Instacart Adds A Bit Of Humanity Back To Gig Work By Letting Customers “Favorite” Shoppers

Gig work, like car rides or food pickups, is often used as an example of retail transactions where humanity is lost, and workers get dehumanized or treated like human drones. Instacart announced a pilot program that could help change this, by allowing customers and their selected shoppers to choose each other.

When you can "favorite" a shopper who goes and gets your groceries for you (and they accept), then you can specifically request that same person to do your shopping every time. Your shopper can learn your preferences, communicate with you, and serve more like a personal assistant instead of a faceless resource who delivers your stuff.

I'm not sure why this innovation has taken so long to get added. It feels like a win for everyone involved. Shoppers get to know who they are working for and (probably) earn higher tips from those customers because they know them personally. And customers get the benefit of having someone who knows their preferences, particularly with something as personal as food. It's baffling why no other platform has tried to do this already.