From where I stood, the large horseshoe-shaped item looked like one of those pillows you use to hold your head and neck comfortably on a long flight.
The auctioneer/owner wasn’t sure what it was, so he began reading the package, which was still intact. Good for him and us that it was not open. As he read, all of us standing in the yard in back of the auction house finally knew what this was:
A portable toilet for truckers, hunters, campers and other outdoors people. “The Original Off Road Commode. Now you can go where your truck goes.” I suppose that was a shout-out to truckers on a long haul with no truck stop in sight.
It was a padded metal seat covered in camouflage fabric. “Makes me want to salute,” another auctioneer who was calling the sale said jokingly.
We all had a good laugh at this ridiculous auction item. It was one of the wackiest things I’d seen at auction, and I’ve seen and written about plenty of them.
The portable commode – or “tailgate toilet,” as one site called it – seemed to be both serious and tongue-in-cheek. Even the text on the commode itself urged buyers to watch a funny video about it. The company’s link no longer works, but the video has been captured on YouTube, along with other such videos, including one of a couple demonstrating the off-road with a plastic garbage bag.
The commode was first sold nearly 15 years ago. The owner of the one at auction either bought it as a gag gift or never got around to taking it out.
To use it, you slide it into a hitch attached to the bumper of a truck, trailer or SUV. It can withstand a weight of 500 pounds.
In 2009, the commode won first place in the annual “Wacky Warning Labels” contest, which show how far companies will go to prevent frivolous lawsuits by folks who use their products in the wrong way. It was chosen because of this warning label: “Not for Use on Moving Vehicles.”
The warning was added after the owners of the company learned that someone was driving around town with a modified ORC (that’s what they were calling the Off Road Commode) attached to the rear of his pickup truck. The publicity from the contest was good for the company.
The commodes are apparently hard to find these days. Most retail sites I came across on the web were sold out, even eBay, where you can locate just about anything. You can buy other types, though – including the Bumper Dumper (which comes with a clip-on toilet-paper holder bought separately) and a Tailgating Porta Potty – on other sites.
