Introducing New Safety Features to Support Shoppers

One of the most important things we can do at Instacart is enable shoppers to earn safely. As part of this commitment, today we’re excited to introduce new safety features and technology for shoppers.

Introducing Shopper Safety Alerts

Our new Shopper Safety Alert technology will show notifications to local shoppers if a critical incident occurs nearby, so you have the information you need to avoid the situation. If you’re in the middle of an order, the app may also automatically pause the order to prevent shoppers from entering the area of the incident. 

To make this feature as helpful and accurate as possible, we’ve partnered with samdesk, a third-party global crisis monitoring platform, to generate automated alerts when there is a critical event. Our Trust & Safety team has leveraged this tool for many years to monitor and action on critical incidents, and we’re excited to add it directly into the Shopper app.

Emergency assistance when you need it

We’re also enhancing the in-app emergency calling feature with RapidSOS. Now when you use emergency calling, the agent will automatically see your location and additional information you provide, if you choose to do so. This provides critical information to 24/7 professional monitoring specialists for faster, data-enriched emergency response. The feature is available for all shoppers in the United States and Canada, in English and French.

Resources to stay safe

Along with robust in-app safety features, we think it’s important to give shoppers information and resources to help you earn safely. We’re introducing several new optional safety lessons, including an overview of our shopper and community guidelines, a detailed walkthrough on how to report an incident in the Shopper app, and a framework for safety best practices. 

These new resources follow several lessons we’ve introduced over the past year, including safe driving, food safety, and sexual misconduct prevention and reporting. Each of these lessons is now available for all shoppers, and can be accessed via Carrot Academy in the Shopper app.

Building on safety measures for shoppers

This new safety technology builds on the health and safety measures we’ve introduced for shoppers over time, furthering our efforts to help shoppers earn safely. 

Shoppers also have access to in-app incident reporting, letting you file a report directly with our Trust & Safety team, who promptly review and address every report made through the Shopper app. If a shopper is injured while shopping or delivering, you have access to shopper injury protection, which is insurance available for all U.S. full-service shoppers free of charge.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve delivered several new features that help support shoppers’ health and well-being, including Leave at My Door delivery, free health & safety kits, in-app wellness checks, telemedicine consultations, and an in-app vaccine support stipend.

These offerings are available in addition to 24/7 support offered by our Care and Trust & Safety teams, ensuring shoppers can reach out whenever you may need assistance.

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Instacart is the leading grocery technology company in North America, partnering with more than 1,400 national, regional, and local retail banners to deliver from more than 80,000 stores across more than 14,000 cities in North America. To read more Instacart posts, you can browse the company blog or search by keyword using the search bar at the top of the page.