Now, outsource standing in queues at ATMs, banks

CHENNAI: Vignesh R from T Nagar was in urgent need of cash when he decided to call personal assistance services to make them stand in the queue outside banks on their behalf. “I was not prepared to lose out on my daily schedule because I am strapped of cash. The services, though unorganised, were of great help,” he said.
With demonetisation resulting in a cash crunch, people are finding that they are unable to attend to daily chores as they go ATM-hopping and standing in front of bank queues.To help out the cash-strapped, concierge or personal assistance start-ups such as Wishup, Done Thing and Book My Chotu and unorganised players have stepped in. Staff wait in queues and inform the customer in advance. Cash pick-up boys go to nearby ATMs on their behalf or encash cheques.
Done Thing, a Delhi-based personal assistance startup, which introduced standing in the ATM or bank queues as a service on November 10 for an hourly charge of 100. They get two sets of request — one for standing in queues or for purchasing groceries for customers standing in queues.
“ We are also getting requests from customers wanting us to pick up clothes, grocery or vegetables and pay bills,” said Sonal Sarogi, co-founder, Done Thing. The startup has seen a 200% increase in the number of orders post-demonetisation; with repeat orders seeing a 50% jump.
Niki.ai, an artificial intelligence-based concierge startup, has seen a rise for laundry pickups from customers stuck in ATM queues. “There have also been requests to include grocery on the list of services we provide,” said Nitin Babel, co-founder, Nikiai. The startup sees requests pouring in from Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai and other cities. Requests have increased by 100% in the past two weeks, Babel added.
With an increase in the number of requests, personal assistance companies are now outsourcing their staffing requirement. Done Thing currently outsources 60% of staff, who stand in queues. "About 20% of our orders are to draw cash. As of now, we are managing with the available staff," says Neelesh Rangwani, founder, Wishup, which works on a subscription model for a host of concierge services.