A 1-hour window to shop and deliver an order is very difficult, frustrating and can be stressful to most Shipt shoppers/delivery drivers. Maybe in a perfect, low item, non-issue scenario will a shopper/driver be able to get the order to the customer on time before being marked as "late" once they mark the order as completed. 

Shipt and the owner of Shipt "Target" need to increase the delivery/shopping window from 1 hour to 2 hours. 

Why? 

Reason 1: When a Shipt employee get's a notification for available orders, those orders don't give you enough time to get to the store, shop, and deliver the order. 

Example: If a shopper get's a notification at 12pm for an order and the current time is 10 minutes before 12pm or exactly 12pm and the store is 15-20 minutes away, once a shopper accepts the order, the count down starts and does not give us enough time to get to the store, shop and deliver. 

Reason 2: When a shopper can't find the specified item on the list. 

Example: If a shopper can't find an item on the list, the smart choice is to find a substitution first but if they try to contact the customer and the customer doesn't answer in a timely manor or answer at all, the shopper has wasted time waiting for a reply even if they were still shopping and may never get a response. SUBSTITUIONS CAUSE DELAYS. 

Reason 3: When there are long wait lines to get into the store or long checkout lines. 

Example: Because of COVID-19 some stores have a new lowered maximum occupancy which causes long waiting lines outside the store, or there could be long check out lines. Both of these scenarios cause delays and late deliveries. This is out of our control. 

Reason 4: Shipt card or other check out issues. 

Example: Sometimes electronics aren't always reliable either on the shoppers end or the cashiers end. A shopper could have issues with their shipt card and need to call or chat customer service (this causes delays) or maybe the shipt app is crashing and not responding (this causes delays). Sometimes, even the cashier has problems with their register, etc. (this also causes delays).

Reason 5: Traffic when getting to store or delivering orders. 

Example: Accidents, Traffic, road work, etc are out of our control and can definitely cause delays in getting to the store or delivering an order on time. 

Reason 6: Location (GPS) issues. 

Example: Navigation systems are always evolving and updating and sometimes navigation apps crash as well or aren't accurate. Sometimes inputting an address doesn't give the exact location. For example, gps can send you on the other side of the street or too far down or too far up the street and so you will have to find the address on your own. (This causes delays).

Reason 7: Unclear or Missing Resident Access Information. 

Example: Some residence have access codes or gate codes such as apartments, private homes, condos, etc. If a customer does not input their access information or provide clear instructions on where to deliver the order, it takes time to call the customer up to find a solution and even then some customers do not respond in a timely manor or don't respond at all. Sometimes a residence may not even have the address number in sight and is hidden. This is out of our control. 

Reason 8: Parking Issues Or Unsafe Parking 

Example: Not every residence has guaranteed easy access parking. Some parking spots have fees, some residence don't have street parking, some have private parking or sometimes there are no available parking spots available. This is also out of our control and it takes time to find a safe parking spot. 

Although there are plenty more reasons and examples Shipt and the owners of Shipt (Target) need to raise the 1 hour window to 2 hours, this is just some of the common issues when shopping/delivering orders that cause an order to become late. Either way, it is unfair to penalize us shipt employees for an order being late when there are many situations that are out of our control. 

On behalf of ALL Shipt Shoppers and Delivery Drivers we strongly suggest that the Shipt and Target Corporations change the 1-hour delivery window to 2 hours.