Never miss a deal: Follow us on the DansDeals App, WhatsApp, X, Telegram, Instagram, Facebook, SMS, or our Daily Email Digest.
Links may pay us a commission. We appreciate your support! View our advertiser and editorial disclosure here. The content on this page is accurate as of the posting date; however, some of the offers mentioned may have expired.
Over the past several years, Instacart has hooked customers on hefty discounts from Chase and Costco. It meant that we were able to shop for groceries and Costco items from the comfort of our home for lower than the price of shopping in-store.
Sadly, it seems that those days are now gone, with Chase discounts long gone, and Costco not currently selling Instacart gift cards online or in-store. I have an Instacart membership still paid for by Chase and gift cards stocked up thanks to workarounds, but eventually, those will run dry as well.
The good news is that at least for now, Costco is still selling discounted Uber Eats gift cards. They are normally 20% off (plus the 2% Costco Executive rebate) and even go on sale for 25% off several times per year.
You can buy $200 in gift cards every 2 weeks online, though you can buy more online with a household membership or you can buy more in-store.
You can also earn Marriott points with Uber Eats orders. I used to earn Delta miles with Instacart orders, though that ended in 2023, so earning Marriott points is a nice perk.
The Platinum Card® from American Express also comes with $15 in free monthly Uber spending, and $35 every December.
The American Express® Gold Card comes with $10 in free monthly Uber spending.
Uber Eats isn’t just for restaurants. You can also shop for groceries and in some cities, you can shop from Costco. Just search for groceries or Costco to see what’s available for your address.
Sadly, Costco isn’t an option on Uber for me in Cleveland, but it is an option for JJ in Miami.
As with Instacart, you can link your Costco membership number to bring prices down.
Prices in Miami after linking a membership are even lower than on Instacart with a Costco membership. Together with discounted Uber gift cards, you’ll pay less for delivered items than you would in-store.
If you have Uber One, you’ll also save on fees and qualify for additional savings in-cart. Students can save on Uber One.
Ultimately, Instacart just wanted to hook customers on the service, as selling a service below cost price isn’t a long-term path to profitability.
Enjoy this while it lasts, folks!
Is Costco or other grocery stores available in your location on Uber? Share your city and results in the comments below!
Leave a Reply
27 Comments On "The Instacart Gravy Train May Be Over, But Uber Eats Grocery Shopping Can Be Even Better!"
All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.
Too bad.
Did you know Instacart pays shoppers fixed fee (like $5) regardless of size of order, so big orders are often declined by shoppers.
Also be sure to tip – they rely on it.
Tipping has some Halachic qualifications (דברים ז, ב): “וְלֹא תְחָנֵּם”. Consult your Rabbi.
definitely not a problem unless you are giving an excessive tip for no reason
Shouldn’t be an issue, shoppers can see tip amounts in advance and may claim your order faster, to your own benefit.
Beware: Uber customer service for spoiled items or poor replacements is incomparably worse than Instacart
Agree %
That’s the reason why I will continue to use Instacart, for now.
card depot still sells them for 13.5% discount
Instacart chase credit card is still a solid option with 5% off, though they recently just informed us that they will limit it to $6,000 in spend.
Costco not available here in the Detroit area.
stock up on Instacart or uber or any other GC with the current 25% lowes amex offer spend $200 get back $50
you forgot to mention
no walmart on Uber eats?
it had in store prices on instacart! major advantage
There is Costco in Lakewood. It is worthwhile for me to get a yearly membership from Uber
@dan, how much instacart do you have stocked up?
Dose uber upmark costco from in store?
Do we know for sure that IC gift cards at Costco are over?
after all the fees and markups vs the instore prices which can be $2 to $6 more cheaper and the tip… not such a great savings other than the time
Disappointing, though there’s no way they were making money from any orders using these gift cards. Hopefully they come back again.
Instacart customer service is plenty bad. I had 2 $800 orders that were stolen by the shoppers 2 weeks ago, still waiting for one of the refunds.
Just placed an Uber Eats order for $100 or so. Fees before tip was around $15 (including half for taxes) It is not like Instacart… had a promo or $20 off so it was a no brainer with the 20% from the gift card but don’t think I would use it as I used Instacart
Do you have Uber One?
I do not have Uber One. Once looked into it & did not seem to be worth it.. but would love to hear your input or a link where it was discussed. Thanks as always.
I heard from the Costco executive team (Liz Elsner the VP/GMM of Ecommerce) saying that they are still working on restocking the item and they are in negotiations with Instacart. While they can’t say for certain when it will be restocked (or for sure that it would be), they did take my feedback.
She also mentioned other ways to save, one of them being the 2% Costco Executive rebate (mentioned above) as well as the 2% Costco Citi card (though most probably another card is better to use at Costco). However, one thing they did mention that I found interesting is that she said the lowest prices would be found at Sameday.Costco.com (assuming you’re a Costco member and Instacart plus member), and I can confirm this is true based on the few items I tried.
She explained it should be a pretty similar experience as going through Instacart as it’s the same backend, with the key difference being here Costco sets the prices (with no markups).
She also said you can even use the Instacart gift cards purchased at Costco.com at Sameday.Costco.com to further stack the savings.
One thing I noticed they did not have was the ($2?) discount if you select a flexible delivery time, but she said they are working on adding that.
Just thought this might be helpful @dan @jj
Doubt this will get posted.. BEAWARE Instacart can and often will just close the account and confiscate the full gift card balance, I lost over 300 and a friend of mine just had 2400 taken!! absolutely nothing to do once that happens..
Once you have the gift cards, you don’t have to add them all to your account, you can hold on to them in your email. Then if they close your account you could sell them etc.
Well guess not dead after all…