Collaborative Consumption: Hiring a tasker

Is a leak bugging you? Are you struggling to fix your computer, or look after your garden? Becoming, or hiring a tasker, a practice born out of collaborative consumption, which seeks to encourage neighbours to help each other out, it could be the solution to all your worries.

What are Taskers?

Today’s wave of collaborative consumption favours the idea of using or sharing ownership of objects. Hiring a tasker is originally an American practice, in which a person who needs a specific job to be done, but is not able to do it themself, hands the task over to a neighbour who has the skill-set to complete it. This practice of “giving a helping hand” is fostered by sites and apps to make getting in touch easier.

The process can involve everyone, once you’re in need of a skill, or have specific task to be completed, or you have an odd job to be done, or even if you’ve just go too much time on your hands. There are many advantages; if you need something doing, you have quick access to skills that you don’t have, through a service that is much cheaper than opting for a professional. For those who take on the jobs, you have the advantage of easily finding several odd jobs to earn some extra cash.

The key players in finding taskers

Like all kinds of collaborative consumption, certain players emerge to sort the services into categories and to facilitate contact between the two parties involved. If you’re in the US, Taskrabbit .

is good example. Their website allows you to easily find a “tasker” near you. You can enter a search based on the kind of service that you require, or you can select your area and check out what is on offer. To ensure that you receive a top quality service the “taskers” are reviewed on the site after each job. The site is also expanding to include more places, including London.

What kind of jobs can I call a tasker in for? Whether you’re offering a service, or looking for help, rest assured that there is a wide and varied range of jobs. Be it ironing, DIY, repair work, babysitting, or even help with moving house. As well as creating a social link between two people, jobbing allows you to easily find a help for all of your odd jobs. For those doing the jobs, LeMonde.fr has estimated that taskers earn, on average, 220€ per month, which works out at just over £150, or just under $240 per month: a great supplement to your income.

To learn more about collaborative consumption in its many forms, click here .

Other useful collaborative consumption sites:

Fiverr
Taskangel
Deliv

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