taskrabbit

[dahdahdahdancer.livejournal.com]

I recently heard about a company called Taskrabbit (taskrabbit.com), which connects people who need errands done (dogwalking, fetching groceries, heavy lifting, watering plants...), to local "rabbits" willing to do them for an agreed-upon fee. Has anyone in the community used their services? If so, was it a positive experience?

Comments

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

I have, and they're great.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I know people who have used it and it worked out great. In fact when I was unemployed I looked into becoming a Rabbit (can't remember why I didn't).

[dahdahdahdancer.livejournal.com]

Really good to hear positive comments - thanks!

[pakoo.livejournal.com]

They are the best. The company has done so well that it is now expanding to San Fransisco

[thespian.livejournal.com]

I haven't used them, but moria932, who is blind, regularly uses them when she needs the help. I also know people who have used them when a place is 10 minutes away by car or 50 by transit, on this inelegant hub-based transit system.

[dahdahdahdancer.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine (who is blind) and I were discussing the possible value of a service like this to her and to some of our friends with disabilities. One will be having surgery soon and was worrying about how to get her groceries and meds once she got home and was pretty much housebound for a while. Happy to hear some endorsements for Taskrabbit.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

I LOVE taskrabbit. I've used it many times over the past year or two (ever since it was called RunMyErrand, before they changed the name to TaskRabbit). Here is a partial list of services I've used it for:

* bring me a gallon of milk (when the kids were already asleep at night before I realized we had no milk for breakfast)
* pick up a list of groceries from Market Basket
* get a birthday gift for my nephew from Target (I provided a list of items and said to get whichever one they had)
* go to RMV and register my new car, then take the registration to Somerville parking office and get a parking sticker
* disassemble a swingset from someone's backyard (I had bought it via craigslist), transport the pieces to my backyard, and put it back together

Had great experiences with all of these and more. Highly recommended.

[nathanjw]

I've used them three times, in different modes, with success each time:

• Shovel my driveway - this was just before one of last winter's big storms; I hadn't shoveled out the car and moved it back from the previous one, so there was a risk of getting totally buried. It was done by the time I got home.
  
• Help me pack - Slightly outside their standard model, I put up a task for five hours of (supervised) help packing up my kitchen, and it was great; the runner I got was more enthusiastic than anyone else I've ever met about packing. Great work and a lot cheaper than what moving companies quoted me.
  
• Pick up a part - I needed a dryer drive belt from a Sears appliance store in the 'burbs that keeps contractor hours, while I couldn't miss work. There was a tiny bit of miscommunication here, where the runner said she'd drop off the part mid-afternoon but didn't actually get to it until evening (though she did meet my original task spec), but otherwise, poof, magic part appearance on my porch.
  

I'd totally recommend them.

[gingicat]

I have a hard time figuring out stuff for them to do, but when I need them, they're awesome.

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

late to the post, but we have used them and had good experiences.

-costco grocery runs, when we didn't want to rent a zipcar or commit the 1.5+hours to the trip
-go to ikea and get a toddler bed for our son when no zipcars were available.

we are trying to figure out how to balance using taksrabbit and zipcar to maintain our carfree existence. sometimes it is cheaper to do it ourselves, sometimes it is cheaper to let someone else do it (due to the amount of time it might take to run an errand).