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Testing Favor: app aims to bring users whatever they need – but does it deliver? Testing Favor: app aims to bring users whatever they need – but does it deliver?
(34 minutes later)
A good invention, popular wisdom tells us, ought to either fulfill a need or create one. But popular wisdom greatly underestimates our laziness.A good invention, popular wisdom tells us, ought to either fulfill a need or create one. But popular wisdom greatly underestimates our laziness.
These days, a good invention simply indulges our sloth: what are Seamless and Drizly if not attempts to make perfectly accomplishable tasks a little easier? I understand the impulse – indeed, it’s difficult to resist the sites’ appeal. Imagine a 10-minute errand forcing you off the couch in the middle of a Netflix binge-watch. It won’t do.These days, a good invention simply indulges our sloth: what are Seamless and Drizly if not attempts to make perfectly accomplishable tasks a little easier? I understand the impulse – indeed, it’s difficult to resist the sites’ appeal. Imagine a 10-minute errand forcing you off the couch in the middle of a Netflix binge-watch. It won’t do.
It seems the visionaries behind Favor agree.It seems the visionaries behind Favor agree.
Their new app is a salve for the ordinary loafer: with a few listless taps, you can commission the company’s team of bike-mounted couriers to run your errands for you. Do you need your dry cleaning dropped off or some cat litter picked up? Capitalism insists you shouldn’t bother. Pay a startup to do it for you.Their new app is a salve for the ordinary loafer: with a few listless taps, you can commission the company’s team of bike-mounted couriers to run your errands for you. Do you need your dry cleaning dropped off or some cat litter picked up? Capitalism insists you shouldn’t bother. Pay a startup to do it for you.
Favor, which began life in Austin, Texas, gained a vowel this week as it made its debut in Toronto (I wonder if this shouldn’t be a cautionary tale for American businesses hoping to cross the border in the future: pick a name that translates).Favor, which began life in Austin, Texas, gained a vowel this week as it made its debut in Toronto (I wonder if this shouldn’t be a cautionary tale for American businesses hoping to cross the border in the future: pick a name that translates).
Having read that for a small fee – $2 as a flat rate, plus 5% of the total price of the items you request – Favour would deliver virtually anything in the city to my apartment, no matter how trivial or silly, I felt compelled to put the service to the test. So over the weekend I installed the app and let torpidity reign.Having read that for a small fee – $2 as a flat rate, plus 5% of the total price of the items you request – Favour would deliver virtually anything in the city to my apartment, no matter how trivial or silly, I felt compelled to put the service to the test. So over the weekend I installed the app and let torpidity reign.
Because Favour, unlike other couriering services, does not work directly with the businesses it delivers to and from, the app’s interface is unusually pliable: it begins as a blank page onto which you type the name of the business you’d like to order from and a description of the items you’d like to order from them. But as inspiration Favour has provided a list of “featured” suggestions: dog food from the pet store, an umbrella from Walmart, ear buds from the Apple Store, and various specials from local restaurants and cafes.Because Favour, unlike other couriering services, does not work directly with the businesses it delivers to and from, the app’s interface is unusually pliable: it begins as a blank page onto which you type the name of the business you’d like to order from and a description of the items you’d like to order from them. But as inspiration Favour has provided a list of “featured” suggestions: dog food from the pet store, an umbrella from Walmart, ear buds from the Apple Store, and various specials from local restaurants and cafes.
It was dinnertime, and I was in the mood for something suitably indulgent. There are, of course, a lot of ways to order takeout in the city already, but Favour distinguishes itself on the cuisine front by promising access to places that don’t customarily deliver: the company’s “runners” bike over to your restaurant of choice, place an order to go, and bring it to you themselves.It was dinnertime, and I was in the mood for something suitably indulgent. There are, of course, a lot of ways to order takeout in the city already, but Favour distinguishes itself on the cuisine front by promising access to places that don’t customarily deliver: the company’s “runners” bike over to your restaurant of choice, place an order to go, and bring it to you themselves.
Related: Ten of the best back-to-school apps for kidsRelated: Ten of the best back-to-school apps for kids
Favour’s list curators have done their research, and thus Grand Electric, Toronto’s trendiest eatery, was featured front and center on the app’s main page. I placed a modest order of tuna ceviche and seared albacore poke and within moments had confirmation that my runner, Sabrina, was on her way. But then I received an alarming text. It was Sabrina, writing from the restaurant: “According to them you can’t get tuna ceviche or albacore poke to go,” she informed me. And with that, my first order was foiled before it really began.Favour’s list curators have done their research, and thus Grand Electric, Toronto’s trendiest eatery, was featured front and center on the app’s main page. I placed a modest order of tuna ceviche and seared albacore poke and within moments had confirmation that my runner, Sabrina, was on her way. But then I received an alarming text. It was Sabrina, writing from the restaurant: “According to them you can’t get tuna ceviche or albacore poke to go,” she informed me. And with that, my first order was foiled before it really began.
Sabrina was nice about canceling and within moments I’d made a replacement order, this time pork belly banh mi from local sensation Banh Mi Boys. This time, it was a grand success. Ro, my new runner, whisked the hot food from storefront to apartment with tremendous gusto, and since payment is entirely electronic I hardly had a chance to exchange pleasantries before the food was in my hands and Ro was off on another pressing task.Sabrina was nice about canceling and within moments I’d made a replacement order, this time pork belly banh mi from local sensation Banh Mi Boys. This time, it was a grand success. Ro, my new runner, whisked the hot food from storefront to apartment with tremendous gusto, and since payment is entirely electronic I hardly had a chance to exchange pleasantries before the food was in my hands and Ro was off on another pressing task.
The next afternoon, my wife and I tested our runner’s resolve: we ordered two large Neapolitan pizzas from the inimitable Pizzeria Libretto right as a baseball game at the stadium beside our apartment was letting out. At such times I make a point of remaining safely indoors, away from the tens of thousands streaming impossibly by. And yet here came Lucas, on time and unperturbed.The next afternoon, my wife and I tested our runner’s resolve: we ordered two large Neapolitan pizzas from the inimitable Pizzeria Libretto right as a baseball game at the stadium beside our apartment was letting out. At such times I make a point of remaining safely indoors, away from the tens of thousands streaming impossibly by. And yet here came Lucas, on time and unperturbed.
Favour could do food. But how far does Favour’s purview extend?Favour could do food. But how far does Favour’s purview extend?
My wife observed, later that afternoon, that we were disconcertingly low on toilet paper. So I booted up the app and made a request: a 12-pack of two-ply from the local pharmacy, please, and maybe throw in a can of Pringles while you’re at it. It was Ro again assigned to the task. Ten minutes later I received a call from the store: they were out of Pringles, but how about the off-brand equivalent? That was our Ro. Resourceful to the last.My wife observed, later that afternoon, that we were disconcertingly low on toilet paper. So I booted up the app and made a request: a 12-pack of two-ply from the local pharmacy, please, and maybe throw in a can of Pringles while you’re at it. It was Ro again assigned to the task. Ten minutes later I received a call from the store: they were out of Pringles, but how about the off-brand equivalent? That was our Ro. Resourceful to the last.
Late on Saturday night, playing poker and drinking a glass of scotch, I felt a minor craving I knew only Favour could satisfy. I plugged in my desire and, naturally, Ro once again complied – still working so many hours later.Late on Saturday night, playing poker and drinking a glass of scotch, I felt a minor craving I knew only Favour could satisfy. I plugged in my desire and, naturally, Ro once again complied – still working so many hours later.
In a half-hour there was a knock on the door. It was Ro, my prize in her hands: a single vanilla milkshake from McDonald’s, miraculously unmelted. No item, it seems, is too small or too frivolous to meet the Favour threshold. Let the languor run deep. For two bucks, you can get any ridiculous thing you want. In a half-hour there was a knock on the door. It was Ro, my prize in his hands: a single vanilla milkshake from McDonald’s, miraculously unmelted. No item, it seems, is too small or too frivolous to meet the Favour threshold. Let the languor run deep. For two bucks, you can get any ridiculous thing you want.