Portapotty costs

[aknod]

I looked into getting a portapotty for our camp this year (from USS), and thought I would share the quote. We decided it was too pricy for our camp, so we're buying 5 gallon buckets and dirt for everyone. Here's the quote:

Code: Select all

Item                          Unit Quantity From Thru Unit Price Total Price
Standard Restroom     EA 1 08/22/13 09/03/13 600.00          600.00  one time 
Special Event Service EA 1 08/28/13 09/03/13 100.00          100.00  one time
Environment/Energy/Compliance                                 90.30  one time

Standard Restroom Subtotal:.  .  .   .  .  . 790.30

Rather expensive for 15 of us...

[lemur]

that doesnt seem expensive to me.

even excluding pre-event usage thats about $6.50 per person per day for Monday thru the next Monday.. 8 days..

shitting in a bucket is more preferable to $6.50 a day ...or about $55 for event week?

id be going for the regular banks of porta potties rather than shitting in a bucket..

[BBadger]

So, is it like too much for you guys to just use the public restrooms like everyone else that you're so willing to truck out your own bodily waste in buckets?

I have a friend who thought about doing that with all the sawdust and shit like that, but I don't think it's worth the effort. I'm not even sure if I'd want to pinch a loaf while in camp for privacy and concentration sakes...

[unjonharley]

I carry a Lug-A-Lu in the van and to BM every year.. Have yet to use it on the playa..

It's just there handy if it's needed.. I prefer to go public with my shit

[aknod]

Um, I was kidding about the buckets and dirt. I will use [facetious] tags from here on out.

We thought about getting one because we got placed at A and roughly 2:45 and it would be nice to have a "known good" pp at any time of the day or night, but once we got the quote we decided it wasn't worth it.

[Sham]

In the immortal words of Richard Nixon, let me say this about that.
If you have to make tinkles in the middle of the night, you can use a bottle and fill it up, then empty in the portos in the morning. If you have to make poopies, you may be at the far end of the playa, and be forced to use the public porta-potties like everyone else. It would be crazy to trek all the way back to your camp to do you business.

If you have some sort of aversion to sitting on a public seat, wipe it down with some disinfectant before placing your tender bottom on the toilet seat.

Part of the cost of your ticket is the placing, pumping and maintaining of the JOTS. You already paid for it!

[aknod]

FFS this is not our first rodeo. I have no real issue with the public JOTS. When we had this idea, I did some searches on eplaya and elsewhere just to get some idea of the cost. The only thing I found was an old thread where the cost was ~$500, which seemed fairly reasonable. Given that, I asked for a quote from USS, and thought I'd share the info in case others were curious or considering getting one.

[Sham]

I probably would have assumed that, but once you mention the 5 gallon buckets, I then assumed this was your first rodeo.

[lemur]

going by the peak population on friday of the event..

people are paying roughly $15 each to use the blue rooms shared by the glorious public

a far cry from the $52 for a week in a 15 person camp to share 1 unit.

BUT... with these numbers, and the roughly 1000 units that we all share thats about 50 people sharing each unit..

and when you take the number you were quoted.. around $790.. and divide that by 50..... what do ya get?!

AROUND $15 PER PERSON omg its amazing..

so, i guess your camp is just too small.

im guessing these public ones are likely pumped out and cleaned more often than a private units (thats only a guess, i dont know the pumping schedule for the private ones)

( source: http://afterburn.burningman.com/12/financial_chart.html )
( source: http://afterburn.burningman.com/12/ )

[AntiM]

I don't recall them pumping the ones in terminal village, and we were right next to them. They were quite nice the whole time, and may have been pumped while we weren't around.

I dunno, $800 doesn't seem all that high for luxury if you have the pocket change.

[gyre]

Why cut corners?

[Elliot]

One point I can add:
I rented a private JOTS for my theme camp in 2007. I've always felt that regular JOTS are awfully cramped for space, so I sprung for a wheelchair unit. I assumed the tank would be larger also, what with all the extra space. Problem. Turned out the wheelchair unit had a much smaller tank than a regular unit -- to maximize maneuvering space for the wheelchair. Also, there was no funnel for us boys to pee in.
Just so you know.