Instacart shoppers help customers with their grocery errands for a fee. Costco is a membership-only retail store. Since Instacart serves a wide range of customers through a diverse network of local stores, it is worth asking if the Instacart shoppers can get groceries for customers from Costco. And if yes, how do they manage to do so.
Instacart shoppers can buy grocery items from Costco for Instacart customers alone. They cannot shop for themselves. They can only shop for themselves if they are already members of Costco. To shop at Cosco, they will have to take some measures, such as wearing their Instacart uniforms or any means of identification.
Do Instacart Shoppers Join Queues at Costco?
Instacart shoppers do not have to wait in line to shop at Costco, whether it is crowded or not. The partnership between Instacart and Costco makes it easy for Instacart shoppers to get items from Costco to Instacart customers.
It had to be so. Instacart shoppers are working with a strict schedule. The customers would have to get their grocery items delivered at the scheduled time. If the shoppers were to be waiting in the queue before getting items, it would affect Instacart’s operations negatively, which would render the partnership next to ineffective.
How Can Instacart Shoppers Verify Themselves at Costco?
Since Costco sells to its members alone and Instacart shoppers can shop at Costco through the partnership between Instacart and Costco, the shoppers will have to identify themselves to get items for their customers.
The shoppers can identify themselves by presenting their Instacart ID Cards, Instacart lanyards or showing their Instacart profile to the Costco personnel from their phone.
How Do Instacart Shoppers Beat the Long Queues at Costco?
It depends on the individual Costco locations. Some locations assign time to Instacart shoppers. Where this is practiced, Costco will allow the shoppers access to their store for some hours before they open to the public. They sometimes also allow Instacart shoppers to shop for items for some time after they have closed for the day. It depends on the arrangements of specific shops. Some stores create a dedicated portion of their space for Instacart shoppers.
Does Costco Allow Instacart Shoppers to Buy Their Grocery Items?
Costco does not allow for that. For Instacart shoppers to buy their items from Costco, they would have to be members themselves.
Maybe Instacart shoppers would have been able to beat the system and shop for themselves anyway, but Costco and Instacart have measures in place to prevent that. At checkout, Instacart shoppers are required to show the customer’s card. From there, Costco would charge the amount for the grocery items the shopper has purchased. If the shopper buys personal items, Costco would unknowingly charge the customer. Instacart would find out what has happened, and that shopper will face disciplinary actions that they would prefer to do without.
Can a Non-Costco member Buy from Costco through Instacart?
Yes. Customers do not have to be a member of Costco to shop at Costco through Instacart. Shopping through Instacart gives customers automatic access to shop at Costco. One of the benefits of being a Costco member is the price differences. Costco members get items cheaper than Instacart customers who are not members of Costco. Instacart customers that are non-members of Costco must pay a 5% surcharge.
How Does Instacart Markup Costco Prices?
To mark up prices means that a third party adds an amount of money to the original price of items. Instacart markup Costco prices. You can get an item from Costco through Instacart at 10 to 25% more on the cost price. The mark-ups are not significant in small purchases, but it multiplies as the customer buys more and more items.
Why Does Instacart Mark-up Costco Products?
Instacart has an agreement with some stores to not mark up the price. It doesn’t have such an agreement with other stores. Where it doesn’t have such an arrangement, Instacart only makes the store’s products available as a choice for the customers. Meanwhile, for Instacart to continue serving its community well through those stores, it would need to raise the prices by a percentage. That is where the mark-up comes into play. Costco is one of those stores where Instacart needs to markup prices to be able to keep serving its community.
For the former category of stores, their agreement with Instacart means that Instacart is getting sufficient value from transactions to make up for their revenue.
Conclusion
Instacart shoppers can buy grocery items from Costco—the membership-only cooperative store for Instacart customers. The reason is that Instacart and Costco have an agreement to that effect. However, those Instacart shoppers will have to show identification at Costco. They can do that by presenting an ID card or anything that verifies their work with Instacart. Shoppers cannot use the opportunity to shop for personal items.
