Instacart plans to add a $0.40 fee to orders “over the next month” that goes to shoppers to help with gas prices, even if shopper's cars are hybrid or electric
Kim Lyons / The Verge :
Context & Ripple Effects
Instacart is adding a $0.40 per-order fee that goes to shoppers for gas costs — its answer to fuel prices spiking across the gig economy, and it follows Uber's temporary $0.45–$0.55 rider surcharge announced just a week earlier. The move lands on a company with a long history of repricing the delivery transaction: it once quietly shifted its primary revenue model from delivery fees and markups to grocer fees, then cut courier commissions by 50% in some metros in 2016.
First-order effects
- Shoppers receive an extra $0.40 per order regardless of whether they drive hybrid or electric vehicles, while customers see the added line item on every Instacart order within the next month.
Second-order effects
- Rival grocery and delivery platforms face immediate pressure to match the surcharge or risk losing drivers during the same fuel-price squeeze, extending the pass-through pattern Uber set days earlier.
Third-order effects
- If fuel-cost surcharges become a standing feature rather than a temporary patch, gig platforms institutionalize a mechanism that shifts operating-cost volatility directly onto consumers — a structural change to how delivery pricing absorbs commodity swings.
The trend: Gig delivery platforms are converging on temporary consumer-facing surcharges as their standard response to fuel-price shocks, converting driver cost pressure into customer line items.