China News Service, Chengdu, March 18th: Can you make money by smoking cats and dogs for free?
Emerging occupation "pet care teacher" popular in Chengdu
Reporter Yue Yitong
I got the key reserved by the pet owner at the guard room of a community in Chengdu. Chen Cong, a "post-90s" pet caregiver, went upstairs and opened the door skillfully. The golden retriever "Oba" ran out happily wagging his tail, and warmly greeted this many times. Meet "old friends".
"'Oba', I'm here again!" Touching the head of "Oba", Chen Cong put a leash on it and took it out...
This is Chen Cong's first job of the day: to change the water and food for "Oba", and then play with it for 20 minutes, worth 30 yuan.
As a real-name certified pet nurse on a platform, Chen Cong mainly provides services such as door-to-door cat feeding and door-to-door dog walking for pet owners in need.
Since joining this emerging industry at the beginning of last year, he has accumulated nearly a thousand orders.
Chen Cong is walking "Oba".
Photo by Wang Lei
"I like small animals very much, and I also raise dogs. This job can not only suck cats and dogs for free, but also make money. I like it very much." Chen Cong told reporters that he has another job and relies on the part-time job of a pet caregiver. , the average monthly income is about 3,000 yuan, and the holidays are the busiest and the income is higher.
"During the Spring Festival of the Year of the Tiger, I made more than 8,000 yuan."
Recently, the emerging profession "Petist" has become very popular in Chengdu and has gained a lot of attention.
Zhou Bin, the person in charge of the operating company of the Chengdu No.1 Nurse Platform, introduced that the company began to promote the pet nurse project at the end of 2018, but the development was relatively slow before. After the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, related demand has increased.
"At present, the platform has nearly 400 registered pet caregivers in Chengdu. They are basically young people who like small animals, and most of them are part-timers."
Zhou Bin said that as an emerging profession, the entry threshold for pet caregivers is not high - if you like small animals and have experience in raising pets, you can pass the real-name certification and register, and then you can take up the job after professional training and scenario drills. The service time, content and other charges are different, and the price ranges from 30 yuan to more than 100 yuan.
"This industry is a new branch of pet economic development. With the development of economy and society, people's living standards continue to improve, and more and more people keep pets. If there is demand, there will be a market. At present, our platform has more than 5,000 users in Chengdu. A stable customer, and plans to expand to surrounding cities in the future.”
Chen Cong changed water and added food for "Oba".
Photo by Wang Lei
In Zhou Bin's view, the work of a pet nurse is not complicated, and the key to the development of the industry is how to establish an effective communication mechanism and trust relationship with customers.
"Most of the time the customer is not at home, and the on-site service needs to communicate in advance, including reserving keys, etc." Zhou Bin said that the pet nurse maintains communication with the pet owner during the work process, and uses video to record the work content and other processes. Also indispensable.
"As of now, the platform has not received any complaints from pet owners, and the number of customers is increasing year by year."
At the end of last year, Ms. Tang, a citizen of Chengdu, came into contact with the related services of pet nurses through the Internet.
At first she also had some doubts, "A stranger wants to come to serve you, and there is no one at home, so you will still be a little worried." Ms. Tang told reporters, but because the cats raised at home are more stressful to unfamiliar environments, they are sent to pet stores. Foster care was inconvenient, so she chose to try to have a pet care provider come to her house, but she and her family were pleasantly surprised by the effect.
"The pet nurses are very caring, professional, and cost-effective, and will use this type of service for a long time in the future."
Chen Cong put on a leash for "Oba" and was ready to go out.
Photo by Wang Lei
Talking about the mixed evaluation of this emerging profession on the Internet, Chen Cong believes that for him, being able to do what he likes in his spare time and also increase his income is the best of both worlds.
"In fact, many emerging professions have emerged in recent years, and they are developing quite well now. Young people are highly receptive to emerging things. Under my recommendation, some friends around me have also joined this industry."
After the service time, Chen Cong sent "Oba" home, played with it for a while, and then carefully closed the doors and windows and left.
Putting the key back at the gate guard of the community, he sent the video and picture records of the door-to-door service to the owner of "Oba". After receiving the "Like" emoticon package from the other party, Chen Cong smiled and rushed to the door. Next client's home, get ready for a "sweet time" with another critter.
(over)