‘I Risked My Life’: Nashville Stores Close Early During Winter Storm While Instacart Driver Is Shopping. Then Instacart Deactivates Her Account For ‘Falsely Canceling Orders’
A Nashville woman reveals how Instacart deactivated her account after canceling orders during a winter storm.
In the now-deleted TikTok, Sade Salt (@saltabstrac) shares how she risked it all by working Instacart during the storm. Now, she feels her account was wrongfully deactivated.
Her TikTok quickly made its way across the internet, generating over 25,000 views.
Instacart Driver Risks Life To Work During Snow Storm
In her video, Salt recalls how she decided to be brave and drive Instacart during the recent snow storm that swept through Nashville.
The full-time Instacart driver says she will always go out during winter storms since her off-road vehicle can handle the conditions. Salt has driven for Instacart since 2019 and says she hasn’t had any issues until this past week.
“Yesterday I found out my account got deactivated. It was 100% unfairly deactivated,” she reveals.
To start, the Instacart driver emphasizes how Nashville made national headlines for the severe ice and storm the city experienced. She mentions how Instacart’s platform was still open and available for people to place orders.
“I was a shopper that risked my life. I risked my life to go get groceries for families so they can put food on the table,” she vents.
Store Closures Cause Problems
According to Salt, she discovered while shopping that store hours were different during winter storms. Instacart, she says, failed to update store openings and closures. When orders to these stores could not be fulfilled, there were problems.
“Instacart’s reasoning is that we were falsely canceling orders for invalid reasons,” she shares.
The Instacart shopper says she sent photos of empty parking lots, weather reports, and screenshots from store managers confirming a store was closed. However, Instacart didn’t buy it — and so, the company kept Salt’s account deactivated.
“All of the documentation isn’t good enough. I didn’t do anything wrong,” she shares. “I tried my best to make sure people had food, I was out here on the streets when no other shopper was; I was doing my best to make the platform money, I was doing my best to make money.”
In disbelief, she reminds everyone this is her main source of income.
“This is absolutely ridiculous. This is how I pay my bills — this is my livelihood. I do this almost every single day,” she says.
The Instacart driver says that she once even got stuck between two trees and had to be rescued while on the job. Despite this, she still completed orders.
“Neighbors chopped down two trees down since the fire department wasn’t coming… Even after that, I still delivered my orders to customers in rain, sleet, and snow. I didn’t cancel any of those. This just shows you how much of a dedicated shopper I am,” she concludes.
Did Her Account Get Reactivated?
In a follow-up TikTok the next day, Salt reports that her Instacart is now reactivated.
“I received a random email from Instacart saying that they looked into this further. ‘After further review, your account has been reactivated,’” she shares.
Salt says this was a major relief, considering the rightful meltdown she had the day prior and how this is her fulltime gig.
She believes there are two reasons why her account got reactivated. First, she proposed legal action against them on one of their social media channels. The second theory she has is how the TikTok went viral, suggesting the audience pressure helped her out.
Hearing about this horror story about driving for Instacart during a winter storm, one viewer questioned, “Why?”
“Why would you risk your life for ANY job??? Really?!” one TikTok commenter questioned.
The Instacart driver clapped back, “Respectfully, April, because it is the job that I signed up for, and I have the ability to help people in need.”
“When it comes down to it almost all jobs have risks. When you’re working as a forklift driver, a machine operator, even a flight attendant and pilot you assume a lot of risks on every shift,” she continued. “Imagine you are in a state of emergency and you can’t even get out of your driveway and you had no food hoping and praying that someone will pick up your Instacart or food delivery order. I’m the one that’s going to do that for you. Me. Someone has to.”
How Much Money Can You Make Driving Instacart?
In the follow-up video, Salt called Instacart the best gig service platform out there.
“The money, freedom, flexibility with Instacart is quite unmatched,” she shares. “I make what I am able to need to make to be okay.”
“Instacart is great. You can make $2,000+ a week here in Nashville,” one TikTok commenter added.
In 2024, Instacart had over 290 million orders and generated $3.3 billion revenue. According to ZipRecruiter, the national average hourly wage is $18.33 an hour with the average salary being $38,119 a year. This translates to $733/week or $3,176/month.
However, a NerdWallet reporter did a test with Instacart and found the hourly rate to be $11.47 per hour. Some drivers have shared working seven days a week to make around $1,000 a week.
“Doing this 7 days a week, around 8 hours, sitting and working, I make around 1k a week. I have built up a large base of regulars, though, over 5+ years,” one Instacart shopper shared.
So, the pay for an Instacart shopper can vary significantly. A range of factors can affect one’s workload and payout, including city, time of day, and being in peak spots during peak times.
@saltabstract These two videos will eventually come down in a few days. Crying on camera felt super weird, but I’m glad people were able to see my heart. Late uploading this, but I wanted to make sure everything stuck. ?????? #fyp #giglife ♬ original sound – Seyram Parku
MotorBiscuit has contacted Sade Salt via Instagram and TikTok direct message. Instacart has been contacted via email. We’ll update this if either responds.
