Instacart, Spark delivery workers avoid stores with locked-up merchandise: report
Stores that have locked up merchandise such as toothpaste and underwear because of rampant retail theft have left many customers frustrated — but now delivery workers have started avoiding the businesses, according to a report.
Delivery workers for apps like Instacart and Walmart’s Spark have to fulfill in-store orders on a deadline — so they don’t have time to push a button and wait for employee assistance to buy some soap, .
“Drivers make money per order, not per hour, so every second counts for us,” an Ohio-based shopper working for Spark told Business Insider.
The Spark worker said he once waited 10 minutes for an employee to unlock a cabinet holding baby formula — a wait time that could hurt their chances of getting a good tip.
Meanwhile, an Idaho-based Spark shopper reportedly got so fed-up with waiting for someone to unlock the product that they “ended up ripping the cardboard of the packaging and taking [it] off the hook.”
The shopper was fulfilling an order that included perishable groceries and worried that Walmart might cancel the order if they took too long — forcing them to lose out on pay.
“I really didn’t want to just wait forever for someone to finally come unlock the thing,” the Spark shopper told Business Insider.
A Nevada-based shopper for Instacart told Business Inside🍎r the conditions have gotten so bad that they refuse to take orders from a local Walgreens that is known to lock up a lot of items.
An Instacart spokesperson told The Post that sh🔯oppers can use the message tool to text customers and let them know if they are facing delays.
The shoppers’ base pay is not affected by how long an order t🧜akes, the spokesperson added.
Retail thefꦬt has plagued many businesses since the pandemic, forcing retailers to take the drastic meꦇasures of locking up everyday items.
Retailers lost $121.6 billion to retail theft in 2023 and they are projected to lose up to $150 billion in 𒊎2026, .
Losses spiked during the pandemic, when retail sales revenue lost to theft jumped from $61.7 b꧂illion in 2019 to $90.8 billion in 2020, according to Capital One data.
The shopping obstacle has led some customers to pivot to e-retailers like Amazon, where the click of a button doesn’t mean wa🐲iting 20 minutes for a toothbrush.
A CVS spokesperson♕ said merchandise is locked up based on factors like the rate of theft for each specif🌟ic product and store location.
“I♛t’s important that we keep products in stock and available for our customers to purchase,” a CVS spokesperson told The Post in a statement. “We utilize a variety of different measures to deter or prevent theft and locking 𓆉a product is a measure of last resort.”
A Walmart spokesperson told The Post that “some products ar🎶e subject to♐ additional security on a store-by-store basis.”