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According to statistics, there are more than 5,200 personal service companies across the country, mainly based in big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Chongqing. On nearly every company's website, they label themselves as being trustworthy, efficient and considerate. The services they provide include delivery, household chores, shopping, office cleaning and moving help.
"I think it is similar to courier services, but I don't trust them with my mail and packages."
"I don't think it's safe to hand my mail to them because they are not professional courier companies."
At first, Li only helped his friends to do something such as buying train tickets or waiting in line in hospitals. Later several other students joined him, and then he established the errand running company to provide more services. However, the company's monthly income is still too low to be profitable.
"Our company is having a difficult time. It's mainly due to the low profits. It would be good enough to make 10 to 15 yuan on every deal. Now we have two offices in Tianjin. All the profits have gone to employee salaries."
Like Li's, many similar companies across China are facing huge challenges to survive. In Tianjin, the number of errand companies has dwindled from 10 to two. Li is still hanging in there. He says he wishes all the errand companies across the country could unite to make a difference.
"I think we need to imitate the development format like the delivery companies to have a network. We have to have several offices in one city, and some of them need to become distribution centers. If we can find a way to work together, then all the errand running companies can survive and find their own way to provide diversified businesses."
As the personal service business is quite established in the United States. One example is the Jackrabbit Company, which has recently invested more than 17 million US dollars in the market. The company's website posts errands that need to be run and ordinary people can sign up to deliver the service and are paid by Jackrabbit for doing so. The idea has attracted many people to join the business, and offers job opportunities at the same time. China has a large market demand for such a business, but compared to the US model, the emerging businesses in China still lacks innovative ideas and a consistent development system.
