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Trying To Find A Place To Buy Toilet Paper? There's An App For That
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If you're running low on toilet paper and trying to find a place that still has it in stock, don't worry. There's an app for that.
When Mark Sussman launched his app OurStreets in January, he had an entirely different mission in mind: trying to keep streets around the country safer.
On the original iteration of the app, users could report things like cars blocking bike lanes and crosswalks, parking on sidewalks, misplaced rentable scooters, and aggressive or distracted driving. The idea was that the data could be aggregated for city planners and used to improve mobility.
When the coronavirus pandemic hit, Sussman and his team realized the app could be retooled so users could report sightings of toilet paper, hand sanitizer and other essential household items in stores.
"We took the next 11 days and then pushed out an update to the app," he said.
The app is gaining traction both in downtown Atlanta and in Savannah, where the original app was already popular with urban bicyclers.
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When a user goes to the store, they can launch the app and report back on what items they find. The reports are then aggregated on a map, so that other users can see what stores are still stocked up on items they're looking for.
It also provides links to call and order online from the stores with updated reports.
The app's effectiveness depends on a communal effort to report on what stores have what items. In a sense, the app crowdsources the hunt for toilet paper. Sussman said that since the onset of the pandemic and the retooling of the app, he's seen more and more users send in reports.
"Right now we see about we're getting about a thousand to two thousand reports a day," he said.
For Sussman and his team of developers, the shift in their plans has been reflective of the questions that still linger for many.
"It's come at a lot of soul searching for all of us as we move forward in this new world. What will the world look like? What is commerce going to look like?" he said. "These are all things that I asked myself on a daily basis."
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