS in as little as one hour.

“Over the past year we’ve seen incredible demand in the Chambersburg area,” said Sam Donoghue, general manager at Instacart.  “We work with a variety of local retailers to provide the freshest, highest quality groceries to our customers. Launching in Chambersburg gives us an opportunity to expand service in the Pennsylvania market. We’re also excited to build a world-class shopper community, where we can offer fun and flexible income earning opportunities for our shoppers, who ultimately deliver this amazing service to the community.”

The local service is currently limited to BJ’s and CVS, but more could be added in the future, according to an Instacart spokeswoman.

It is expected to provide more than 100 jobs, according to Instacart.

The company has relied on people acting as independent contractors to be shoppers. The business model is like Uber and Lyft. The part-time workers praise the companies for flexible work schedules, but can complain about low or irregular pay.

Instacart in 2017 agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit with its independent contractors by paying $4.6 million and better explaining its fees to customers. Instacart independent contractors, known as shoppers, rely on tips from Instacart customers.

Instacart was founded in 2012 by former  Amazon ex-engineer Apoorva Mehta in San Francisco. The company grew to be worth an estimated $2 billion in 2015 and $3 billion in 2017. The company announced in April 2017 a goal of being able to deliver groceries to 80 percent of U.S. households by 2018.

Instacart is in 220 markets and has agreements with with retailers including Albertsons, Kroger, Costco, Loblaw, Publix, Wegmans, Schnucks and H-E-B.

How it works

Customers use the Instacart website or app to fill their virtual shopping cart with items from their favorite, local stores. Instacart connects them with shoppers who hand pick the items and deliver them to the customer’s door.

For orders of $35 or more, the delivery fee is $5.99. An introductory Instacart Express membership for $35 enables unlimited, free same-day delivery on orders of $35 or more. After the free trial period, Instacart Express membership is  $14.99 a month or $149 a year.

First time users can enter the code HEYCHAMBERSBURG by June 2019 at checkout to get $20 off an order of $35 or more. They can also get a free first time delivery.

The ZIP codes for the local service area are 17201, 17202, 17222, 17244, 17246 and 17257.

New customers can open an account at www.Instacart.com. For more information visit https://www.instacart.com/faq.

This story comes to us through a partnership between WITF and The Chambersburg Public Opinion.