MANILA—The most revealing request ErrandDrop got was not for groceries or medicine. It was for an air conditioner repair.
For founder Jomarie Carl Asoy, the request exposed how far the market for outsourced tasks could go. ErrandDrop was initially built to connect busy customers with people who could handle everyday errands. But customers are increasingly looking for something more specialized.
“We're actually getting a lot of requests for tasks that require more expertise,” Asoy told ANC's Startup with Ron Cruz.
Aircon repair became a problem for the platform. A regular runner might be willing to accept the job, but without the right experience or qualifications, the risks become much higher.
That pushed ErrandDrop to bring in businesses and service providers with expertise in areas such as aircon repair, salon services, massage and even automation repairs. The shift raises a bigger question about what customers are really paying for when they outsource a task.
Sometimes it is time. A customer may simply be too busy to shop, pick something up or wait for a service provider.
Sometimes it is knowledge. They may know what they want done but not know how to do it.
Sometimes it is access to resources or skills. A customer may need a secondhand washing machine, a rented gown or equipment for an event, but does not have the right supplier or item. And sometimes it is simply physical presence. Someone needs to go somewhere, buy something, wait somewhere or perform a task that the customer cannot personally attend to.
That idea is rooted in Asoy's own experience. He developed ErrandDrop after struggling to help his grandmother while he was away. She had asked him to visit, bring medicine and accompany her to the mall or market.
“Unfortunately, I wasn't able to do that until she passed away,” Asoy said. “And because of that, that's where I realized that I need to have a platform where at least if I'm not physically there, at least I have someone that I can ask to.”
The original platform started with a simple form before becoming an app. Early requests included buying medicine for a family member in a hospital and even helping a mother arrange a “video cake” for her son's birthday because she did not have enough time to coordinate it herself.
Today, the marketplace has expanded beyond conventional errands. Its current categories include services, buying and selling, and rentals. The company's internal 2026 data, which it describes as unaudited, lists 2,000 registered users, 600 active runners across Metro Manila and about 10 errands completed per day on average. The company has not disclosed revenue, GMV, retention or growth figures.
What should an errand cost? ErrandDrop does not impose one fixed price because not all tasks demand the same amount of time, transportation or skill. The platform considers factors such as distance, travel, urgency and the amount of work involved. Customers receive a suggested price, while runners can negotiate within the platform's rules.
A simple market run can become more expensive if the customer asks the runner to add another skill, such as cooking the ingredients afterward. That makes the platform less like a conventional delivery service and more like a marketplace for time, labor and expertise.
The model also comes at a time when Filipinos are increasingly comfortable conducting transactions digitally. Philippine government data shows that the digital economy reached P2.74 trillion in 2025, equivalent to 9.8 percent of GDP. Digital payments accounted for 64.7 percent of retail payment volume in 2025, up from 57.4 percent in 2024.
But ErrandDrop's more interesting bet may be what happens when the task becomes too complicated for an ordinary runner.
Asoy says the platform is already seeing demand for specialized work, while also opening up secondhand goods and rentals to customers looking for more affordable options. He also sees artificial intelligence playing a role in deciding what an errand should cost. ErrandDrop's AI feature can flag pricing that appears too high and suggest an alternative for either the customer or runner.
And Asoy has a much bigger idea for AI than simply using it to automate the marketplace. His vision is to use AI to teach ordinary people how to perform tasks they have never done before. In his view, AI may not be able to physically repair an aircon or cook a meal, but it could potentially teach a person how to perform the job, with the human doing the physical work.
That could turn ErrandDrop into something more ambitious than an errands marketplace: a system for matching human time with unmet demand, while using AI to expand what people are capable of doing.
For now, Asoy says the company wants to prove the model in Metro Manila before expanding more aggressively. The bigger test is whether the platform can consistently match customers who lack time, skills, resources or physical presence with people who can fill that gap.
And that leads to an even bigger question: In an economy increasingly shaped by AI, how much will people pay for another human being to simply get something done?