As a broke college student, excitement built up for me last year as schools announced that they were closing for only two weeks due to the coronavirus. Thoughts went through my head, such as, “I can go home for two weeks, get my life together, make some money and pick up hours at the clothing store I work at in my hometown.”
Little did I know that a few days later, Cabrini and many other schools were going to announce that they would then close for the rest of the semester. The whole world would shut down, and I would not be working anywhere or really even have to worry about money since I was not going to be going anywhere.
As the unusual virtual semester ended I realized that I needed to find work for the summer but also felt somewhat hopeless as the world was still shut down. Some of my peers were working as Doordash drivers but were only making about seven dollars an hour and were constantly competing with others for pick-ups. I liked the idea of Doordash because of the freedom my friends had and the ability to be able to just make money whenever they wanted, but I still was looking for something more.
I had suddenly seen an ad on Instagram for Instacart. I had heard about Instacart and was always quite curious about it because I do enjoy grocery shopping. I thought, why don’t I sign up and try it. I swiped up on the Instagram story ad, signed up and days later I received the Instacart credit card in the mail. I activated the card and logged onto the app to find that I could receive up to $30-$50 earnings for simply just food shopping for people and delivering items to their homes.
It might sound pathetic but this job made me excited. At 19 years old, I had four previous minimum wage jobs and had never made this much money. It was the best job and best paying job I’ve had so far. I preach to everyone I know that they should also be Instacart workers, especially college students who have crazy class and activity schedules.
With Instacart, I have the ability to be able to work whenever I want and I’m technically my own boss. I had an enjoyable summer being able to go down to the shore whenever I wanted and plan day trips because I did not have to worry about a set work schedule. I would wake up each day in the summer around nine a.m. and work Instacart all day. I made an average of $20 an hour depending on the day and each week I was making up to $600.
Photo by Brynn Eilbacher
It wasn’t only about the money and the freedom, it was also the exercise and the constant moving since gyms were closed. I was never so active with any job I have ever had before.
In my opinion, working for Instacart is the best job for any college student. There is no other job out there that allows you to have the freedom and receive the same money as Instacart does.
