Shopping for elderly

wayne1983

Hi there, id like to know if anyone does this for a little income and how much you can make. I was thinking of something that id be good at and enjoy doing something usefull cheers.:beer:

soolin

Surely you would have to beat the £2 a shop delivered that Asda are currently promoting? Anyway, who would really do a good turn for someone in need and charge a wage for it? I can't see this being economically viable once you have paid tax and NI etc.

Ebe_Scrooge

I, along with many in my village, already do this - it's called being a good neighbour. We don't charge anything, maybe I'm a bit old-fashioned in my outlook ?

Sorry, I can sort of see where you're coming from, but it somehow seems wrong to me, almost like preying on the vulnerable ? And, as has already been pointed out, for those people that are willing to pay, you'd be hard pushed to compete against the established supermarkets.

Hermia

I have never heard of anyone doing this for money. Many old people would just not be able to afford to pay someone. The well-off elderly people I know use home delivery or get a taxi to the supermarket.

Avon2001

The only way I could think of to make something like this work would be to be prepared to go and visit specialist shops, where the cost of delivery or hassle to reach is offputting, however how feasible this would be for you would depend on your location and circumstances, e.g. in London it might work, at least as a side income, I think, but in the middle of nowhere it would, I think, be more of a challenge. You'd also have to factor in the fact that you'd be responsible for the items and theft/breakages could work out expensive.

System

Dont forget elderly people can be fussy. Before i put my foot down my Mother was sending me all over town for bits and peices cause she reconned it was 2p cheaper.

clemmatis

I shopped free for older neighbours, now I can't shop myself, I use online supermarkets. (Even before that I shopped online for various things.)

If you want to make money out of shopping for older people, OP, sign up with a care agency that offers shopping services. An agency near me has a worker who I think only does shopping; she shopped for me when Social Services arranged a care package. (She is amazingly good.)

Milliesmum that's one reason why I rarely ask neighbours to shop for me, I do want the items I want, at the price I want, but don't want to be seen as "fussy" and don't want to impose on them.

Amatheya81

Personally as others have said I would conssider it wrong to charge elserly people for a service like that... It just comes under the heading of a good deed, I can't imagine many people would take it up when they can get their shopping delivered by the superarket and those that did are probably going to be the vulnerable that it would just be wrong to charge.

wayne1983

Sorry i meant more housebound. Anway maybe its not such a good idea afterall, with the asda and others doing deliveries.
:beer:

Dontknowanymore

soolin wrote: »

Surely you would have to beat the £2 a shop delivered that Asda are currently promoting? Anyway, who would really do a good turn for someone in need and charge a wage for it? I can't see this being economically viable once you have paid tax and NI etc.

I used to work for a care agency and shopping was a service they offered.
Also Age concern offerd a similar service.

Dontknowanymore

wayne1983 wrote: »

Sorry i meant more housebound. Anway maybe its not such a good idea afterall, with the asda and others doing deliveries.
:beer:

OP if you have an age concern or similar in your area, see if they have a service that will basicaly sgn you up, CRB check you then refer you to clients so you can do their cleaning or errands such as shopping.
Back when I done it a few years back it was around £6 per hour and the client paid you directly.