Making money in modern-day society seems to be getting easier with time. Life is becoming more convenient, and many people take the chance to make some cash on the side. Imagine having someone drive you to your destination at affordable prices. Alternatively, you can order food from your favorite restaurant and save time.
Now, we all hate moving. The hassle of packing, unpacking, and carrying heavy stuff around is not enjoyable. What if you could move without the trouble? If you are thinking of it, so is someone else. Conversely, you could be the person helping someone move hassle-free and making a few hundred dollars on the side.
We are talking about the opportunity that Dolly presents. If you are interested, this review will help you familiarize yourself with the platform and teach you how it works. Even better, you get to learn how to earn money with Dolly and get a few tips on how to increase your income while working as a helper.
So, let us get started.
What is Dolly?
Dolly is an on-demand service that connects people looking to move locations, be it home or office, with individuals with trucks. The truck owners are called helpers, and they help people move, haul or deliver goods.
Dolly began in 2014 as a small private company with 11 employees. From its headquarters in Seattle, it has now grown to many country regions. The founders’ mission was to create a platform where people could trade their time for cash by offering help.
The company aims at providing total freedom of time, choice, and worry. By connecting people looking for help moving to people ready to offer support, Dolly has grown to be one of the renowned moving companies in the US.
Helpers assist their clients by lifting heavy packages, loading and unloading their trucks, and transporting items from one location to another. If you live in Boston, Chicago, Denver, Orange County, Philae, Portland, LA, San Francisco, or San Diego, you can sign up to be a helper and earn money when working with Dolly.
How does Dolly work?
As mentioned before, Dolly pairs people in need of muscles and help or transportation with people who have these items. Because of its convenience, most people call Dolly the “Uber of Moving Stuff.”
You can sign up as a helper or hands. Helpers own trucks or trailers and help people in need of these services move. They help by loading boxes onto the trucks, putting furniture together, or even getting rid of junk. In short, the helpers offer their assistance at any stage of moving.
If you do not have a vehicle, do not worry. You can also earn by lending your muscles to the person moving. You can help by:
- Putting furniture together
- Loading and unloading trucks
- Removing junk from homes and offices
- Moving storage lockers
- Delivering items from local retail stores
- Picking and dropping items for people shopping on Craigslist
- Picking and dropping off items for charity
- Moving offices, etc.
Although the pay is different between helpers and hands, you can still earn a significant amount of money by helping your neighbor or someone in your area move.
Their services are not only for residential moves. You can also help move heavy machinery from one office location to a new place. Dolly connects people with trucks or vans and muscles to people who need them.
How to join Dolly?
Unlike most platforms in the gig economy, working with Dolly is more than downloading the app and diving into the work. There is quite a process for signing up on the platform and getting your first role.
The steps for joining Dolly include:
- Selecting your role
So far, you have heard of the terms helper and hands. Dolly has 2 main categories of services. You can sign up either as a helper or as hands.
Helpers are the people who own vehicles. They have trucks, cargo vans, or pickups that can transport packages from one location to another. Most importantly, they are willing to use their cars to help other people move and lift more than 75 pounds.
Hands, on the other hand, are people who can lift more than 75 lbs., but they do not own trucks. The helpers and hands have different salaries.
- Sign up
Once you are sure of the role you want to play when you decide to trade your time for money, you can sign up for the position. The first step is to visit the Dolly website at https://dolly.com/helpers/ and apply for the role.
Once you click on helper or hands, you will fill out a form to include your personal details and contact information. Then, you download the Dolly app on Android and iOS
- Get jobs
After downloading the Dolly Helper app, you get access to the details, locations, items, and upfront payment you can expect from a job. This information is essential in helping you decide the positions you will take and which ones you will leave.
The app also sends notifications when jobs near you come up. With the Dolly Helper app, you can build a schedule and connect with customers who play a crucial role in inducting you into the job. If the client also books 2 persons for the job, you can meet the other helper on the app.
- Do the Dolly and get paid
Dolly is easy to use. When you start a job, you swipe to begin. After completing the task, you swap again to stop. The app then finds the number of hours you worked and posts the bill to the client.
You then receive the payment for your time and muscles via your registered checking account.
Requirements to join Dolly
As a helper, you must:
- Have an Android or iOS smartphone
- Pass a background check
- Be willing to lift at least 75 lbs.
- Have a checking account for your direct deposit payments
- Be over 21 years
- Have a valid US driver’s license
- Have a pickup truck or a vehicle with a trailer
As Dolly’s hands, you need:
- To be 18+ years
- Have a valid driver’s license
- Have a means of transportation (bike, scooter, car, mini-van, etc.) to take you to and from the worksites
- A smartphone
- Pass a background check
- Be willing to lift at least 75lbs during the working period
How much can you earn working with Dolly?
The amount of money you make working as a helper with Dolly depends on the role you take. According to their website, Dolly helpers earn $35/hour or more. On the other hand, the people without vehicles make $20/hour or more.
On other platforms, many people put the income at an average of $30/hour for helpers and $15/hour for hands.
Considering the platform is home to over 2,000 people offering their services, then it must have something to offer.
Note: The jobs on the platform are not consistent. You could have a great week, where you earn up to $700. However, other weeks may be idle, and you could only make money from small delivery gigs. These are called feast and famine cycles.
In short, you cannot entirely rely on Dolly to be a lucrative job.
Tips to increase your income
Dolly is a service retailer. When you work as a helper or hands, you are trading your service for money. And since Dolly allows for you to receive tips, providing the best customer service might earn you some huge tips.
Next, if you want to plan your schedule, center your activities when most people need help. You can choose to work during the holidays when people move homes or late in the evening when they want to order items from their local stores.
Another tip for increasing your income when working as a helper is to take on as much work as you can handle. Do not overstrain yourself on too many heavy-lifting jobs. Take it easy and keep your body in the best condition. This way, you can take on more tasks.
Pros and Cons of Dolly
Dolly began as a small company that has now grown to operate in over 40 cities across the US. This must mean that the platform has something great to offer.
According to drivers and helpers who worked with Dolly before, the app is not so bad itself. Some of the benefits of working with Dolly include:
- High payouts– helpers earn up to $35/hour, while hands earn $20/hour. The helpers also get to keep 100% of their tips, which means making more than $1,000/week with an organized schedule is possible.
- Know how much you will expect– before you take on a job, you can estimate the amount you will earn from it. Dolly presents the details of a task, including the hourly rates. So, you can use the amount to filter out jobs you want to take and those to reject
- You become your own boss- while you will be working by helping people in need of your services and vehicle, you can grow your business by being consistent in the job.
- Choose when to work– You can work as much you like, or rest up when you feel like it. Helpers have complete control over their time and only pick jobs that suit them. That means you enjoy the ultimate flexibility with your schedule.
- Interact with other people on the platform. Dolly connects people in need of services to those offering these services. So, if someone is moving, and you are the helper, you will most likely meet some hands-on job. If the job requires two helpers, you can meet and know the other helper on the Dolly platform before the appointment.
- Get paid weekly– Dolly releases payment to its helpers and hands every week for jobs completed in the previous week.
- Set prices– Helpers and hands do not have to worry about negotiating prices with their clients. The prices indicated on the app are final. So, when you accept a job, you know how much you can expect from the job
- Liability insurance and damage protection– All hands and helpers have commercial liability insurance provided by Dolly
No job is without its limitations. Some of the drawbacks you can experience when working with Dolly include:
- You might end up with back pains– the weight limit for helpers and hands is 75lbs. That is no joke, and it could lead to some severe back pains. You might end up missing your official job because you are too tired from the side hustle.
- Potential insurance problems-Sometimes, you get into the job not knowing what your auto insurance covers and what it does not. To avoid these problems, you have to sit down with your insurance company to discuss the coverage, an activity that consumes a lot of time.
- Feast and famine cycles– Sometimes, you will be lucky and get multiple jobs within the week. Other days, you can go on without as much as a local grocery delivery to your neighborhood. These cycles make the job unreliable.
Yes, Dolly offers you an opportunity to earn a decent income using your time and energy. However, before diving into a move, make sure you are prepared to lift heavy stuff or drive around the city making deliveries.
So, is Dolly worth it?
Do you have time on your hands or a car you can use to carry heavy stuff? Do you need to find a way to supplement your income or offset some of your bills? If that is the case, Dolly is the right job for you.
Dolly is perfect because, unlike other delivery apps that pay little, you have a real chance to go home with hundreds of dollars from a single task. The problem comes in lifting heavy boxes or furniture on the job. Are you ready and willing to do the heavy lifting for people in exchange for cash?
If you are okay, youthful, and have a lot of strength, you can lend your muscles time to someone in need and earn some money for it. Here’s another good business opportunity you may consider.
