Times that if three $0.50-calls are made per day - or about 1,095 calls each year - the phone is making enough money to be sustainable.ĭespite profitability, many companies are getting out of the pay phone game. Michael Zumbo, president of the telecommunication firm PTS, tells the L.A. Last year, the Springfield News-Leader reported that the number of pay phones in Missouri had decreased 97% in the past 15 years, from 56,645 in 1999 to just 1,345 in 2015.Īccording to the American Public Communications Council, there are fewer than 500,000 pay phones in the entire United States, and about 1.7 billion calls are placed annually.Ģ.) Pay phones can actually be profitable – Companies that operate pay phones say they keep the booths and steel boxes running because they’re bring in money - just not a lot. In other parts of the country, it’s even rarer to spot a pay phone in the wild. For example, the statewide number of pay phones in California has declined more than 70% since 2007 to just 27,000. Still, the phones are becoming a rare sight.
While their numbers may be a fraction of what they were in their heyday, they continue to offer to connect one caller to another via a landline. Times’ report on pay phones.ġ.) They still exist – This might go without saying, but pay phones are still in operation all around the United States. Here are five things we learned from the L.A. In fact, the Los Angeles Times reports that while those relics of yesteryear may be declining in numbers - replaced with super-fast public WiFi hubs in the case of New York City - those left on the streets (or in office buildings) are still operational, and maybe even making money for their owners. That’s not to say pay phones are easy to find - they no longer cover the walls at train stations, airports, and bus terminals, and they aren’t generally found in booths at hotels or restaurants - but don’t be mistaken, they are still connecting people. But there are still hundreds of thousands of pay phones out there, waiting to be used by people without any other options available. When was the last time you used a pay phone? Given that just about every American old enough to say “hello” now has a cellphone, you’d be forgiven for thinking these once-vital telecom totems had gone the way of the telegraph.
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