By now you’ve probably heard that we offer grocery delivery right to your doorstep powered by Instacart! You can get almost every item available in our stores delivered right to your door. Your favorite items from fresh produce and cereal to cookies and subs are available for same-day delivery, in as little as two hours!
Since this service rolled out, we’ve received a lot of contact and questions on how the process works and why certain procedures are in place. We’re breaking down the ins and outs of ordering Publix delivery.
How Does It Work?
Let’s get started by diving into how to order groceries for delivery. Currently, delivery is available in the areas around all our stores. The process can be completed in a few easy steps.
- Go to Publix.com/Delivery and enter your zip code. Then, sign up or log in if you’ve already created an account!
- Shop online for the groceries you would like to order and add them to your cart.
Please note: Instacart prices may be higher than in-store prices.
- Schedule your delivery.
- Receive the groceries you ordered without stepping out of your house.
Answering Your Frequently Asked Questions
Now that we’ve talked a bit about the process, let’s answer some of the frequently asked questions we’ve received since we started offering this service.
What is the minimum order I can place? All orders must be at least $10 to be eligible for delivery.
What is the membership fee and what does it cover? The “Instacart Express” membership fee allows customers unlimited grocery delivery on orders $35 or more instead of paying the delivery fee with every order placed. The fee is $99 per year.
How much is the delivery? The fee depends on the size of order placed and the delivery time chosen. The fee will be listed when you choose a delivery time during checkout before you actually place your order. If there is a high demand for certain delivery times, a busy pricing fee may apply. This will also show at checkout before the order is placed.
Why is there a service fee? This fee is used to help with Instacart customer support. The fee allows Instacart to operate and provide the service to our Publix customers. This fee doesn’t go directly to the shopper and isn’t considered a tip. The fee is calculated based on the initial dollar fee of your order.
How does tipping work and why do I have to leave a tip if I can’t tip at my local store? Tipping your Instacart shopper is optional and not required. Even though the tip amount automatically defaults to 5% of the total order, you can change the amount up to three days after the transaction. Any tip given goes directly to the Instacart shopper.
Why aren’t the same BOGOs and deals available online? The majority of Publix deals are available online. Customers can shop all BOGO offerings, and although customers cannot shop traditional Publix digital coupons, Instacart has offers and digital coupons that are only available online.
If I have a problem with a product purchased online, why do I have to reach out to Instacart? When ordering online, all payments and information is processed through Instacart. After orders are placed, Publix doesn’t have access to pertinent information needed to resolve concerns. Because of this, we don’t have the ability to help solve concerns, but Instacart has all the information on their end. If you ever have a problem, we’re more than happy to try and help, but contacting Instacart directly at help@instacart.com or 1-888-246-7822 is the first step in making this right.
What forms of payment does Instacart accept? They currently accept all major U.S. credit and debit cards, Android Pay, Apple Pay and EBT. They don’t accept prepaid credit cards, Publix gift cards, international payments or cash. Instacart also accepts Instacart gift cards as a form of payment.
Can I order subs? Yes! You can add and customize your sub within your order.
Can I order liquor? Liquor is now available to order in Florida. Beer and wine are available in Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
Can I request for my shopper to shop at a specific store? You can’t change the location your shopper shops at. This is determined based on availability of shoppers and participating stores.
We hope this answered some of the questions you may have about Publix delivery powered by Instacart. If you’re interested in some other programs at Publix, check out these blogs.
Looking at using Publix Delivery (Instacart), it does not appear you can use any of your perks in your Publix My Wallet or the digital coupons that you have clipped from Publix. I know that Instacart does run some specials but it appears to be separate from Publix. i have also used the pickup feature from Publix through Instacart.
As alluded to in other comments this is not the cheapest option aka Walmart Delivery but you do not have as much control over delivery time (within 2 hours). As well as the quality of products.
Watch for deals tied to your credit cards. I was able to get Instacart for free for six months through my Chase Sapphire card. You do have to use that card when you purchase to take advantage of it.
Hi Kenneth, Club Publix perks and digital coupons cannot be applied to Instacart orders as they must be redeemed in stores.
I used Publix delivery for about 2 years. Then I discovered the markup in food items compared to my shopping in store. I am slow .
Anyway, as much as I loved Publix bakery, I gave it up and moved to Walmart grocery delivery. I am not 100 percent happy, but food is cheaper. It is not perfect anywhere. I do not drive anymore and this is something I do. I think at times I will move back to Publix, but haven’t made that change as of now. I see issues with both stores. Produce is better at Publix. Bakery at Walmart is not bad. Just no Subs!
But you cannot argue with Walmarts lower prices. Good luck ya’ll.
We appreciate your feedback and will share it with our teams, Barbara!
This whole things sounds like a nightmare.
1) An item in the store that costs $4.99 is $5.89 when bought through Instacart.
2) Delivery fees I get, and tips, but the items costs more, and while they say delivery is free over $35 you can buy a “subscription” for $99.00 a yeah. If you are already paying a higher price on items and what you buy is always over 35.00, then why would you ever pay $99.00 for a years worth of their services.
3) BOGO doesnt exist.
4) Two kids helped bring in the groceries while the driver spoke with the customer…. Ever hears of COVID, or its worse family member, the Delta Variant!?!?! saying you adhere to CDC guidelines isnt true then, is it?
5) Why is the representative’s reply to complains always to “let their team know” or “ill pass this along”…. Why are you here? it should be a person that can make change happen that should be replying, not just sitting in the middle of it all, passing it along to people who dont care or just cant be bothered to help. Put someone in charge that can actually do something with the issues. What you are doing isnt working… obviously.
Anyone else have anything they would like to add?
Hi Jason. I’m sorry to hear of your dissatisfaction with this service. The slightly higher individual item prices for delivery/curbside help cover costs associated with our partnership with Instacart. As with most convenience offerings, additional fees, such as service fees and delivery fees, are charged to cover other costs associated these types of services, such as fuel costs and the employment of delivery drivers. I’m happy to let you know, BOGOs are also offered via delivery/curbside. If an item is BOGO, you will need to add two to your cart. You will only be charged for one item. Please know, our team, in addition to the customer care team, have direct contact with teams that oversee this service, and all customer feedback is reported to our teams that deal directly with Instacart. Since Instacart is a separate company, delivery drivers are employees of Instacart and not Publix, and payments for delivery are received by Instacart, they are better able to address and appropriately resolve issues you may have regarding deliveries and delivery drivers.
I swear the subs are not the same! It’s like dry steakums w a freezer taste in the bread- nothing like when you go to the deli in person and i’m appalled
I’m sorry to hear this, Stephanie. Which location did you order from when you experienced this?
I have been using Instacart for a few months due to having surgery. It is a wonderful service, but Wow does Publix mark up their Instacart prices. I went shopping in store yesterday rather than using Instacart. I have been comparing the Publix receipt to Publix Instacart and it is substantial. An example- a jar of pickles I bought for $4.99 in store is $5.89 on Instacart. Starbucks coffee $6.40 in store was more than a dollar more on Instacart. Item after item. The other stores such as Aldis does not have that kind of mark up. It is ridiculous.
Hi Lisa, Thank you for reaching out regarding prices through Publix Grocery Delivery. Increased item costs are set by Publix and cover the fee that Instacart charges us to shop our locations. Publix does not make any additional profit on Instacart orders than if a customer were to shop for the order in-store themselves.
This is a terrible service. I will never use Instacart again. I’m quickly getting tired of Publix in general.. Let me explain: there are 3 Publix stoes within 2.5 miles of me. Only 1 carries a certain product that I absolutely must have. It is ridiculous that you cannot chose which store you use within reason. I have asked the closest store to carry it , but they refuse to order new products using Covid as the excuse??? I know for a fact that drivers can refuse to do an order if they chose, so why can’t I request them to drive a couple of miles extra? I’m not asking them to drive 50 miles out of thier way.
Hi Laura, I am sorry to hear we disappointed you. What store location are you referring to and what is the specific product? I would be happy to share your feedback.
I agree with you Laura, it is a horrible service. I’ve been shopping with Instacart at Publix for over a year. Today is my last day ever shopping at Publix and with Instacart. About a week ago the driver didn’t deliver due to Instacart app issue – my address was showing on the app (both mobile and web) incorrect, a completely different city! When I was clicking Edit to go in and try to correct my address, the address was correct inside the address window. Very weird bug and they should resolve it! I wasted about an hour chatting with customer service trying to make them understand they have a system issue and should be reported immediately. The delivery people are poorly trained and do not read the delivery instructions I have saved on my profile – almost every time I have to give directions. They do not know how to use a basic code at the gate. Some tried to push my groceries into my home pretending they want to help. They do not make enough efforts to find your shopping items. Every time I receive notifications of an order in progress I get a lot of scam messages, which tells me their systems have poor security and have/had intruders, which puts me at risk. Today the driver spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to enter my driver license into the system. I CANNOT waste my valuable time with Instacart and Publix. Horrible service!!!!
I used the pick up service for the first time. It was an ok experience, but I doubt I will use it again. I agree with the previous comment about leaving Instacart out of it, and Publix doing the entire process or at least for the pick up service. I was not aware that the BOGO items don’t apply and that the prices are different than in store. There are other stores in the area that are doing the same service without fees, and their items are the same price in store and for pick up.
Hi Sherry, Thank you for reaching out to us with your feedback! I will be sure to pass this along to our teams.
Hi Caroline. Kindly do not just pass the information to other teams. Everyone is passing to someone else and things will never improve. Please take action and follow up and make sure all these system , business and people issues are resolved.
Thank You for listening.
Hello,
I am not happy with the fact that I received none of the promotional BOGO items that I ordered. Also, it appears to me that Publix is a sufficiently large enough company to implement its own delivery service which would solve a lot of the problems and inherent limitations of Instacart which negatively impacts the customer experience and their relationship with Publix. Just saying….
I’m sorry this happened, Anibal. I would recommend reaching out to Instacart directly about your order so they can look into this further. They can be reached at 1 (888) 246-7822.
I’m disappointed that after using the service they have upped the store prices and not allowed all of the instore sales. I’m paying a monthly fee which I can’t seem to cancel and tipping. Greed changes companies and it’s a shame. The last order I was charged full price for bogo that was advertised . Reading all of the nightmares people are having guess I won’t have a choice but to go to the store after this next order.
Hello, Irma. Thank you for reaching out regarding prices through Publix Grocery Delivery. Increased item costs are set by Publix and cover the fee that Instacart charges us to shop our locations. Publix does not make any additional profit on Instacart orders than if a customer were to shop for the order in-store themselves. Unfortunately, we are unable to offer all in-store promotions online. However, it is something we continue to work on, so our online customers can benefit from in-store promotions as well. The promotions offered online are clearly marked for ease of use.
I can’t understand why Jackie states in this response that Publix is unable to offer all in store promotions online when it clearly states above in the FAQ’s if BOGO’s are available through Instacart. Cut and paste of answer provided on your blog shown above.
Why aren’t the same BOGOs and deals available online? Even though not all Publix deals are available online, there are still plenty of ways to save when shopping online. While some BOGOs like buy 2, get 2 or our digital coupons are not available through Instacart, the good news is standard Publix BOGOs are available! Instacart also has offers and digital coupons that are only available online.
I just tried to order through Instacart and not one item that was BOGO was priced correctly on the Instacart website. When I called, they said they would make adjustments AFTER I placed my order and honor the discount. Nobody wants to deal with that nonsense. If Instacart has a contract with Publix, they need to honor the “standard” BOGO’s as Publix states they will so the shopper has a firm confirmation of what they are being charged. If Instacart can’t manage to adhere to their Publix contract without causing all of these issues, perhaps it’s time to find a delivery service credible enough to do so.
Hello Tina. I’ll make sure your feedback is shared with our team.
Hi Irma, I am sorry to hear that we let you down. Increased item costs are set by Publix and cover the fee that Instacart charges us to shop our locations. Publix does not make any additional profit on Instacart orders than if a customer were to shop for the order in-store themselves. To inquire about canceling your membership and receiving a refund for the sale item, please reach out to Instacart directly at 1 (888) 246-7822.
Received my order less than 3 hours after placing it. Everything was fine. This gave me peace of mind during such a uncertain time. Once again, Publix scored high with me. Thank you and stay safe
I’m happy to hear that, Marie! Please stay safe as well.
I joined today but there was never a mention of a fee. However after spending over an hour entering all my items (about 25) when I was trying to complete the transaction, I was informed that there was no delivery available and there was nothing further for me to do. Upon leaving the site,I found that all my entries were deleted.
What the hell is going on???
I’m sorry this happened, Bernard. Instacart is experiencing a much higher than average volume of customer requests at this time. This may result in products being out of stock or delivery time frames being greater than normal. Please visit https://delivery.publix.com/help to chat with a member of their team.
My advice: Fill up your basket, set an alarm for 12:01am, then hit “check out.” Sorry, but that’s the only way you’re going to guarantee yourself a delivery spot.
Following up my first comment, 24 hours after I entered my order and not getting a delivery, my order finally appeared on the site,. I then returned to try to get a delivery date. I was then finally given a date for about a week later on April 11. Who knows if it will ever show up, but I am hoping. Parts of the app.work well and other parts are very trying. Say a prayer for me.
Thank you for sharing this update with us, Bernard. I would recommend reaching out to the Instacart team directly with any questions you may have.
When we place our order on March 23, all of these items were Buy 1 Get 1 Free. They were delivered today, March 28, and we were charged FULL price for each item. That is not right. Is there any way for the driver to pick these up and bring them back to the store. We were literally trying to avoid the store due to COVID 19 and now this happens.
I’m sorry this happened, David. Can you please reach out to us on Facebook or Twitter? We would be happy to help.
I was wondering the same thing, placed an order yesterday but it won’t be delivered until Friday. Will we be charged full price for the sale items since a new ad has come out?
Hello! Prices from the date the order was placed are the prices honored for that order.
Hi. Sorry, I should have updated my comment. Yes, Instacart did fix the final total BEFORE charging my card. What confused me was the Publix receipt that was included in the bag with the groceries. Everything was full price on the receipt. But later, when Instacart emailed THEIR receipt, everything was charged correctly. Sorry for the confusion. Thank you Instacart for your service and thank you also to all of the hard-working employees at Publix sacrificing for us!
Thank you for reaching out to us, David!
David,
I am afraid of this happening too. Did everything work out for you?
just saw your response!! Thanks
I placed my 1st delivery order via your connected Instacart Service, 3/26/20, Thursday. The shopper, kept refunding saying oos on meat items and I tried to chat w/her to no avail, it didn’t work. The bottom line is when the delivery person arrived we discussed the issues of not being able to chat and all my meats being refunded. Meanwhile, her 2 little kids brought the bags to the door, while we were talking. After she had left and we started putting the food away, we found 9 items were missing from her delivery, which totals $41.54. We paid $77.91 for our order and received only 8 items for a total of $36.37! I tried contacting Instacart and they were to call me at the requested time of 1:45 A.M. this morning. At 2:15 A.M. A message w/the Instacart logo popped up on my phone screen (which I immediately saw since I was holding my phone anticipating their call). The message said “your call failed”, which is BS since I had not called them since yesterday’s call. I tapped on it and it then asked if I wanted to call and if so the wait would be 5 HOURS! Instead, I chose….again….. for them to call me and selected the 1st choice of 7:30 A.M. (EST). I searched and found your site here for complaints so decided to contact you for help and a resolution. Should I file a chargeback w/my cc? Please advise what help you can give. Thank you, Debbie (This has been a frustrating experience as we are seniors told to shelter in place here in Fl, and have done so since 3/14/20, as I explained to the delivery girl, Jacquisa A.)
I’m sorry to hear that you had this experience and haven’t been able to get in touch with Instacart directly, Debbie. Instacart is experiencing a significantly higher than average volume of customer contact at this time. This may result in hold times with Instacart being higher than normal. Can you please reach out to our team on Facebook or Twitter? We would like to help.
Greetings, and thank you for that good overview of how InstaCart works, etc. A good question on everyone’s mind is: How do we customers know that the InstaCart person doing the shopping and handling our groceries is not sick or infected with some virus, or whatever? And, likewise, how do we know the delivery person doesn’t have a car full of sick kids sitting next to our groceries? How does InstaCart vet and check on its employees? Sorry to have to ask this question, but it’s one that all concerned persons are asking these days about persons in the food service industry, and especially so when the companies they work for do not offer sick leave, or supervisors are overworked. Thank you.
Good morning, Mark. Publix delivery is powered by Instacart. Like Publix, Instacart is following CDC guidelines and recommendations to help safeguard their shopper community. For more information, please visit, https://bit.ly/2vfTG0W.
Morning. We ordered groceries and instacart notified us they were delivered to our home. The groceries were never delivered. Where our groceris went remains a mystery . Called instart cart and was placed on hold for two hours and then the call was dropped. Called a second time and recording stated a 59 minute wait!. Although we did not receive our groceries publix received payment from us. As a corporation publix has some responsibility for the compaines they do busness with. Simply stating we have to contact instacart because publix does not have access to the records is not a solution when instacart cannot nor will not communicte with customers. Instacarts failure of service reflects poorly upon publix.
I’m sorry this happened, Valerie. Can you please reach out to us about your experience on Facebook or Twitter? We would like to help.
Not sure how to reach out to you on facebook or twitter.
No problem, Valerie. You’re welcome to reach out to us on Facebook here m.me/publix or Twitter here https://twitter.com/publixhelps. We’ll be able to help.