Well that's true sometimes but it depends on the store. Instacart actually matches in-store prices in certain stores. In the app these stores are noted as having "everyday store prices." If there's a markup it will say "view pricing policy" instead.

Their Whole Foods deal delivered everyday store prices so that's why I didn't list this as a difference. In SF Costco and Safeway have markups but for example Bi-Rite, Rainbow, Smart & Final and Mollie Stone's do not.

I know Instacart used to mark up everything and people hated it. So they've taken to hiding the cost somehow.. Maybe they're asking the smaller stores to take it out of their margins, and they just can't get Safeway & Costco to do it. Maybe they're tricking customers into paying a 10% markup with their "service fee". That fee reportedly does not get passed on to the workers and is optional but most customers probably don't realize this.

Amazon doesn't have as much of a cost problem here because they have the Prime membership fee, plus economies of scale.

> Maybe they're tricking customers into paying a 10% markup with their "service fee". That fee reportedly does not get passed on to the workers and is optional but most customers probably don't realize this.

Ha! “Optional service fee” sounds like the reverse of “mandatory tip.

Instacart and Shipt (who was recently acquired by Target) make money from the price slew between what they're paying (which, might not even be the cost that's on the grocery shelf -- it may be lower), and the price that they're charging you.

Yes, they have to pay the Shoppers a per-item fee, but, for the most part, the price that Insta is paying isn't the price that's listed on the shelf.

It's kind of a paradox. I can see what you're saying, but at the same time, I don't expect e.g. a retailer to be transparent with me about their supplier costs, and phrase their prices as "$2 unit wholesale cost, $0.50 retail storage fee."

The difference is that to get that $2/unit wholesale cost I need to buy 10k units and to get the regular price from the thing on Instacart I just need to go to the store. The latter feels far more achievable.