I’ve just been made aware of a phenomenon that I would probably not have thought about, but which is becoming more and more important to us all as more and more folks use delivery services to get take-out food orders delivered to their doorsteps. How do delivery drivers relieve themselves?
New app takes a big load off delivery deliverers’ minds – and bladders…
One of the most memorable moments (for me anyway) in the film The Right Stuff, about the first American pilots to go to space in the Mercury program, was during the countdown for the first suborbital flight by Alan Shepherd. Following delay after delay while engineers checked and re-checked system after system of the Mercury capsule (out of what we now call an overabundance of caution), Shepherd surprised mission control by asking for, “permission to urinate in my suit.” He’d been sitting locked in his cockpit for hours after drinking what his wife told another NASA spouse must have been ‘about 8 cups of coffee’ before going to work that morning.
That must be about what it’s sometimes like for UBER EATS, Door Dash and other deliverers when they’re stuck in traffic or just rushing around all day fulling deliveries, especially in unfamiliar neighbourhoods.
I knew there was a reason the job didn’t appeal to me…
So a couple of former delivery drivers – who are all too familiar with the problem – solved it by creating a new app designed to guide drivers to pit stops while they’re on the road.
The Whizz website explains: “We know being an essential worker its hard to find a place to use a restroom with all of the closures going on. We are here to help you. This is a free service for you.
“The Whizz App is a used by Travelers, Gig economy workers, and Soccer Moms. Also people who work and live in our neighborhoods. The app pinpoints rated restrooms in parts of your City and our partners displays promotional offers to introduce you to their location.”
How it works
Whizz allows subscribers to use the facilities at participating businesses without having to make a purchase or having to be an employee of the business. It apparently uses the system built into your smart phone to find your location and indicate the closest participating washroom on a Google-like map.
Users can register for the app’s services for free. There was no indication on the section of the website for restroom proprietors as to what their commitment entails. But there is a mention of a, “Free Advertisement for any Restaurant who allows Whizz essential partners to use their Restrooms During the Covid 19 crisis.”
Sounds like a ‘win-win’ deal. But the challenge now is to get restos and other businesses to enroll as location providers.
Anyway…
This is a great example of how the pressures of ‘wartime’ conditions spark the imaginations and creative juices of remarkable people! It’s a good thing, and we have the COVID-19 crisis for to thank for it!
~ Maggie J.