Jeep owners: Meet 'Ducktion Cups,' a simple device to keep your rubber ducks in place

OCOEE, Fla. - Social Media is chock-full of videos showing Jeep owners giving and receiving little rubber duckies as a way to put a smile on each other’s faces. The token of love, referred to as "Duck, Duck, Jeep" has been going on for a couple of years now as the trend began in Canada during the coronavirus pandemic.

However, for some Jeep owners, the ducks can get a little overwhelming and out of control. 

Enter Lisa Doroba, owner and inventor of Ducktion Cups. "It's temporary, it's removable, it's reusable," says Doroba.

Lisa is from Ocoee and drives her own Jeep around Central Florida, and she noticed that sometimes Jeep ducks migrate, meaning they roll around on the dashboard. "So I was driving down the road one day, heading to work, and I do the Jeep wave like most Jeepers do. And I realized that I always look down at their dashboards to see if they have any ducks. And about nine times out of ten they do. So it drove me nuts, though, seeing how they were kind of messy looking," said Doroba.

So Lisa invented a way to #GetYourDuckStuck. "So on the bottom of every duck is a hole. And I have learned that they all are pretty much the standard size," said Doroba.

Her Ducktion Cups, manufactured in Volusia County, are suction cups, really. They get inserted into that standard-size hole underneath the rubber duck. While the Ducktion Cup allows for some very creative mounting on the outside of the Jeep, it’s the smooth "Duck Duck Dashboard" that really gets your ducks in a row. 

Lisa’s business partner AJ Seelund explains how that works. "Now, this thing is hinged. We've got a custom mount here that fits directly into the original equipment-manufactured boltholes. That was key to our design of making sure there were no modifications needed for the dash. There are no permanent changes needed. The only thing you have to do is take out the tray, use the OEM screws, and bolted in. It comes with the board, the hinges, and everything you need, and you close it out. You still have full access to your tray. You can put whatever you need in there. And now it's actually kind of protected from the sunlight and people seeing things. So it creates a little compartment too," says Seelund. "It's their board. I mean, they go surfing on it. They don't go flying anymore. It keeps them in place. You can have one that's always looking at you. You have one that's always looking out for you and things like that," he adds.

It’s not just Jeepers who have embraced the duck craze. Cruise ship travelers are also getting in on the fun too. Hiding ducks all over the ship for each other to find. Entire social media pages are dedicated to this little hobby, and Lisa hopes her Ducktion Cups get into the hands of those folks too. Both Lisa and AJ are having a blast as new entrepreneurs running DucktionCups.com.

"One of my sayings I've had the last couple of years after working in various large corporate environments has been ‘embrace absurdity.’ I was part of layoffs this past year, and after 25 years in marketing, it has become just more of a life standard of ‘embrace absurdity.’ Like, if you've got a cool idea, just roll with it. The only thing that's stopping you is you. And probably a form and a checkbox. That's all that’s required. File an LLC, fill out a form, and start something new," advises Seelund.

For Lisa, it helps that she truly adores her product.  "It’s crazy how you can have the worst day and you walk out to your Jeep and there’s a duck and you smile like a little kid!" says Doroba.