Instacart doubles its staff to meet demand during COVID-19 crisis

Shopping services have now become a critical necessity since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March.

Raymond Patterson has been an Instacart shopper for six years and says nothing compares to 2020.

"I feel like a warrior literally stepping into the battlefield," he says.

Knowing there is risk of exposure to the coronavirus, Patterson takes his own precautions when stepping into grocery stores.

"I practice all the safe things. I have my gloves, mask, I disinfect after every order," he says.

As orders have drastically increased, the company has hired more than double its personnel to meet the demand.

"We scaled our shopper workforce from 200,000 shoppers in March to 500,000 shoppers that are active on our platform today," says Laurentia Romaniuk, Instacart trends expert.

Patterson says he's happy to help with making deliveries to his customers, as some of them include the elderly and disabled, and busy mothers.

"I feel proud about that, that I'm able to contribute in my own way and help people out," he says.