Winters can be long in Western New York and shoveling snow is a difficult task for many residents. A new app service is now available to help people with one of the hardships that comes with heavy snowfall events, like last week's blizzard.
Imagine waking up in the morning after a night of blizzard conditions raging outside and finding that your motor vehicle had been brushed off and you can easily drive out of the snowbank your car was stuck in. A new app called Yeti can do just that.
Founder and CEO Chris Barry says the idea for the service stemmed from his time living in Boston.
"I remember coming home one day and seeing my car covered in a mountain of snow. The last thing I wanted to do was deal with that. I had just gotten out of an Uber and I was thinking, why is there not some similar service where I can just pull out my phone and tell somebody, this is where my car is, take care of that for me, please,'" Barry said.
The service launched the morning of Thursday, Jan. 31 as the city was in the midst of blizzard conditions.
This initial foray into Western New York is initally small in scope, with the app only be available within a five square-mile radius centered around downtown. That scope will be increased over time.
Along with users of the dig-out service, people can also sign up to be "Yetis" and earn money as shovelers.With dynamic pricing, shoveling orders generally cost between $25-$45 and Yetis can earn an average of around $40/hour, according to the company's website.
Barry says driveway and sidewalk services are coming soon. Currently the app is only available for iOS users, but an Android version is being developed.
