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image : Whole Foods |
Instacart and Amazon-owned Whole Foods are parting ways after 4 years of a delivery partnership as announced by the grocery delivery company who is kicking off the first phase of transition this Thursday. Instacart’s 1,415 in-store shoppers across 76 Whole Foods stores will be gradually impacted by this move, with 243 workers beginning on the 10th of February next year.
In the following months, Instacart will take down all remaining Whole Foods in-store shopping operations in preparation for the Amazon owned grocery retailer’s exit from its marketplace. Instacart shoppers who work for multiple retail partners will be given new in-store shopper jobs at other retailers in their respective areas, these group (shoppers who support several grocers) make up most of the company’s gig workforce.
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image : Whole Foods |
For shoppers who choose not to, or cannot be placed in new roles, Instacart is providing a minimum of 3-months separation package based on 2018 maximum monthly pay and as well, additional tenure-based compensation.
This separation comes after reports of clashes between Instacart and Whole Foods after Amazon acquired the grocery retailer last year regarding competition between both. Instacart directly competes with Amazon’s own delivery service and has also sought further revenue sources through partnerships with competing retailers like
Aldi, Kroger, Costco and Sam’s Club.
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image : Whole Foods |
The partnership being large will take a couple of months to fully wind down, orders can still be placed from Whole Foods locations across the U.S. until it fully exits the Instacart marketplace next year.