InstaCart
The two Chase Ink cards I opened to pay for a new roof netted me $900 each in Chase points with no annual fee and 0% interest for 12 months. A perk I haven’t fully been using is the 3 month Instacart+ and a monthly $20 Instacart credit.
Also, I just realized that despite not being advertised in the Benefits of the Card section on the Chase website, IHG Premier does offer a $10 InstaCart credit.
I don’t love having to tip on a task I could easily drive 5 minutes to the store and do myself. So I started exploring the pickup options. Publix, Aldi, Food Lion, Fresh Market, Sprouts, and Earth Fare all offer pickup in the Charlotte area.
How to Use InstaCart Credit For Pickup:
It is much simpler than I thought it would be and certain places advertise that they do not charge increased prices, like Food Lion and Sprouts.
- Go to Instacart website. (Activate Rakuten Cashback)
- Select Pickup on the left hand side menu.
- Choose your store for pickup.
- Place your order and select pickup time.
- That’s it. Go pick it up.
Case Study 1 (turned from hypothetical research to completed event):
I decided to create an Aldi pickup order for the next day picking up our usual items. I did not notice a price increase on Aldi items when buying the usual products. Essentially $18 off (since Aldi keeps a $1.99 pickup fee). Will see how easy it is to pickup. Update: Extremely easy pickup. Just tell them you are on the way in the app. Click you are here when you arrive (location services may alert them as well) and tell them which parking space. I waited less than 2 minutes. 10/10
Case Study 2:
My idea was to use our 3 different Ink cards and place 3 orders and go pick up $60 worth of groceries.
Earth Fare just started carrying the most realistic vegan steak like product from a brand called Chunk that we had down in Florida and were big fans. So I thought that might be a worthwhile drive to get $70 off. The snafu I ran into is there is a little pickup fee for under $35. Free once you hit that mark, except for Aldi who still charges $1.99.
The Math:
Earth Fare lists the same price on their website as they have on Instacart. Not sure if that matches the in store price or not. Anywho, here is the breakdown:
2 Chunk Steaks for $11.29 each = $22.58
Pickup Fee = $3.99
Service Fee = Free
Chase Ink Credits = -$20
Total = $6.57
That’s not too shabby. If you spend over $35, the $3.99 fee disappears which would normally be fine if it was a cheaper place that we normally shop. But this is a 17 to 40 minute drive depending on traffic for this Chunk run, so maybe we should stock up.
With one $20 credit, we could get either
2 Chunk products worth $22.58 for just $6.57 or
4 Chunk products worth $38.96 for just $18.96.
Placing 3 separate orders using the 3 $20 credits, we could get either
12 chunk products for $56.88 or
6 steaks for $19.71
A few snafus: I’m not sure you can place more than one order at a time on your account as it tries to just add it to your previous order. Also, Earth Fare does indeed mark up their online prices. So I guess you can knock a few dollars off of the actual savings number.
DoorDash
A little less exciting because it is only $10 non-grocery and the pickup options are garbage. 7 Eleven or the DashMart. The DashMart is only 4 miles away, but not in a spot we frequent and they don’t have a ton of vegan items. Maybe if I combine it with an InstaCart pickup at Aldi near there and treat myself to a Romeo’s slow day deal on a Tuesday.
However, based on random Google search results, our Chase Freedom and reportedly IHG (quarterly) cards also have $10 DoorDash credit and we have like 3 of those. (Can’t always trust the AI-powered Google search results to give current info.)
The Math:
Impossible Nuggets = $10.99
Service Fee = $0
Total = $1.01 (have DoorDash credit that was purchased at 20% off)
I mean even if the price is a little higher than other places, that is worth a dollar if we are in the area.
The Hassle:
Having to place multiple orders using multiple cards could be a pain in the butt, especially for a place that is out of the way and doesn’t really have much we would be interested in. It’s annoying that it would almost be more valuable to order one specialty item and have it delivered with DoorDash just to save a few dollars after tip.
Also, the DashMart gives pretty sketchy vibes down South Blvd. First, the sign says to ring the button on the door intercom. After waiting a few minutes, I just opened the door and went in to get to the counter to pick up my order. Also, I think my frozen item was just in a bag on the counter for like an hour. Hmm.
Conclusion:
The real value is in the $20 InstaCart credits. If this works and you can place multiple orders using multiple cards and their credits, it seems worth my time to place the order and go pick it up.
I mean we shop at Aldi once a week already. If they want to have my order ready for me when I get there and I can save money while doing it, why not?
I tried an old school Chase Freedom and IHG Premier and neither seemed to offer any DoorDash credit, so we will scrap the DoorDash plan.
Going forward, aside from the plan to trek down to Earth Fare for a specialty order, it could be very valuable to utilize the $20 off on our regular shopping needs through Aldi or even Food Lion (the Park Rd location). Looking at Food Lion, they had great prices on tofu, tempeh and Field Roast.
Other Considerations:
The annual fee for InstaCart is $99, but the 3 free months stack from each card and now my free months go through September. If we pick up another no annual fee Ink card, we could save roughly $80/month that would essentially pay for the annual fee in under 2 months. Stay tuned because that sounds like a solid deal.
Don’t forget to use Rakuten when placing your InstaCart order.
You can not stack the InstaCart offered promos with your credit card credits.