pay phones

 

Do you remember the days when you could go into a phone booth, drop in a dime, and make a call? Believe it or not, phone booths still exist, although the day of the 10-cent phone call has now faded into history. Today, there are still 100,000 phone booths that are in operation in America – and they are still a profitable business. Pay phone providers reported $286 million in revenue in 2015 (the last year available), according to the most recent FCC report. They can still be profitable, particularly in places where there isn't cell phone or landline coverage, said Tom Keane, president of Pacific Tele management Services. Keane's company operates 20,000 pay phones around the country.

 

https://money.cnn.com/2018/03/19/news/companies/pay-phones/index.html

 

7 years later, there still ARE payphones that are in use, and they can be found at the link posted below.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1_YIGV2qY1JFH-Ve27LNMOzxfvn-kNnOe&ll=36.515818249459095%2C-98.10712209999994&z=5

Lately, there have been some variations on payphones that will surprise you.

First, in June of this year, a man named Mike Dank, and his partner Naveen Albert,  formed a company called PhilTel, - a phone collective that would convert old donated pay phones into free working phones using coinless circuit boards rewired to connect through the internet.

Some people are surprised he wants to bring back the retro phones, but Dank said he’s not alone in his enthusiasm. He points to a Google map site that tracks pay phones that have been reported to still be operating in the United States, and one that is devoted exclusively to the Philadelphia area.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/12/16/philadelphia-free-pay-phones-dank/

It was 1995 — four years after Dank was born — when the number of pay phones in the United States peaked at 2.6 million.

 By the end of 2016, there were less than 100,000 still in service, according to the Federal Communications Commission. New York City bid farewell to what some called the city’s last pay phone this past May, and there were only six pay phones said to be working in D.C. in 2021.

 Another variation on the traditional phone booth is one that is designed to be installed INSIDE offices. Many office environments have an open seating concept, which makes private conversations virtually impossible. The solution is Zenbooth.

 

The office telephone booth is an innovative concept developed by the company’s architectural designers seeking to solve the open-office, high-stress, low-productivity dilemma. Since its development, their revolutionary idea has provided quiet workspaces for countless employees in companies, large and small, better enabling them to more effectively achieve their companies’ goals. The self-contained units, ranging from one- to two-person phone booths, offer a less-expensive solution than hiring a contractor to renovate the office.

The units, which are crafted from high-quality materials, are quick to assemble, easy to move around the office and even easier to break down and transport during an office relocation. In short, the booths are a highly practical way to provide your employees with a fully-equipped workspace where they can close the door on workplace commotion and concentrate on getting things done.

 

https://zenbooth.net/blogs/zenbooth-blog/office-phone-booths-increasing-productivity-and-revenue

 

Although there are now more cell phones in this country that there are people, their convenience comes at a price, because you can now be tracked wherever you go, an fact that caused some serious legal issues for the people who were at the Capitol on January 6, since over 900 people have now been charged.

 

https://tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2019/12/hold-phone.html

 Although it seems as though every kid in school today has their own phone, it's also true that a large number of them would not know how to use a "traditional" telephone:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHNEzndgiFI

Although I have absolutely no need for a pay phone, there actually is ONE in Arizona, but I would have to drive to Phoenix to use it.

 If you’re interested, I HAVE published some articles about the Christmas season, but since we will soon be RINGING in a New Year, I thought that you might like a story about phones.