Instacart shoppers challenge ratings system

Some Instacart shoppers are challenging its ratings system, calling it "unfair."

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ehud Sopher, a screenwriter and director based in New York City, found himself without a job. The global health crisis had shut down the city -- and the entertainment industry along with it. But then, Sopher found Instacart, a grocery delivery smartphone app, and thought he hit the jackpot: flexible hours and quick cash while working on personal projects to hone his craft. "I felt like I found a hack to our economy, and I'm like, ‘Wow, you don't have to work a 9 to 5,’ and you can do these contract gigs where you shop for people and make $25 an hour,” Sopher said. Sopher became what Instacart calls a “shopper” -- he would log onto the app on any given day, at any time, see customer orders for groceries, select the ones he wants to fulfill, head to the customer’s preferred grocery store, shop and deliver the items to the person’s doorstep. It was easy enough that Sopher would sometimes make hundreds of dollars a day. But just as he was getting the hang of it, Sopher said, he noticed something changed.