Instacart’s ‘Big & Bulky’ service lets you order big and bulky items
After introducing 30-minute deliveries last year, Instacart will now allow you to order large items from retailers. The company’s new service, aptly named “Big & Bulky,” promises same-day and scheduled delivery of products like outdoor furniture, office supplies and home electronics. As of today, a handful of retailers, including Mastermind Toys, Office Depot and Staples, are participating in the program nationally.
If you already use Instacart to buy groceries, you can order large items at the same time as buying food for the week. The company suggests some admittedly bizarre use cases in which you might take advantage of the service. For example, say you don’t have a TV before the football game you want to watch. Instacart says you can use its app to get a 55-inch set within an hour. How often you’ll find yourself in such situations is hard to say, but the good news is that the service opens up an additional way for the company’s contract shoppers to earn money. Instacart told Techcrunch it would pay workers who accept Big & Bulky orders based on the number and weight of the items in an order and offer a “heavy pay” incentive where applicable.
