Utah startup Errand sees high demand during winter

LEHI, Utah — Errand, a new Utah startup created by Brigham Young University graduates, is seeing an uptick in business because of the winter weather.

Errand’s customers are logging in to have other people do their shopping, drop-offs, and pickups for them. The co-founders said it’s because, a lot of the time, people would rather not leave the house for a number of reasons.

“Every single day, we’ve done more and more errands and it’s been our biggest month so far because of the weather specifically,” said co-founder Kason Larsen.

He dreamed up the idea with his wife, Claire, and a fellow classmate.

“We have stay-at-home moms that are with their kids all day, we have working parents that don’t want to leave work, we do have elderly couples that can’t drive,” Kason explained.

Here’s how Errand works: users download the app, create an account and select from a list of ideas for booking errands. They can also customize the errand. Customers pay a base fee and a shopping fee or distance fee, if applicable.

“Our mission with Errand is to help people essentialize their lives and their time and do things they want to be doing, not things they feel like they need to be doing,” Kason said.

Runners can accept or deny notifications for errands. They get details on the errand itself, as well as the location of the drop-off and pick-up.

Scott Young, one of the thousands of Errand runners, said he can make up to $30-50 per hour.

“We’ve had people that have had us go pick up passports and take them to the airport for them,” Kason said.

He said this winter is the busiest they’ve been since they launched last summer.

“We had customers reaching out every day saying, ‘Do errand runners do errands when it’s snowing? The roads are bad. Do they still go?’ We’re like, ‘yep, book away,'” he expressed.

When snow is in the forecast, Errand runners like Young are busy.

“I’ll go out. I usually don’t have too big of an issue with snow,” he said.

Young drives up and down the Wasatch Front so other people don’t have to. He said he mostly runs errands for families with children at home.

“It’s awesome that I can spend my time making some extra money while also kind of lightening the load for people,” Young expressed. “It’s a win-win for both sides.”

Kason said, with the app, people are able to spend less time on the road, especially on snow days, checking off items on their to-do lists.

“That’s our ultimate goal, to help them spend more time where they want,” he said.

Errand runners currently serve people from Ogden to Spanish Fork. They’re seeing a lot of demand in Park City. Larsen said the startup has plans to expand out of state soon.