A new startup is betting that you can’t find a suitable public restroom to relieve yourself — and that you’ll pay top dollar for a cushy seat when the urge strikes. Posh Stow and Go is billing itself as New York’s “first members-only day storage and bathroom facility”, with memberships that allow you to pay-as-you-poo.
Posh Stow and Go’s facilities include private powder rooms with automatically flushing toilets, as well as some “individual, soundproof rooms with luxury showers” (for when you gotta hose down afterwards, I’m assuming). There are also digital lockers so you can safely stash your belongings during your shit, and you can also leave luggage and shopping bags with an attendant for an undetermined amount of time.
The rendering reveals a floor plan that’s like a locker room for a spa. A spa for pooping.
At this ZipCar for your colon, you’ll need a membership (which I hope comes with a key on a giant embarrassing keychain like at a coffee shop). Here’s how it works: You pay a $US15 annual fee, then you choose a “package plan” in various increments: $US24/day for three days or $US60 for 10 days, for example.
This is clearly a service marketed to tourists who are terrified to visit an authentic New York City restroom, but even then, who is going to fork over $US39 to take their first crap? Any semi-rational person knows that department stores and museums have tolerable public facilities, and there are plenty of apps which even map and rate them. Some airports and train stations even have rentable showers and bathrooms for travellers, but that’s because you’re between destinations. Tourists have likely already rented one New York City toilet — in their hotel room. Even if you’ve checked out, a hotel could easily provide most of these services for free.
Maybe it would be good for parents with high-maintenance babies who could take advantage of the hassle-free changing rooms (kids get in free!). Or for someone who uses a wheelchair and can’t locate an ADA-compliant commode. But unless you’re exceptionally regular, the chances of needing a private soundproof toilet and being near a private soundproof toilet are very slim.
Posh Stow and Go claims they want to open their poop clubs all over the city, but right now they’ve just got one planned for Midtown Manhattan. It will open in June. Try to hold it until then. [Core77]