From $15 grocery runs to a $5,000 model shoot: what people really hire humans for
We looked at thousands of real quests posted over six months. Here's what people actually pay other people to do, and what it costs.
We pulled thousands of real quests posted over the last six months and sorted them by what people actually asked for. The range is wild, and it says a lot about the kind of work AI still can't touch.
Errands are the heartbeat
The single biggest category is errands: thousands posted in six months, most for around $15. Grocery runs, parcel pickups, queueing in line on someone's behalf, even overseas shopping. The small stuff that quietly eats your day, handed to someone nearby who can just get it done.
The big-ticket jobs
At the other end: a model agency paid $5,000 for project coordination, a school-canteen stall booked an assistant for $4,800, and logistics firms routinely post $4,300 and up for lorry and van drivers. Event and part-time roles average around $480 a booking, the highest of any category on the platform.
Content is exploding
More than a thousand content quests, UGC videos, product photography, event coverage, real-estate shoots, were posted by brands who need a human in front of or behind the camera. AI can draft the script. It still can't hold the camera.
What fills fastest
Field-data and research tasks, surveys, store audits, mystery shopping, attract eight-plus offers each on average, the most competitive category on the platform. When you need boots on the ground, heroes show up fast.
Every one of these is a job a human did, in the real world, because someone needed it done. That's the errand economy, and it's bigger than most people think.
