Instacart knows that its scheduled grocery deliveries are not prepared for a pandemic when demand is surging. So the service has introduced a “Fast & Flexible” option that has the first available shopper deliver your order, whenever that may be. You’ll get an expected delivery range instead of a set schedule, and will get a notification when your order has been picked up.
The company is also extending its Order Ahead feature to allow scheduled deliveries up to two weeks ahead, not just one week. This is available in some very busy areas right now and should be available across North America in the coming weeks. If you have simple orders and want to avoid visiting the grocery store for as long as possible, this might be for you.
These additions come as Instacart is in the process of hiring 300,000 extra shoppers to deal with the demand from the Coronavirus outbreak. It also comes as Instacart is dealing with complaints from shoppers over a lack of safety precautions that the company has only lately started to address. Instacart’s entire system is under a heavy burden, and options like Fast & Flexible are just one part of an effort to address these things.
Source Engadget
