Instacart Driver Asks for Bigger Tip After Leaving Groceries Baking in Sun

There’s a golden rule in the service economy: do the job well first, then talk money. One Instacart driver apparently missed the memo.

Security camera footage shared on X by @TheEXECUTlONER_ on June 28, 2026 captures a delivery driver ringing a customer’s doorbell to ask for extra tip money—after the customer had already provided a $12 tip upfront. In the roughly 30-second clip, the driver can be heard on her phone asking repeatedly,“Sweetheart, can you ask if somebody could put some extra on my tip?”The problem? The groceries she’d just delivered were sitting in direct sunlight on the porch, not in any shaded or protected spot.

The doorbell request itself isn’t a sanctioned part of Instacart’s delivery process. The company doesn’t encourage or endorse in-person tip solicitation after drop-off, and it’s not hard to see why—the optics here are rough. Instacart shoppers earn between $7 and $10 per batch before tips, according to Gigs Done Right, so the base pay is modest. But that context doesn’t change what happened: the driver left perishable food vulnerable to summer heat, then had the audacity to ask for more money.

The reactions online were sharply divided. Some commenters sympathized with the financial squeeze gig workers face, with one noting they’d give the full $12 tip—but only if the driver retrieved the groceries from the sun first. Others weren’t having it. One user was blunt:“Hell no, I’d zero that tip out in a heartbeat and report her to Instacart. Left the bags baking in the sun like she couldn’t be bothered, then had the nerve to ring the doorbell begging for more on top of $12? That’s straight entitlement.”

There’s also context in the broader delivery landscape. One commenter shared their own disaster: a seafood order left several blocks away from their house in summer heat—a $25% tip down the drain. Others complained about Spark drivers for Walmart, citing address errors and broken bottles from careless handling. These aren’t isolated complaints; they point to a wider pattern of delivery service inconsistency.

As of publication, Instacart hadn’t issued a public response. The identities of the driver and customer, the delivery location, and the order’s total value remain unconfirmed. But the larger question lingers: when gig work culture shifts from“earn a living”to“solicit tips for doing the bare minimum,”who’s really getting squeezed?