Instacart, Stripe to deliver same-day payments to employed shoppers

Seeking a way to help its employed shoppers manage their money, the Instacart grocery payments and delivery service is partnering with e-commerce payments provider Stripe to offer an Instant Cashout option.

San Francisco-based Instacart has more than 70,000 part-time or contract workers who operate as the shoppers picking up orders and delivering them to Instacart app users. Those workers can now use Instant Cashout to get access to their earnings on a daily basis if desired.

The service starts in some cities this week, and is expected to be available to all shoppers nationwide in three months.

Instant Cashout will operate through Stripe's Instant Payout platform and is available in the Instacart app.

In providing an alternative payment option, Instacart joins other companies working with payments providers to give workers the ability to choose their pay days or simply have the day's earnings added to a prepaid card or bank account.

For example, Uber's ride-sharing service has been at the forefront of providing daily payments to its drivers, though it has endured a couple of glitches with its Instant Pay system.

In a similar vein, FIS has worked with GreenDot to provide minor-league baseball franchises the option to pay its stadium workers and the ballplayers through prepaid cards in which earnings can be delivered as needed.

Instacart shoppers can use the Instant Cashout service by linking a debit card to their Instacart account.

Instacart has continued to grow since entering the grocery delivery marketplace in 2014, though it parted ways with one of its early clients late last year when the company revealed it would stop delivering groceries for Whole Foods after Amazon bought that chain.

Instacart works with more than 300 retailers and grocers, including Albertsons, Aldi, Costco, CVS, Kroger, Loblaw, Publix, Sam's Club, Sprouts and Wegmans, for online ordering and grocery delivery.