In Indonesia, Bike Taxi Drivers Recruited Based on Their Smell!

A motorcycle taxi company in Indonesia has found an interesting way to attract more customers in an extremely competitive market. Aris Wahyudi, founder of Reckons has come up with this out of the box strategy of only hiring drivers who are 'not smelly' and give a fresh feel to the passengers. In an online video, some of the aspiring drivers are seen standing in front of a pedestal fan, with their arms wide open, while testers stand right behind the applicants to simulate a scooter ride. If they are found to have excessive body odour, they are deemed unfit for being drivers with the company. 

Aris Wahyudi, speaking at the driver's test being conducted in a basement of a car parking stated, “We took the decision to conduct an odour test for our customers satisfaction”. Various Indonesian companies came in the market in past few years and the competition is getting tougher day by day and only creative thinking can make a company stand out." 

Drivers who want to join the company have to go through a special test that includes ‘sniffing of armpits’. Reckons is working on this specially-designed test to overtake the success maintained by GoJek (Indonesian taxi company). There are almost 40 companies in the country that have different strategies to maintain their presence in the market. Malaysian companies like GrabBike and Ojeks Syari are claiming that they support the Islamic credentials and their vehicles are driven by jilbab-wearing, women-only drivers, Limobike on the other hand claim that they offer a deluxe ride using Vespa style scooters. 

Reckons hired Endang Ahmad, 37 to test the driver and the person is now popularly known as the professional armpit-sniffer. In an interview to an online portal, Ahmad said, “I have already found many types of body odour smell”. Showing the ratings of the candidates on a clipboard, Ahmad added, “The ones who have sweat smell and armpit smell mixed we don't pass”. 

Aris Wahyudi is an electronic engineer and manages this company that has mandatory smell checks. Interestingly, anyone booking the motorcycle can later rate the drivers based on their smell and any negative reviews may lead to the suspension of the driver. The company will be launched in the market in coming months with some 3,000 drivers.