California Instacart Delivery Driver Posts TikTok About Making $2,900 in a Week and It Includes His Health Subsidy

 A California Instacart delivery driver working in Los Angeles County makes bank in a week including a "health subsidy" of $1,365.30, $645.25 in batch pay, and $890.57 in tips for June 26 - July 2, 2023.

Credit: Paul Hanaoka on Unsplash

An Instacart delivery driver 'Zeus Instacart Shopper' posted a video on TikTok on 3 July 2023 showing himself loading up a shopping cart with grocery items during a week where he says, "Come see how I make $2,900 doing Instacart in a week."

He posted in the comments section of the video, "I've only been doing Instacart since 2018 and have 9,000 orders.

Zeus says in the comments to his video, "I live in California, our wages are higher but 70% of the earnings are usually tips."

The Health Subsidy in California, Not Available in All States

Many people ask Zeus, "What is the health subsidy?"

He replies:

"I guess it's only in California...it's only once a quarter. I would never say I do this weekly because it's not possible at all. I get it because I pay for health insurance...so free health insurance"-Zeus instacart Shopper on TikTok

It appears that Zeus pays for health insurance and then receives $1,365.30 back from the state of California "once every quarter."

If you deduct his health subsidy of $1,365.30 from his earnings of $2,901.12 for June 26 - July 2, 2023, then he really earned $1,535.82. He attempts to clarify this in the comments that he "doesn't claim to earn $2,901.12 weekly" but it seems like the description of his video exaggerates his earnings to almost $3,000.

Most Instacart delivery drivers living outside of the state of California are not familiar with the health subsidy included in their earnings summary.

The earnings summary flashes for only a second at the very end. It can be seen in the picture below.

Instacart Earnings Summary

Thoughts

If you are a delivery driver, do you earn a decent amount in your area? Have you had a positive or negative experience as a delivery driver?

Do you live in California and get a health subsidy back with your Instacart earnings?

(Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments)

Pennsylvania Uber Eats Driver Takes 2 McDonald's Orders. One Order is 9 To-Go Bags That Only Pays $10 ($1.10 per Bag)

A Pennsylvania Uber Eats driver picks up two orders at a Philadelphia area McDonald's. One order is just one to-go bag, but the second order is 9 Large To-go bags that line the counter and the order only pays $10. The driver says, "The money [is] already not lining up."

McDonald's sign by Mike Mozart; CC BY SA-2.0

An Uber Eats driver takes two orders and one of these fills a long table at McDonald's.

Driver Delivers 9 McDonald's Bags & No Tip Given

An Uber Eats driver that goes by the username 'Beyond Called' posted a video on 23 June 2023 showing that a business ordered 9 bags and is only paying him $10 for this batch, which comes to $1.10 per bag.

@beyondcalled on TikTok

Chances are he will have to make several trips into the building if they don't provide a cart or assistance to him.

In his TikTok video, he said:

"This is my McDonald's order...I got two orders. That's one order"... (showing one bag) and then says, "That's two orders..." (Showing 9 additional bags lining the counter) "...and the money already not lining up," he says.

He points the camera at the single bag.

"The money for this bag was okay." He then shows the 9 bags and says, "They payin' me $10 to deliver all this right here. $10 bucks, so we gonna see what the tip we get from this situation. Hold the phone." -Beyond Called on TikTok

In the next scene, the Uber Eats delivery driver is at his destination, showing a building (seen in the picture below).

Delivery destination by @beyondcalled on TikTok

"Whatever this building is right here, this is the building that ordered all that food, this is the business that ordered all that food and didn't give one tip." -Beyond Called on TikTok

It doesn't look good when a business orders 9 To-go bags from McDonald's and doesn't give a tip. Delivery drivers need to make a living, and count on tips to make ends meet.

The video can be watched here.

Thoughts

• Do you think that it is okay for businesses to not tip delivery drivers for large orders?
• Are you a delivery driver and experienced something like this?

(Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments)

Share this post on social media so everyone can better understand what delivery drivers experience as they try to earn a living wage in the U.S.

Sources

Beyond Called's account on TikTok: @beyondcalled

Driver Hits Something. Wisconsin Warden Pulls a Bobcat Out From Being Lodged in the Front Grill of a Car

Wisconsin authorities are called when a car hits a bobcat and it becomes lodged in the grill of a car. A game warden is called to the scene and they carefully pull the bobcat from under the vehicle. The bobcat is returned to mother nature.

a bobcat by Chandler Cruttenden on Unsplash

In Portage County, Wisconsin a Toyota car hits a bobcat and the bobcat becomes lodged inside the grill of the car. Authorities are called to the scene to extract the cat.

WSAW-TV 7 News reported that the driver called the dispatcher stating, "I have a bobcat in my car" on Tuesday, 18 April 2023.

The driver felt the vehicle strike something but didn't know what until getting out of the vehicle. That's when they noticed a bobcat stuck in the front grill of the car.

bobcat stuck in front car grill by Sheriff Mike Lukas

When Portage County Sheriff's Department arrived, they determined that they needed to get a game warden out there to assist with the situation. They called Conservation Warden Bryan Lockman to come and help out.

Portage County Sheriff's Office Posted on Facebook

The Portage County Sheriff's Office posted about the incident on Facebook.

On 19 April 2023, Sheriff Mike Lukas posted:

"Ok this is a first, dispatch gets a caller stating, "I have a bobcat in my car". You can only imagine what everyone was thinking at the time, so when they dispatched over the radio numerous deputies were curious. So, Deputies Selvey, Stanton and Ashbeck responded to the location to investigate. As you can imagine the shock they were in when low and behold there was a bobcat in the vehicle. My deputies are really good at solving problems but this one baffled them so we called in reinforcements with Conservation Warden Bryan Lockman. As you can see on the bodycam footage Warden Lockman was a pro at getting the critter out and in his truck and returned it to the wild.

All in a day’s work at the Portage County Sheriff’s Office and the Wisconsin DNR." (Source: Portage County Sheriff's Office)

With the Conservation warden on site, they came up with a plan and worked to get the bobcat out of the grill of the vehicle, and then released the bobcat "back to the area where it got stuck in the vehicle and released it."

photo by Portage County Sheriff's Office

Thankfully both the cat and the people were not harmed during this cat extraction.

Please share this article with friends and family on social media so others can be informed about this story.

Sources

Poltrock, Heather and Dominique O'Neill. "Portage County deputies rescue trapped bobcat from vehicle on highway." WSAW-TV 7 News. 19 April 2023.

Sheriff Mike Lukas account on Facebook.

Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resource official website.