Someone who runs errands on behalf of another person or organization is known as an errand runner. Errand runners are needed in a variety of industries, from courier services that deliver documents and materials to personal assistants who run errands as part of their job. This position is frequently viewed as a stepping stone to promotion, with people proving their worth as errand runners before moving on to more important roles. Errands can also be used as a temporary or short-term source of income.
Some businesspeople and professionals hire a personal assistant to help them with errands like dropping off dry cleaning, delivering documents to associates, conducting project research, purchasing supplies, and other miscellaneous tasks. Many errand runners combine business and personal tasks, and their employers rely on them to save time. Some employees may be entrusted with delicate or unique tasks that the employer does not have time to complete.
An errand runner can work for a group or a company in addition to directly for another person. Gofers are errand runners who help on film sets, construction sites, and other places where a large group of people collaborates to complete a project. Anyone in the group can hire a gofer, with the most common requests being “go for…”, which explains the name “gofer,” which is a corruption of “go for” or “go fetch.”
Companies that run errands hire out their employees to people and organizations who require their services. An errand runner may work for a variety of clients, performing tasks such as waiting in lines, picking up laundry, and other tasks that those clients do not have time to complete on their own. Errand runners also transport materials between different people and businesses. Some people use their time as an errand boy or errand girl as a courier to gain familiarity with an industry and the people who work in it, and then use that knowledge later in life.
The pay for an errand runner is typically low, and benefits are often not included. Errand runners are frequently thought of as disposable employees who will be fired once their services are no longer required. If an errand runner can advance to a personal assistant position, handling a wide range of tasks in addition to basic errands, he or she may become indispensable, resulting in a higher wage and benefits package as an incentive to stay with a particular employer.