AIBU Would You Pay For This?

[lottieproc1]

Hello everyone I'm looking for your opinion I am about to start a business offering a personal shopping service for people within my 8 mile area for supermarkets that don't offer home delivery so Aldi for instance. I plan to charge £10 for a weekly, £15 for a Fortnightly & £20 for a monthly. I would also run errands (post office, Click & collect etc) for £1 each when booked with the shop. I plan to offer discounts, refer a friend get a free delivery, share the cost with a neighbor
I have discussed this with friends & family, some think it's a really good idea but a few have said they think I'm charging too much & wouldn't pay for it.
What are your thoughts?? TIA

No and I'm a disabled single parent, I use supermarkets who deliver (less than £5 a month for weekly deliveries).
I use prescription delivery, Internet for other deliveries and look at companies with free delivery.

I would use this service. Our nearest aldi or Lidl is a 25 min drive away (I dont) I would definitely pay for.post office and prescription collections too. 31 w/ disabilities. Where about a are you based roughly?

@1forAll74

It would not work for me.I have a free delivery from supermarket, if I spend more than £40, which I always do. I don't have a weekly shop, it could be once a month etc.

I live off road,and down a track,and you would have to lumber down the track,with a big carrier thing to reach me, and depending on the time of day, parking on the top road might be a problem..

My order is usually quite heavy, consisting of lots of cat food boxes,as my local shop here has ceased to stock any for some reason.

I dare say that you would wan't to charge me about £50 for all this hassle here.!

Thanks for taking the time to respond yes that is something that defiantly needs to be considered

I cant really see how this is going to make any money really .Dont forget the extra wear and tear on your car ,and your Insurance premiums would also increase to cover Business Use as well . Most people will be able to pay a small fee, or get shopping delivered free if certain times or dates are picked as well. Maybe the small errands service would be popular ,but would be very problematic for you with only a small reward

@MinnieJackson

I would use this service. Our nearest aldi or Lidl is a 25 min drive away (I dont) I would definitely pay for.post office and prescription collections too. 31 w/ disabilities. Where about a are you based roughly?

I'm in Ayrshire Scotland x

I think as pp have said, marketing yourself as a PA is a great idea. I’d use that service for my disabled young adult, possibly even for days out etc. You sound exactly like the type of person I’d want

@Bellyups

I think as pp have said, marketing yourself as a PA is a great idea. I’d use that service for my disabled young adult, possibly even for days out etc. You sound exactly like the type of person I’d want

Aw that's so kind thank you. Yes I think that is defiantly the way to go!

I don't understand the packages. £20 per month for how many shops?
You could potentially spend much time shopping for so little money. Where will you store frozen and refrigerated stock while you're delivering?
Do you live somewhere that supermarkets don't deliver to?

perhaps start here? Good luck, you sound lovely.

www.ailn.org/jobs

I think you're charging too much and no I wouldn't pay it.
By shopping at Aldi/Lidl I imagine most people are looking to save money so adding on another £10-20 for you to deliver the food sort of defeats the purpose of shopping there as they would probably end up saving more money shopping someone slightly more expensive, say Asda, and getting an annual delivery pass. Nice idea but you'd have to be competitive with supermarket delivery prices which are very cheap especially with an annual pass. Mine is £24 a year and I get a weekly shop.

I did this during lockdown for my cleaning customers, as they didn't feel comfortable with me being in the house. They paid me my going rate and it worked well. The elderly will like this service as many of them are unable to do online orders. Age UK do a home help service which includes shopping in some areas, so worth checking.

Sorry but you cannot compare a local personalised shopping service to delivery/deliveries from Tesco based on price nor any other single supermarket or single purchase from the likes of Argos etc.

I very much doubt OP has the logistical support available to a major supermarket so obviously cannot compete on the price of a delivery from one provider only. That would be ridiculous.

Also, since when will a Tesco delivery driver pop into Aldi and Argos on the way to drop your groceries off.

Offering to go to any shop needed is not the same thing at all as deliveries from Tesco only.

OP is offering a service to people outside of single shop deliveries. I am assuming, this is aimed at people who would otherwise have trouble accessing such shops/delivery services because of things such as no vehicle of their own, mobility issues, time issues, access problems or any combination of the troubling life problems that form a massive pain in the arse if you need anything unusual fetching for you.

I think it is a very good idea if you can get the clientele numbers to make it worth it.

I personally would not be charging just £1 to drive to Argos or similar to do Click and Collect though. That's selling yourself a bit short unless you have a lot of pick ups from the same place.

Tell you what people with issues have trouble with.
Getting semi awkward stuff that's a bit on the larger side, like a small carpet/chair/TV/etc and actually having someone willing to carry it into your house rather than just dumping it on the kerb outside your front door. Maybe look into a small van and a strong helper for the future if the other part takes off.

And, no, I don't think you are charging too much.

Good luck.

My mum has dementia. I live quite close so I can take care of everything but if I didn't, I would really have appreciated someone to contact to deal with problems. For example the boiler broke in January, getting someone out was difficult but someone needed to go down and check mum had heaters and then wait for the engineer. The back door lock started sticking so we had to get someone out to look at it.

You could get together a list of tradesman that you could call in emergencies. It would be great for distanced children to have a number to ring to have all these niggles sorted for their relatives, not being able to get there themselves. Actually a lot of busy working people would happily pay for you to sort out domestic problems, ringing round and letting in tradesman etc.

Oh yes, and I'd like to go on holiday but I have no one to look after mum while I've gone, so I'd appreciate someone who could do holiday cover for whilst I'm away.

And when you're set up, can you give me your number?!

It would take you a long time to do the shopping and deliver it, more than £8 worth of time.
I've been doing my grandparents shopping for a year now and its a real pain doing someone else's shopping - what if an item isn't available? Would you do substitutions? What if they didn't like the sub, you would have to refund them.

@PurpleWaterBlue

Sorry but you cannot compare a local personalised shopping service to delivery/deliveries from Tesco based on price nor any other single supermarket or single purchase from the likes of Argos etc.

I very much doubt OP has the logistical support available to a major supermarket so obviously cannot compete on the price of a delivery from one provider only. That would be ridiculous.

Also, since when will a Tesco delivery driver pop into Aldi and Argos on the way to drop your groceries off.

Offering to go to any shop needed is not the same thing at all as deliveries from Tesco only.

OP is offering a service to people outside of single shop deliveries. I am assuming, this is aimed at people who would otherwise have trouble accessing such shops/delivery services because of things such as no vehicle of their own, mobility issues, time issues, access problems or any combination of the troubling life problems that form a massive pain in the arse if you need anything unusual fetching for you.

I think it is a very good idea if you can get the clientele numbers to make it worth it.

I personally would not be charging just £1 to drive to Argos or similar to do Click and Collect though. That's selling yourself a bit short unless you have a lot of pick ups from the same place.

Tell you what people with issues have trouble with.
Getting semi awkward stuff that's a bit on the larger side, like a small carpet/chair/TV/etc and actually having someone willing to carry it into your house rather than just dumping it on the kerb outside your front door. Maybe look into a small van and a strong helper for the future if the other part takes off.

And, no, I don't think you are charging too much.

Good luck.

Thanks for taking the time to reply this is exactly what I was going for the personalised service, but it was always the question of are there enough customers to make it viable. Which is what has held me back and why I sought the advise of all you lovely people.

I do think I am going to go down the personal assistant route and charge an hourly fee to do whatever is needed. The furniture idea is a good one though

@moonbedazzled

My mum has dementia. I live quite close so I can take care of everything but if I didn't, I would really have appreciated someone to contact to deal with problems. For example the boiler broke in January, getting someone out was difficult but someone needed to go down and check mum had heaters and then wait for the engineer. The back door lock started sticking so we had to get someone out to look at it.

You could get together a list of tradesman that you could call in emergencies. It would be great for distanced children to have a number to ring to have all these niggles sorted for their relatives, not being able to get there themselves. Actually a lot of busy working people would happily pay for you to sort out domestic problems, ringing round and letting in tradesman etc.

Oh yes, and I'd like to go on holiday but I have no one to look after mum while I've gone, so I'd appreciate someone who could do holiday cover for whilst I'm away.

And when you're set up, can you give me your number?!

Thanks for the reply that is really interesting. I was talking about this with a friend the other day and I was planning of compiling a directory for the people who used the service, I thought I would try as many as i could eg cleaners first and if they were suitable pass them on. The letting tradesmen in is a really good idea there's nothing worse than having to take a day off for this!

@ChocOrange1

It would take you a long time to do the shopping and deliver it, more than £8 worth of time. I've been doing my grandparents shopping for a year now and its a real pain doing someone else's shopping - what if an item isn't available? Would you do substitutions? What if they didn't like the sub, you would have to refund them.

That was one of my pulls towards the personalised service I hate when Tesco replace something with something else that I wouldn't buy. I would have asked them what they preferred to have it replaced with something else, not to bother or a quick text/phone call with the things they didn't have in stock and what they would prefer instead

Remember, you control the directory. Once you've given out the cleaners name, there's no more money to be made from it. But you arranging to do all little jobs - get the name of a good odd job man - is where you charge each time. Even jobs like changing a lightbulb are beyond my mum now.

And if you can arrange a meals on wheels service, that would be fantastic. Lots of elderlies can't use the cooker etc so having a hot meal delivered and sandwiches left for their tea (or vice versa) would be fantastic. I can't get this service at all locally. Neither borough nor county councils are interested. You don't have to get involved in that but you could liaise with caterers etc, who might be interested to take that on with you doing the organising...and remember add a little on the price for you.

@moonbedazzled

Remember, you control the directory. Once you've given out the cleaners name, there's no more money to be made from it. But you arranging to do all little jobs - get the name of a good odd job man - is where you charge each time. Even jobs like changing a lightbulb are beyond my mum now.

And if you can arrange a meals on wheels service, that would be fantastic. Lots of elderlies can't use the cooker etc so having a hot meal delivered and sandwiches left for their tea (or vice versa) would be fantastic. I can't get this service at all locally. Neither borough nor county councils are interested. You don't have to get involved in that but you could liaise with caterers etc, who might be interested to take that on with you doing the organising...and remember add a little on the price for you.

That's a really good point. I compiled a list of trades that worked with the council cleaners etc on one of my social work placements I'll have to dig it out and see which are still available they were really good private companies! Someone suggested above about bulk cooking at the persons house, this is something I would happily consider then offer a pop in service to heat it up and serve it. That way I could cook their favorite meals and their family know the person is getting a home cooked meal I know I would want that for my parents/grandparents if they were still alive

That was one of my pulls towards the personalised service I hate when Tesco replace something with something else that I wouldn't buy. I would have asked them what they preferred to have it replaced with something else, not to bother or a quick text/phone call with the things they didn't have in stock and what they would prefer instead

Tesco are really good at substitutions in my area - I leave notes for what I will/won't accept and they sub accordingly. Last time I ordered from Amazon, they messaged me in real time to suggest substitutes whilst they were picking from Morrison's, and to check if they were OK.

Someone suggested above about bulk cooking at the persons house, this is something I would happily consider then offer a pop in service to heat it up and serve it. That way I could cook their favorite meals and their family know the person is getting a home cooked meal I know I would want that for my parents/grandparents if they were still alive

Yeah, that's a value-add service. If you were happy to pander to preferences and follow family recipes/adjust your cooking, I'd pay a premium for that. I'd want a police check and references though.

Not meals on wheels (some of those meals are grim), not a diet plan, not a private chef... just a private home cook. Like... a substitute parent in the kitchen, I guess. Someone who can and will batch cook, and take into consideration weird preferences. If you pitched it right, I think that idea has legs.

@itsaccrualworld

That was one of my pulls towards the personalised service I hate when Tesco replace something with something else that I wouldn't buy. I would have asked them what they preferred to have it replaced with something else, not to bother or a quick text/phone call with the things they didn't have in stock and what they would prefer instead

Tesco are really good at substitutions in my area - I leave notes for what I will/won't accept and they sub accordingly. Last time I ordered from Amazon, they messaged me in real time to suggest substitutes whilst they were picking from Morrison's, and to check if they were OK.

Someone suggested above about bulk cooking at the persons house, this is something I would happily consider then offer a pop in service to heat it up and serve it. That way I could cook their favorite meals and their family know the person is getting a home cooked meal I know I would want that for my parents/grandparents if they were still alive

Yeah, that's a value-add service. If you were happy to pander to preferences and follow family recipes/adjust your cooking, I'd pay a premium for that. I'd want a police check and references though.

Not meals on wheels (some of those meals are grim), not a diet plan, not a private chef... just a private home cook. Like... a substitute parent in the kitchen, I guess. Someone who can and will batch cook, and take into consideration weird preferences. If you pitched it right, I think that idea has legs.

I'd make it very clear that I was a home cook and not a chef lol I know some would still be fussy I'd asked the family/person to do a meal plan. The police check isn't a problem I'm in Scotland so I would just need to update my PVG check and references won't be a problem either

Sorry I've just seen this now, I've not had time to read all the other replies. I've run my own business and setting up another business now. My advice would be be specific and keep things easy. Promising stuff / logistics of shopping is complicated as others have pointed out. I'd say keep it simple, charge an hourly fee for whatever service you offer. Don't try to be all things to all people - you don't need hundreds of customers, just a handful. If you do a goo service for one or two they'll recommend you and you'll get more. Good staff are hard to find. My cleaners and gardener aren't taking any more customers and haven't for years.. If they were more business minded they'd increase prices / hire people. If you just want a small hourly rate just do something simple well. The key things are being trustworthy, honest and reliable, never letting people down that sort of thing. Good luck