With services like Uber, DoorDash, Instacart etc, how do the apps give you orders?

Just for the record, I haven't done Instacart, and my most recent experience with DD was a little over two years ago so I'm unsure if it's still done in the same way.

When I did DD it would pull up a map in the app to show me hotspots that were getting high volume of orders in the town/city I was in. I drove to those hot spots, and parked in one of the parking lots in the area until I received an order. It would give me a pop-up when an order was available for me that only said the location to pick the order up, distance I would drive, the pay for that order and ask if I wanted to accept it. Nobody was able to request me as a Dasher, the app would just ask me if I wanted an order. If I said no it went to the next Dasher to ask if they wanted it. I'm assuming that Instacart is the same way. I believe Instacart is done in a similar way but with groceries instead of food.

I don't have a lot of information about this but in the Before Times I worked with a couple of people who operated a side business of getting groceries and running errands for housebound or elderly people. They didn't advertise, it was word of mouth, but it is something you could consider.

You could put up flyers and put them in areas that your target demographic hangs out (VFW, senior center, the grocery store bulletin board). Use large, bold font.

The way they handled it required more personal interaction (going over receipts with someone vs. their shopping list) but once they had a few regulars it was a fine business. It didn't make much but I think they wanted it to be closer to a service than a massive money maker.

Just something to consider if you feel the new apps (which can be a barrier to the elderly) aren't meeting your needs.

Have you considered listing your services on Dumpling? https://www.dumpling.us/personal-delivery-tools/pdt-signup

First of, let me state that while I have a shopper account, I never ended up keeping any of the orders I accepted. But, I have actually used it and done every part but shopping, and I know a bit about how it offers

Unfortunately, it is likely you will need to be closer to the store to get any orders. Your current proximity to the customers does not affect what orders you see, as they care more about proximity to store. I can't say for certain of you will actually be able to see orders from so far away. When I started, I could only see stores in my home city. I live in Virginia now and despite the being many many more stores in "reasonable" proximity, I still only can easily see orders near me.

The big issue you are going to face with this plan is determining if they actually offer groceries to your area. I assume they do as you signed up, but I can't imagine it is cheap to order there or easy to find a driver to accept the order. But let us imagine they do offer. You won't ever be able to do enough at a time to justify the time it takes to go back and forth. There is a max on the number of customers they will let you shop for at a time, and I believe it is 2 if they are at the same store with similar home addresses and shopping times. So, if you are only doing your home town, it would realistically be 2 orders every 90 minutes. That assumes your are at the store already. If you are really really fast at shopping, it is 75 minutes. But you still have the drive to and from that is killing all of your working time.

The other problem you will face is dealing with other shoppers who will simply accept anything no matter how ridiculous it would be for them. These are usually part of the constant batch of new shoppers that gig companies pick up as they don't know enough yet how best to pick and choose. Or, they are the other group who pick it up and do it while they are doing orders on food delivery apps as well. Not a lot of those around, but I have seen it.

So, moral of the story is don't do this. If you want to deliver groceries to your town, I would offer that service yourself.