Plainfield Shopper Among Faces In Instacart National Campaign

PLAINFIELD, IL — Sherry Grether understands her affinity for grocery shopping makes her a bit of a rarity – especially considering her career doing so was just getting started when most people were avoiding the market if they could.

But even before she made the first of what is now more than 1,000 trips to stores like Mariano’s, Jewel, Aldi, Sam’s Club and Costco, the Plainfield native figured if she could ever make a living picking up items for others, she would.

Grether was recently selected to represent Illinois in Instacart’s Beyond The Cart campaign, featuring people who joined the ranks of essential workers while shopping for the grocery service during the coronavirus pandemic. Grether is among 23,000 Instacart Illinois shoppers. After being selected to represent the company, she will receive groceries for a year.

Grether admits she isn’t entirely sure how she was selected to represent a company she joined two weeks before the pandemic began last March. But after working in other jobs — she was a teacher’s aide and a deli worker at a local Tony’s Fresh Foods market — Grether truly believes she has found her calling.

Out of the more than 500,000 shoppers Instacart employs, 59 were chosen for the campaign, including one from every U.S. state, the District of Columbia and eight Canadian provinces.

Since March of 2020, Instacart has paid more than $4.2 billion in shopper earnings, the company stated in a news release. In addition to those shoppers who were selected to receive a year's worth of groceries, Instacart is offering 10,000 shoppers a $200 credit for their service in delivering groceries during the pandemic.

Grether typically shops five days a week and averages anywhere from four to five hours a day. While the idea of picking out produce for a total stranger may not appeal to the masses, Grether shops for her customers like she would for herself, often searching high and low if she can’t find a requested item.

And she is now a poster child for the grocery delivery service that has seen an uptick in business since the start of the pandemic when many people got used to the idea of not leaving their homes.

“I’m fast-paced, I’m go, go, go and I love the work,” Grether told Patch on Monday. “But more than that, I love the people.”

She added: “I’ve never been happier, honest to God. I’m doing what I love, I’m good at it and I take such pride in the fact that I do it the way I’d want it done for me.”

Instacart shoppers are rated based on speed, accuracy and customer feedback — all of which Grether constantly self-checks. She is a stickler about her shopper approval rating (which is right around the five-star mark) and is always sure to put the customer first. Grether loves the fact she manages her own schedule, doesn’t constantly have a boss peering over her shoulder and has established a stable full of regulars – even though Instacart customers have no say in who does their shopping.

The fact Grether has found her niche comes as to no surprise to anyone who knows her well. She says her mother despised grocery shopping, but that she has always found joy walking into a store of any kind of discovering that she is truly in her happy place.

“If Instacart had never come up, I wish it was something I could have invented, to be honest,” Grether said.

Grether’s shopping jurisdiction takes her to a variety of places, but she focuses on Plainfield, Joliet and Shorewood with an occasional run to Lockport. In addition to her love of shopping, the interaction she enjoys with her customers also brings her joy, including the conversations that often come out of her being able to guess what people are making for dinner based on what is on their shopping list.

The fact the job allows Grether to come into contact with a variety of people from all walks of life is just one of the perks, she said. While there have been difficult orders — like the one she had to cancel because the 4-foot-by-48-inch pool swimming pool someone ordered from Sam’s Club would never fit into her car – Grether said that she can’t imagine her life without her new vocation, which involves a workday that begins around 8 a.m. and typically ends by 1:30 p.m.

In more than 1,000 trips, Grether says she has had only one bad customer experience – a fact that sticks with her more than she acknowledges it probably should. But more than a year after she started living the dream by spending her day shopping for others, Grether says the job brings her more satisfaction than any other job she's held.

“It’s my thing,” Grether said. “I just really feel like it was meant for me. ... It fits me and my life right now.

“I’m making my living and I enjoy it. How many people get to do that?”