The Sherpa service that will deliver anything and everything in 2 hours

Vanessa Brown
OCTOBER 26, 2015
news.com.au
You can have your own Sherpa from $5.
FROM the Sunday morning Macca’s run, to a late night condom collection — if you need it, but you’re not in a position to go and get it — well, just call a Sherpa.
Promising to have ‘almost’ anything in your hands within 2 hours, Sherpa is the courier service that’s taking personal delivery to the next level — and some employees are making a killing.
“We have a few full timers who are earning around $1,500 a week, then we have part timers who get $500-$700 a week,” Ben Nowlan, co-founder of Sherpa said.
“Even University students might also make a few hundred dollars in between classes or at the end of the day. Retirees and stay at home parents are quite unique to us as well. They like getting on the road and earning a bit of extra money when they can.”
With more and more of us wanting same-day delivery, users of the app are able to track their order in real time and communicate directly with their ‘personal-courier’. Whether it be a takeaway order from your favourite restaurant, or keys which were left at a friends house over the weekend — the service prides itself on convenience, and getting your order from A to B in the fastest time possible.
Currently available in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth — Sherpa’s primarily cater for everyday errands that we don’t want to, or have no time to do ourselves.
“People use us for convenience and having access to get someone to move something from A to B. The normal everyday things, mums who need nappies or formula, takeaway, etc are things we do every day and that’s the power of Sherpa,” Nowlan said.
But not all pick-ups are so domestic.
“We have done condom runs, we have had male drivers going to get sanitary pads for women, there have been deliveries from a sex shop. One dad asked for a Sherpa to get a bunch of Nerf guns for a birthday party,” Nowlan said.
“As Australians we really understand what on-demand delivery means and we get a new type of example of how people are using Sherpa every day.”
So how does the service work?
It’s 10am on a Sunday morning, and the only thing on your mind is a Bacon and Egg roll. The thought of rolling out of bed is almost as painful as the hangover you’ve woken up with, but the craving won’t go away. Here’s the solution.
Simply login to the Sherpa site and select ‘Purchase and Deliver’. Provide a description of the item you’re after, the shop you would like it from, and how much it should cost. Jot down your delivery address, and check-out.
It’s not the first ‘service-style’ system that has average joe’s completing odd jobs on behalf of punters to make a few extra dollars. AirTasker, a marketplace for people and businesses to outsource tasks, finds local services or hire flexible staff in minutes to complete various jobs. Users of the site have reaped the rewards
“[I was working] anything from 15 to 35 hours — at an average of 25 hours a week. [And would earn] probably $400 to $500 after fees when I was using it,” said AirTasker employee Nikolas Floro.
But be prepared when accepting an odd job, because not all ads are as simple as they seem.
“I had to deliver a fish tank from the city to Parramatta once. It still had the fish when I moved it. They were just your normal standard tropical fish really,” Floro said.