An app designed to avoid queues is being repurposed as a social distancing tool during the coronavirus pandemic.
Tairua-based Matt Brooks came up with the Tuipoint app when he got fed up with waiting in barber shops.
The premise is simple: download the app, notify the barber, wait in a virtual queue for prompts letting you know how much longer you’ve got, and arrive at the designated moment – spending your time more constructively in the meantime.
You can also prepay for the service, and there is a web browser option. It typically costs $1 to join a queue, with the store owner choosing how much to pass on to the customer.
“I’m in the queueing business. I queue people,” Brooks said. As queues lengthen outside supermarkets and pharmacies, that sees his business take on new meaning during the lockdown.
Such a system means users are more easily able to maintain social distance, reducing their exposure to the coronavirus by waiting at home or in their car.
“I couldn’t afford to sit in barbershops waiting for a haircut, so I developed a time-saving app,” Brooks said. “And now it’s becoming a social-distancing app because the climate’s changed.”
He has been approaching essential service providers including supermarkets, while it could also be of value to others including vets and pharmacists.
“If we can help, we’re here to help.”
With many essential service providers too busy to pause and consider the app during the lockdown, the biggest uptake may come afterwards as barbers, cafes and retail stores look ahead to the post-lockdown future.
“Life’s going to be totally different now. We’re going to have to be queuing virtually somehow,” Brooks said.
He said he’s treating the four-week lockdown like a Christmas break – speaking, appropriately enough, via phone from his local beach.
“When everyone breaks for Christmas, that’s when they get a chance to really look at what’s going on in the world and business people look how they can run their business smarter.
“I’ve now got four weeks where I can get this out to people.”
Brooks took the app to market last September, after two years of development, and is looking at adding further products.
Guy Howard-Willis, Manta5 founder and Torpedo7 cofounder, is on board as an investor.
Brooks sees global potential, but said in terms of building the brand, his focus is New Zealand.
“The sky’s the limit, but right now we’re just looking at ways that we can help the current situation in New Zealand.”
