Basics:

Dolly enlists freelancers to deliver heavy items and help with moves

Expected pay: $15 – $30 per hour, plus tips

Husl$core: $$$

Commissions & fees: NA

Where: Select U.S. cities, including Seattle, Portland, San Diego, Denver, Philadelphia, Chicago and Boston

Requirements: 18+ (21+, if you’re a driver), able to pass a background check and lift 75 pounds or more. Drivers must also have auto insurance and a truck or van

Dolly Review:

Dolly connects people who need help with deliveries and moves with able-bodied side hustlers who are willing to pitch in. If you have a truck, van or trailer, you can qualify as a “helper” and earn $30 or more per hour. If you just have a strong back and the transportation to get you to and from jobs, you can be a “hand” and earn $15 plus tips.

How it works

If you want to sign up as a helper — a person with a truck and/or van, who is willing to participate in moves — you register with the site. You’ll need to provide photographs of your truck or van; insurance information and undergo a background check and training.

You pay $25 for the background check and the training appears to be unpaid, but necessary to get jobs through this site.

The process is similar if you want to be a “hand.” You earn less pay, but you don’t need a truck.

The site also allows helpers to have “assistants.” However, assistants get no additional pay. They’re essentially sharing the pay of the helper, who presumably requested the assistant. Jobs for teams are priced for two people. However, workers say they provide less pay than a helper and hand would normally make when not working as a team.

Getting jobs

Once registered, trained and approved, the site will start sending you job offers. They say what the job is, where, and how much it pays.

Pay and getting paid

The site says that helpers earn an average of $50 per hour and hands earn an average of $35. However, the site gives no information about how it calculated these averages. And at a point where the site was more forthcoming with wages, it said that helpers earned $30 per hour and hands earned $15 per hour, plus tips.

Now it appears that pay is calculated per job. But keep in mind that you are not compensated for getting there or for your gasoline or other expenses.

Dolly pays movers twice a week via PayPal.

Risks

Know too, that you are an independent contractor and not covered by worker’s compensation insurance. Since moving heavy objects makes you more prone to injury than your average job, make sure you have good health coverage.

Also realize that there are substantial costs involved in operating your truck (mileage, wear & tear, additional insurance, to name a few). And when you are moving people’s possessions, you may also want to invest in straps and other equipment to secure your cargo.

Recommendations:

Moving is a tough job and we think you can earn more doing it. However, this can be an okay opportunity, if you’re selective about the jobs you accept.

Better sites for movers? Check out GoShare and HireAHelper. Both pay considerably better than Dolly.

If you have a bigger rig/trailer and don’t mind longer-hauls, also take a look at Citizen Shipper and uShip.

What their users say: (from the Apple App store)

They used to pay well, now the wages are a joke for the drive time/work time combination (at least here in CA). Is $20 worth driving 25 miles each way to load and unload a couch worth it? With gas near 5 dollars a gallon, not so much. Sad part is they can afford to give their workers quite a bit more or actually pay for a support team!!

BEWARE THE TEAMS SCAM. When you have someone (like a spouse) who can work with you, they’ll tell you to setup as a team rather than an individual helper and hands. When you do this, you get paid LESS than when you register separately. Beyond this, job descriptions and sizes are often inaccurate. Support claims quick response times, but average 3-24hrs. Sometimes they don’t respond at all. Decent money can be made but you’ll have to deal with the frustrations. Also, dolly posts pay rates low and only increases to what they are able to pay if no one takes the job. They make massive profits by lowballing us contractors.

Move a fridge for $20?

This company needs to learn to adapt to market conditions and understand that gas is near $6 gallon (higher in some places). Nobody in their right minds is gonna move a fridge for $20. It’s a smack in the face to the workers. You will be better off Starting your own moving company instead of working for Dolly. They can’t seem to keep their hands off your hard worked money.

This apps are making money while you waste gas , time, and just putting in work to your vehicle , if you add the numbers your just getting almost nothing ! Plus you will have to file taxes after an amount won . Your making these people rich and are not going to make any money. It’s the 2022 kind of slavery.

(from Glassdoor)

As of the end of last summer – early fall of 2016, they decided to literally start giving away their services on the app. Now all posted jobs are now as low as $18.00 per job including: your hard labor, use of your truck, fuel / mileage costs etc. They have now started to post Dollys for a two person job, for as little as $19.00 and this amount includes 2 people. The pay is ridiculously low, compared to jobs listed from last year, which were more in line with what the job entailed and what the job was paying.

Keep in mind that the $30 per hour doesn’t take your overhead into consideration. You supply your truck, fuel costs, maintenance on your vehicle, tolls, and all equipment. You’ll pay social security and taxes out of your own pocket. After all said and done, you’ll be lucky if you can make minimum wage.

Updated 3/1/2023

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