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Trump presidency a boon to toilets – Metro US

Trump presidency a boon to toilets

President Trump Portable Toilets

President Trump has boasted of instantaneous job creation since inauguration — a rescued manufacturing plant here, the Obama-holdover unemployment rate there. Most of it has been viewed with skepticism, or outright debunked. But there’s one growth industry Trump can indisputably take credit for: portable toilets.

An upswing in organized protests — the vast majority of them left-leaning — has created an overwhelming demand for porta-potties in the Washington, D.C. area, the Washington Post reports.

Permits for protests are up 30 percent compared to this time last year, according to the National Park Service, which requires organizers to provide one toilet per 300 participants, 20 percent of which must be wheelchair accessible.

Rental company Don’s Johns provided toilets for the Women’s March, the People’s Climate March and others this year. “All I’m going to say is that we love the activism. I’ll leave it at that,” Rob Weghorst, the chief operating officer, told the Post. “It’s been good. It’s made for an interesting and lucrative spring.”

Frederick Hill III, owner of Gotta Go Now, says his porta-potty company has seen a 40 percent increase in revenue every month this year compared to 2016. This month, business is running 50 percent ahead of last year. “It seems that there are protests every week that we are doing,” Hill said. “We’re quite active with them.” Gotta Go Now charges between $85 and $125 per toilet, including delivery and pickup.

Jordan Uhl, an organizer of the March for Truth on June 3 near the White House, told the Post that portable toilets will be the biggest expense of the protest: nearly $5,000. He and other organizers launched an online fundraising campaign for the march, most of which will defray toilet costs. “I guess it’s just a compliment to Trump that he has been great for the local portable potty industry,” says Uhl. “That’s one good thing he’s doing.”