Move comes as it begins to equip store employees with technology to fulfill orders 564 2 minutes read Instacart is cutting approximately 1,800 in-store shoppers nationwide as it moves to a technology-focused “Partner Pick” model. (Photo: Instacart) Instacart is laying off approximately 1,800 employees as it transitions to a “Partner Pick” model for grocery services. The company made the acknowledgement in a Medium blog post on Tuesday, noting, “we’ll be winding down our in-store operations at select retailer locations over the coming months.” The line was included about two-thirds of the way down in a larger post about the new Instacart Pickup Retailer models.