My first day as an Instacart Full Service Shopper

I am a substitute teacher, college student, mother, wife, Christian, author, founder of WomenNTune.......................and now I am a full service Instacart Shopper.  This is part-time work that I picked up until my substituting jobs start coming in.  Instacart is known as the "Uber of grocery shopping".  I had my first shift today.
It was only a 3 hours shift.  Even with the ALL the technical issues I experienced at first, I still found the experience to be very relaxing.  I don't know.................maybe it was because I got to grocery shop without the kids with me., even if it was for somebody else.  I found it to be a very relaxing experience.  This day is not considered one of their busy days so I only received 2 orders.  The first customer I delivered to...................wait I forgot to tell you that as a full service shopper, I deliver to the homes as well as shop.  My first customer that I delivered to was so very sweet.  She told me that there is always someone different when she orders, but I was the best shopper yet!! Hooray!!!!  My second customer, I was a couple of minutes late for the delivery, because I had to stop for gas.  That was my fault.  First lesson is to fill up before I start my shift.  The thing that held me up with the second customer was that I was messaging her for items that were not in stock to see if she wanted substitutes.  I don't know if she appreciated that or not because she did not tip and the first customer did.  The reason I did it is because I could tell by the grocery list that she was doing some shopping for children and as a mom I know what it's like to not have the snack of the food that your younger children prefer.  They are very picky when they are young and I really didn't want her to have to go back out.  Kind of defeats the purpose of utilizing our service.  My stats showed that I performed 84 seconds below the average shopper.  I think it was the gas stop.  I will still message customer for substitutes, if I have to because like I said" "What's the point, if they have to go back out to the grocery store to get what they want".  Weirdly enough, I feel a since of purpose with this job.  This is a service people really rely on, especially moms and people with busy schedules.  If you get something wrong or don't get an item that could mean dinner is messed up for then night or, even worst, your child is throwing a fit.  Delivering groceries is a very important job and allows you to be a blessing to people.   I didn't make alot of money this time because, like Uber, you really have to strategize to make it worth your while.    This day was on the job training.  Really, as an Instacart shopper you learn as you work.  Like I said it wasn't much money, but here are the things I would do different.

1.  Have Full Tank of gas before the shift
2. Don't spend time looking for substitutes.  Message customer, and do the rest of your shopping while waiting on response.  If they don't respond by the time you are done, refund item and keep it moving
3. Trust the store employee when they say they don't have something (I made the mistake looking for something even after the store employee said that they didn't have it)
4. Learn the busy stores and stay at that one store for your whole shift.  Many of them have Starbucks Cafe and you can chill and be right there for your next order at the store. Doing it this way will save you on gas. Even if the busy store is a bit of a distance from your home (I personally would not go more than 30 minutes from my home)  if you stay at the store for your entire shift it's worth it, as long as you working more than a 3 hour shift.  From my experience today, I wouldn't want to take any less than a 4 hour shift.  Unless its peak time, then you can make more money in a shorter period of time. 
5. Pray for God's favor and good tips
6. Have great expectation for blessings

If you are interested in some extra money and want to try becoming an Instacart shopper.  Could you go through my link.  I would get a referral bonus.  here is my link Instacart Link

Those are my tips.