I’ve been doing furniture assembly through Task Rabbit for over a year now and I have a few (mostly positive) things to say about the experience.
As I have experienced with most things in life, you have to start at the bottom and work your way up with Task Rabbit. In the beginning, I tried turning on all the categories that I felt remotely qualified for. I set my prices low. I marked out a large coverage area (Task Rabbit lets you literally “draw a circle” around the area you are willing to work in.) And I refused very few tasks.
It was not good. I never got really stiffed on a task, but it was close a few times, and I definitely lost money on some tasks when taxes and mileage are taken into account. The “delivery” jobs were the worst. I don’t know how anyone can make money with Task Rabbit doing the delivery category. The low prices people will take tasks for are ridiculous. And some of the “errand” jobs were downright shady. (Like returning really expensive items for people.) Well, live and learn. I did better with the “packing and shipping” category, but the pay wasn’t terrific. The biggest problem is that there was inevitably a lot of “moving” involved in with the packing and shipping. As I mentioned elsewhere, I’m over 60. I can still lift and carry 50 pounds, but I just can’t do it all day long. If you want movers, use the moving category people!
It turned out that I did best at the furniture assembly category so I concentrated on that. As I gained experience and good reviews, I was able to work my rate up to a very respectable level. I dabbled briefly in the IKEA assemblers program when it was first brought online. But I quickly realized that they didn’t want good assemblers in the program, they wanted cheap assemblers.
In the “furniture assembly” category, I still get some IKEA furniture, but I also get all kinds of other assembly jobs, from BBQ’s to a trampoline (for real!) I will say that IKEA is my favorite brand to build; I have fewer problems and the instructions are the best. But I have been able to assemble everything that’s been thrown at me.
In the “furniture assembly” category, I can set my own rate and work strictly time and materials. As far as I know, Task Rabbit is the only platform that allows me to simply charge by the hour. I love that! If the customer wants me to do extra work, or the job really involves extra work that wasn’t specified in the description, I will happily do the extra work, because I get paid for it! And I’ll take the little bit of extra time to clean everything up and even haul off all the leftover packaging materials. Because of this I have repeat customers, a 100% satisfaction rating, and I’m an “Elite Tasker”.
After over a year with Task Rabbit, I feel like I can work when I want to and I now make decent money when I do work. The work is hard, but I like doing furniture assembly. I find it very calming, satisfying, and generally a good workout for someone my age.
Lastly, I’ve learned one thing by doing so many different side-hustles and categories within Task Rabbit: The fewer people that can do a type of job, the better it pays. So choose categories that require a skill that you have and that most others don’t. Or a job that most others don’t want to do. Stay away from categories and jobs that someone with no skills whatsoever can do. (Like “errands”.) If you know that you are good at assembling flat-pack furniture, by all means give it a try through Task Rabbit. But give it some time (at least a few months). You have to build a reputation and that takes time and effort.