Although pay toilets aren’t common in the United States, a majority (56 percent) of Americans say they’d consider paying as long as they were guaranteed a clean, well-stocked public restroom, according to a survey by Bradley Corporation.
Almost half of the survey respondents would be OK paying a quarter, with about a third of the group willing to pay 50 cents. However, a third of respondents from the Midwest said they would not pay to use a premium public toilet.
Dirty restrooms are a common problem. According to the survey, 70 percent of Americans say they’ve had a particularly unpleasant experience in a public restroom due to the condition of the facilities. In fact, 42 percent report having a bad experience within just the past two months. Clogged or unflushed toilets; toilet paper dispensers that are jammed or empty; and partition doors that don’t latch are the biggest irritants.
When asked what improvements they’d like to see, the top requests were: keep restrooms cleaner and ensure they’re adequately stocked with toilet paper, paper towels and soap.
Bad restrooms can be bad for business. More than half of Americans say they’d think twice about returning to a location after experiencing an unclean or unpleasant restroom.
“Our survey found that a bad restroom speaks volumes to customers — 47 percent say an unclean restroom shows the company doesn’t care about its customers and 46 percent feel it’s a sign of poor management,” says Jon Dommisse, director of strategy and corporate development for Bradley Corp. “On the flip side, we found that almost half of Americans will ‘definitely’ or ‘probably’ spend more money at a business that has clean, well-maintained restrooms.”