Instacart Tips

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Guys, wondering what you would all do for an Instacart. I have been sending groceries to my parents once a week. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't keep my dad inside. My ultimate goal is to have Instacart sent and for him to be at Wegmans at the same time as his Instacart shopper, and then to yell at that shopper. But anyway, what are you tipping these guys?

I know it's a dangerous job and these people need the money. So on a $65 order I've been tipping $16 or $18 or so. The recommended tip by Instacart is really low and I think they hate their workers.

What would you guys do when it comes to tipping in a pandemic?

[RetroRomper]

100% up till what you can afford: for curbside and home delivery, I've been tipping $30 when I can, if not at least $15 on any orders at any price. The people desperate enough to be "working" for InstaCart, GrubHub, Uber, etc. (none of which provide any sort of health insurance, sick leave, only offers really shitty reimbursement for damage to their vehicle even while using it in their employ, still taxed in most states at the higher Individual Contractor / Self Employed rate, etc.) aren't there because they're choosing to take one for the team or because they're a "hero."

I have two friends who are considered essential workers (one works in a hospital and the other in a grocery store) and they just cannot afford to leave their jobs, even though they have to tend to much older relatives and are freaked out about how loose or non-existent PPE is in either of their job settings. And though they have been "thanked" from everyone on either side of the aisle (including Mr. Obama), no one who is in a position to add their weight behind laws and policies that would actually benefit them (such as universal sick leave and medical care,) has even hinted at stepping up to do so. They're alone in this and are simply trying to pay rent and afford food for themselves and families.

So in answer: tip as much as you can afford and if on the fence, add the higher amount.

[pinback]

Oh horseshit.

BTW, I don't use these services because I still go to the grocery store every day because I'm an AMERICAN goddammit. But DJ Larry does, here's his answer:

"I tip 10-15% depending on the size of my order. I'm basically paying someone to take the risk of dying on my behalf, so I overtip. Seems like the right thing to do."

[RetroRomper]

You should be using pickup only when you go to the grocery store. And wow, 10% - 15%?! What a generous man to help out desperate people who are constantly exposing themselves for his benefit.

Don't listen to them ICJ: don't tip on percentage, but on a flat rate whenever you use them that is the maximum you can afford (regardless of the price of the bill). Really Pinback - these poor saps don't even qualify for unemployment insurance and you're calling what I do horseshit?

[RetroRomper]

https://www.opb.org/news/article/corona ... from-home/
https://fortune.com/2019/12/20/instacar ... dol-audit/

She said she’d seek medical care if she were experiencing severe symptoms. Otherwise – with a mild cough or low fever – she’d probably keep working.

“Because I can’t afford not to work,” she said. “Every week I have specific bills that have to get paid. And then the last two weeks of the month are all about rent. Those are my 10-12 hour days that I can’t miss or I don’t have a roof over my head.”

That’s a comment echoed again and again by gig workers, who make up a big part of the come-to-you economy. They don’t get benefits. Their jobs involve intimate contact with the public or public spaces, and they’re among the ranks of low wage workers who can’t afford to stop.

“What if I get infected?” asked Uber driver Mario Salazar, who has four children at home in Troutdale. “I’m the only one that provides at my house. So I’m concerned that I will not be able to provide for my family.”

He said workers like him are forgotten. He wondered if he should go back to driving a bus.

“All l have is prayers at this moment,” he said

[Jizaboz]

I mean yeah it fucking sucks but what can you do? Give them the same pay or even more pay NOT to work? That.. won't work.

ICJ: I would tip up to 15$ on a 85$ bill. 20$ on around 100$ if eating out or whatever.

[RetroRomper]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... rus-shocks

[pinback]

Why even bother ordering groceries, Retro? Why not just continually send money out to everyone all the time?

[Casual Observer]

You should be using pickup only when you go to the grocery store.

So it's not enough to wear a mask, stay 6 feet away from everyone, use hand sanitizer when I get back to the car, no, apparently it's not safe to grab your own groceries - I call bullshit on that. 6 weeks of "stay at home" and not a single Safeway trip did I hear a cough or sneeze from anyone. I rode the BART train with shoulder to shoulder standing room only for the first few weeks of this thing and didn't catch anything. This isn't some kind of "magic" disease, it's a virus and we know how to prevent spread of viruses so lets not freak out more than necessary.

[RetroRomper]

I mean yeah it fucking sucks but what can you do? Give them the same pay or even more pay NOT to work? That.. won't work.

Think about it this way: do we want an economy right now that incentivizes people to mingle, have to work close together, and thus ultimately without a doubt, further spread the virus and prolong the pandemic? Sickening and killing more and more people until a vaccine is not only adequately researched, deployed, and produced at a cost and in large enough numbers to build immunity among our population?

Is it worth more to let such large numbers of people become ill (CDC is reporting that the numbers may reach 200,000 infected and 3,000 deaths A DAY) and be out of the workforce for at least two weeks and have a high likely hood of reduced lung function and further issues down the road? Or do we suck it up, make it work, and keep everyone in lock down for a year?

Once again, 200,000 infected PER DAY
3,000 deaths PER DAY

Even coming from a cold, hard, economic incentive based perspective, which one is cheaper?

So it's not enough to wear a mask, stay 6 feet away from everyone, use hand sanitizer when I get back to the car, no, apparently it's not safe to grab your own groceries - I call bullshit on that. 6 weeks of "stay at home" and not a single Safeway trip did I hear a cough or sneeze from anyone. I rode the BART train with shoulder to shoulder standing room only for the first few weeks of this thing and didn't catch anything. This isn't some kind of "magic" disease, it's a virus and we know how to prevent spread of viruses so lets not freak out more than necessary.

Until recently they weren't even sure what the mechanism is, regarding how it spread between people but they do now. And yes, you're correct that it isn't some "magic" disease: it's spread by minuscule amounts of saliva and other bodily fluids, entering your body through the mouth, nose, eyes, cuts, etc.

More human contact = More chance to become infected and pass on the disease.

And hey, let's forget about asymptomatic and other types of carriers:

After infection, symptoms might not develop for five to six days — or even two weeks, according to the Annals of Internal Medicine. The time between catching the virus and showing symptoms is called the presymptomatic phase.

How do these individuals figure into transmission?

People appear to be most infectious right around the time when symptoms start, said Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead for the WHO's Health Emergencies Programme, at an April 1 news conference. However, "we do have evidence, from testing and modeling studies, that suggest people who are presymptomatic can definitely transmit this virus," says Smith, the epidemiologist, most likely in the one to three days before they start showing symptoms, according to the WHO.

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandso ... ect-others

Unless testing is being done continuously on large parts of any given population, any given individual won't know if they've been exposed, much less caught the virus, possibly for weeks after contracting it and eventually showing mild symptoms that can build up into acute ones.

If you won't take it seriously [you selfish, sociopath FUCK] then take it from Mr. Samuel L. Jackson -

[RetroRomper]

(Also Casual Observer, I wanted to give you a bit of a virtual tour of the video game preservation projects we're currently working on. I'll send you an email shortly about that!)

[Flack]

We have been getting our groceries from the neighborhood Walmart grocery store's "in car" pickup service. They do not accept tips. So, 0% for me.

[Casual Observer]

(Also Casual Observer, I wanted to give you a bit of a virtual tour of the video game preservation projects we're currently working on. I'll send you an email shortly about that!)

Would love to see this!

[Tdarcos]

Retro, how did you get the YouTube link to Samuel L. "Motherf**kin'" Jackson to stay a link? I mean, when I use it, it automatically turns into an inline video; when you used it, it stayed a link.

Oh, wait, maybe Jonsey didn't upgrade your membership. See, look, I'll include the exact same link you did, and it will show a video:

[RetroRomper]

Through Pinback, ICJ noted that I had no restrictions nor did my account have any differences from any of the others.

That obviously isn't true, but I'm trying to not over analyze things these days.

[Casual Observer]

Through Pinback, ICJ noted that I had no restrictions nor did my account have any differences from any of the others.

That obviously isn't true, but I'm trying to not over analyze things these days.

yeeaaahhh, you're going to need an account upgrade.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Through Pinback, ICJ noted that I had no restrictions nor did my account have any differences from any of the others.

That obviously isn't true, but I'm trying to not over analyze things these days.

When I was testing out the permissions to inline Youtube videos, I added people who were posting at that time to a group.

You have now been added to that group. I believe you would need to paste a Youtube link again for it to show up.

[Jizaboz]

I mean yeah it fucking sucks but what can you do? Give them the same pay or even more pay NOT to work? That.. won't work.

Is it worth more to let such large numbers of people become ill (CDC is reporting that the numbers may reach 200,000 infected and 3,000 deaths A DAY) and be out of the workforce for at least two weeks and have a high likely hood of reduced lung function and further issues down the road? Or do we suck it up, make it work, and keep everyone in lock down for a year?

We can’t lock down for a year unless you want every business besides major cooperations to go out of business, people damn near starving to death (or worse), very very sharp incline in suicide rates, and I could go on. Maybe you should think a bit more about what you are saying before going on some righteous good citizen rant. Nothing “cold” or “economic” about my opinion on that either. It’s just.. reality, man.

So it's not enough to wear a mask, stay 6 feet away from everyone, use hand sanitizer when I get back to the car, no, apparently it's not safe to grab your own groceries - I call bullshit on that. 6 weeks of "stay at home" and not a single Safeway trip did I hear a cough or sneeze from anyone. I rode the BART train with shoulder to shoulder standing room only for the first few weeks of this thing and didn't catch anything. This isn't some kind of "magic" disease, it's a virus and we know how to prevent spread of viruses so lets not freak out more than necessary.

After infection, symptoms might not develop for five to six days — or even two weeks, according to the Annals of Internal Medicine. The time between catching the virus and showing symptoms is called the presymptomatic phase.

How do these individuals figure into transmission?

People appear to be most infectious right around the time when symptoms start, said Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead for the WHO's Health Emergencies Programme, at an April 1 news conference. However, "we do have evidence, from testing and modeling studies, that suggest people who are presymptomatic can definitely transmit this virus," says Smith, the epidemiologist, most likely in the one to three days before they start showing symptoms, according to the WHO.

The WHO. The same organization whom recently one of their major spokes person hung up on an interview after ignoring the existence of Taiwan. Yeah sure, believe everything they say.

Don’t you ever wonder about all the other shit hitting the fan while everyone is consumed with talk of Covid? Don’t you ever wonder if perhaps there is an ulterior motive with all of this? To me this will become ultimately more serious than the virus. I mean shit, have you ever seen Demolition Man? As stupid as that movie is you can definitely draw comparisons if you had.

And quit with the predictions and models. These are not real numbers. They way overestimated for a while, then scaled back, then change their minds later.. they don’t fucking know.

[Billy Mays]

I drove up to the grocery store last weekend with no mask just to buy a fifth of liquor and people stared at me in awe like I was Washington crossing the Delaware. Like some part of their brain still remembers what it was like to not be completely gay about things. If it came down to it I would just do without because I'm not ever going to put on a spacesuit to buy macaroni or download an app because I'm too afraid to leave my home.

They deliver shit in their car, they're not firefighters.

[RetroRomper]

We can’t lock down for a year unless you want every business besides major cooperations to go out of business, people damn near starving to death (or worse), very very sharp incline in suicide rates, and I could go on. Maybe you should think a bit more about what you are saying before going on some righteous good citizen rant. Nothing “cold” or “economic” about my opinion on that either. It’s just.. reality, man.

We get the choice to starve, lose our home, or risk death and destitution? Should people who are immune compromised go back to work too? Working elderly? Even the 2 Trillion stimulus package was paltry when taken as a percentage of GDP.

I'm not arguing that isn't the reality, but I am saying there are actual, real ways to make it so that isn't a choice people have to make.

The WHO. The same organization whom recently one of their major spokes person hung up on an interview after ignoring the existence of Taiwan. Yeah sure, believe everything they say.

Are you kidding? Is this your "best" evidence that EVERYTHING the WHO is saying should be ignored? The accumulated knowledge of countries the world over should be completely written off because they had to play politics for five seconds, otherwise assuring one of their largest contributors would back out just when Trump said he was withdrawing all funding to the organization? They had to deal with the question of -

"Is being right and morally correct, better than being able to directly assist with easing the discomfort, pain, and suffering including letting many of them live that wouldn't otherwise,the entirety of the human race, including the population of the country we had to exclude?"

Dude, the US maintained the One China Policy and skirted around the question since 1972, including never officially taking calls from their elected representatives, since then? 46 years? Nearly half a century?

The One-China Policy was first stated in the Shanghai Communiqué of 1972: "the United States acknowledges that Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part of China. The United States does not challenge that position."

Sure, the US has skittered around the question, but you're blaming the WHO for following what is international protocol adhered to by 179 out of 193 of it's member states? I'd bet the guy peaced out, because the question was so far above his pay grade and think of this: would you want to be the guy who lost hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to a world wide pandemic, that has killed 258,356 and has the potential to kill hundreds of millions if not a billion or more?

Seriously here, did you ever stop and think "why is this my opinion in the first place?"

Don’t you ever wonder about all the other shit hitting the fan while everyone is consumed with talk of Covid? Don’t you ever wonder if perhaps there is an ulterior motive with all of this? To me this will become ultimately more serious than the virus. I mean shit, have you ever seen Demolition Man? As stupid as that movie is you can definitely draw comparisons if you had.

Your statement is vague enough, that it could refer to the real cover for the POTUS and US government, to give billions in "stimulus" money to cronies. Or maybe one of the what feels like, tens of thousands of myths and conspiracy theories that have been debunked by instead of the WHO, the CDC?

Fact: A worldwide online conspiracy theory has attempted to link 5G cell phone technology as being one of the causes of the coronavirus. Many cell towers outside of the U.S. have been set on fire as a result. 5G technology does NOT cause coronavirus.

Please tell me what exactly you're referring to.