A demand for errand runners is helping many Taiwanese make ends meet as they ride out the economic downturn

For no fee, anyone can register online to be an errand runner. If they want benefits entitling them to business cards and insurance against broken or lost items, they only need to pay a one-time fee of NT$1,000. There are no middlemen fees.

And all they need is a computer and access to Web sites where errand requests are posted. The first to reply to a customer’s online request usually gets the job.

The only job qualification is that one be flexible and punctual.

…

Chang You-wu (張耀五), 35, one of the best-known and most successful errand runners in Taiwan, manages to make NT$30,000 to NT$40,000 a month, which helps him and his wife pay their NT$20,000 a month mortgage.

His favorite job is lining up.

“The longest time I’ve lined up is 24 hours, for 12 days. It was for tickets for Taiwan’s pop band Mayday’s (五月天) concert last December. There were only 100,000 tickets available. I helped 100 people buy tickets. I could only run off for brief bathroom breaks, I couldn’t take showers, so I took a bottle of water to wash myself,” Chang said, adding that he made tens of thousands of NT dollars that time.

Is there a startup doing this in the U.S.?  Could be pitched as craigslist meets Twitter.