Ever wonder how much money Shipt shoppers get paid?
In this post, Shipt Shopper Anthony shares his average earnings with Shipt and a few strategies for maximizing your income while delivering. He’ll also offer some helpful tips for passing your Shipt Shopper interview.
What is Shipt?
For those of you that aren’t familiar,Shipt is one of the best food delivery apps to work for.
Similar to Instacart, you get paid to shop for customers, usually groceries, and then deliver the order to their house/apartment.
The Shipt app makes all of this easy, showing you exactly what items to buy and routing you to the delivery address.
Shipt was acquired by Target in 2017, so a lot of shopping will take place at Target stores, but there are also a lot of other stores to choose from. They’ve also partnered with a number of other grocery chains, which adds some variation to the shopping experience.
How Much Do Shipt Shoppers Make?
My location in New Jersey offers all the traditional rideshare and shopping apps, such as Instacart, DoorDash, Grubhub, Uber Eats, etc. However, after I downloaded all the shopping and delivery apps I’ve heard of, I learned about Shipt, and this app is the BEST!
When it comes to earnings, future SHIPT shoppers want someone to tell them objectively what they will earn, realistically. I can honestly say a shopper can earn between $20-$30 an hour in my New Jersey shore market.
Some shoppers I have met say they have averaged $20-$35 or more per hour on average and up to $1100 a week. When I work the Shipt app, I average $25 an hour.
Sign-up & Get a Referral Bonus
To sign up to be a Shipt Shopper, just click the link below and follow the steps to apply.When you use our referral code, NSX-A3-F9K, you’ll also get a referral bonus after you complete a certain number of orders.
Sign up and get started with Shipt today!
Referral code: NSX-A3-F9K
In addition to Shipt, we also recommend signing up for DoorDash and Instacart so that you're not reliant only on one app to make money.
How Much Does Shipt Pay Per Order?
The average order that I see is $10-$12 (before tips). After tips, Shipt shoppers make $15-$17 per order.
When selecting orders, I always check the “promo pay” section for higher-paying orders first. These orders often pay in the $20-$30 range!
Usually, I only accept a promo pay order if it’s within a few miles from my house. Often I will see higher paying orders that are 20-30 miles away, and we all know that as independent contractors our gas expenses can quickly eat into the pay of far away orders.
How Much Doe Shipt Pay Per Hour?
My average hourly pay is about the same as the average pay per order at $20-$30.
New Jersey is a high-demand area, with a lot of customers using the Shipt platform. This makes it easy to schedule out plenty of hours with a reasonable expectation that I’ll stay busy.
Shipt also lets shoppers create their own “batches” so you can schedule two, maybe even three orders that have the same or close delivery window (let’s say both between 2PM and 3PM, or one between 2PM and 3PM and the other between 3PM and 4PM). As long as you are able to make the delivery within the required delivery window, you are good to go!
This means that experienced shoppers can potentially double their earnings if they know what they’re doing.
I’ve also been told that Shipt rewards its veteran shoppers with access to higher-paying orders. As a new shopper, I can’t quite confirm this. It’s definitely good to hear, as not all gig platforms seem to respect veteran independent contractors.
One thing Shipt shoppers should be aware of is that Shipt takes the delivery window seriously. Even if you unload and drop an order off 30 seconds after the window, it’s considered late!
How Do Shipt Shoppers Get Paid?
Shipt shoppers have the choice of having their earnings deposited weekly every Monday morning, as well as instant cashout available up to five times a day, for a charge of about 49 cents each cashout.
Shipt pays via direct deposit. There’s a tab within your account page in the Shipt app where you can easily add your direct deposit info for payout.
Shipt pays out every Friday via direct deposit. The payout will consist of earnings from the previous week (Monday through Sunday).
How is Shipt Pay Calculated?
Shipt’s pay scale is very simple: $5 per order plus 7.5% of total customer pay. This is now referred to as V1 for Shipt pay.
As mentioned earlier, Shipt appears to be testing a V2 of pay in many cities. Under this new pay structure, there is a base pay of $5 per order plus an unspecified additional amount that is supposedly based on miles driven and total items.
A lot of veteran Shoppers are not happy about the new pay model. They claim that it pays less than V1 pay and they are disappointed in the lack of transparency.
Lack of transparency in pay is definitely an issue in the gig economy, it allows gig companies to make changes to worker pay without letting them know about the updates. There has been suspicion that V2 pay was created to offset the new “premium pay” introduced by some larger metro areas to help workers during the pandemic.
Despite the outcry about the new pay model, I still think Shipt is a good app for generating income and I plan to continue shopping on the app. There are usually orders available in my region, which makes it a reliable source for side income.
In addition, I like that Shipt lets you create your own batches by combining orders – I can definitely see this being an income booster.
Alternatives to Shipt
Looking for other delivery driving jobs? Here are our top recommendations:
🏆 Best Paying Delivery App: DoorDash
Sign up for Doordash
🏆 Best Grocery Delivery App:Instacart
Sign up for Instacart
Instacart vs. Shipt Pay
At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, Instacart pay was almost unbeatable. Instacart saw a huge boost in demand and couldn’t keep up with it.These massive payouts didn’t last long, as Instacart quickly hired 500,000 shoppers. This allowed them to fill customer orders at lower prices and bring things back into a balance (or out of one, depending on who you ask).
Things have since calmed down and Instacart pay has normalized. An average batch on the Instacart platform is between $15 and $20, although there is a very wide range of payouts. I see plenty of $9 batches (tip included) and some higher paying batches between $30 and $40 (but those are double batches so it requires almost twice the work).
Instacart has a very complex pay structure that includes pay per item, pay per mileage, base pay, heavy order pay, customer tips, and more. This accounts for the large fluctuation in payouts.
Shipt, on the other hand, keeps their pay more consistent and the pay is a bit more predictable. The calculations are a bit more straightforward (at least they used to be). At the end of the day, it is similar to Instacart, as I average $15 to $17 per order with Shipt.
Pros & Cons of Driving for Shipt
Pros
- Flexible – Shoppers can go into the app and pick up an available order or schedule their work time in advance
- Get paid per order, not per hour
- Delivery only trips are an option
- Shipt offers promotional bonuses sometimes
- Shoppers get to keep their tips
- You truly are in complete control over every job you accept
Cons
- Pay for your own gas and car maintenance
- May involve some physical work (ie. carrying a lot of bags up a flight of stairs)
- Very low pay of some shop-and-deliver orders that are not promo or are discounted
Shipt Shopper Requirements
To become a Shipt shopper, you’ll need:
- To be at least 18 years old
- Have a valid mailing address
- Have a valid US driver’s license and auto insurance
- A reliable vehicle, 1997 or newer
- Knowledge of produce selection (don’t mistake an apple for an orange, for instance)
- Ability to lift 40 pounds
- iPhone or Android smartphone
Interview Tips for Shipt Shoppers
The one obstacle for most new applicants is the interview process. It’s a requirement when you apply, and it can be a bit intimidating. Potential shoppers must record a video of themselves answering three questions (mostly related to customer service and professional qualifications).
My recommendation is to practice this a few times, watch your videos and try to make improvements before submitting. Given that I make YouTube videos about the gig economy, I think I had a slight advantage.
To be completely honest, it took me quite a while to get comfortable in front of a camera when I got started with YouTube. But after some time I got the hang of it. Practice a few times and you will do just fine!
How to Get Started as a Shipt Shopper
If you’re looking to diversify your rideshare income and continue earning money in the gig economy, Shipt is a great option to consider. You also get a referral bonus when you sign up using our link.
Click here to sign-up for Shipt
Referral code: NSX-A3-F9K
About the Author
Anthony Soldo an independent contractor/sole proprietor from New Jersey. He works on many platforms such as Uber, Lyft, Door Dash, Instacart, and Shipt for the past 5.5 years, as well as his own locally based airport pre/arranged airport service. Anthony has a passion for writing and working on writing a book. He is also an avid music and movie lover, eclectic in his taste across many genres.
