The Elusive Payphone

When was the last time you rushed out your door, jumped in your car, drove about five miles and realized you’d left your cell phone on the kitchen table?

Did you feel utterly lost – maybe even a little panicky? Did you consider making yourself late to an appointment just so you could go back and retrieve your phone?

It wasn’t that long ago that leaving your phone at home wasn’t a big deal (they were mostly attached to the wall, after all). And if you needed to make a call while out, you could just drop a quarter in the nearest payphone.

Which brings us to the next question: When was the last time you used a payphone?

We posed just this question on Facebook and received some colorful – though not altogether unexpected – replies to our poll.

One third of users selected the poll answer, “I’m sorry, what’s a payphone?” while another third clicked the answer “Years ago.”

And one-quarter of respondents selected the poll response, “When is the last time you SAW a payphone?” a response added by a reader.

According to a Verizon spokesperson, each payphone must handle at least 150 calls per month in order to cover its operating expenses. If that minimum isn’t being met, a business or organization can pay a small fee to keep the phone operational.

It seems Verizon is approaching its payphone business with an eye toward viability.

“At Verizon, we have managed the payphone business as … a business that keeps track of what works and what doesn’t,” Bob Elek, Verizon spokesperson, writes in an email. “If a phone is being used, we keep it in operation; if not, we remove low-pay phones.”

According to the Federal Communication Commission, as of March 31, 2009, there were 17,564 payphones in Massachusetts, down from 21,442 just a year earlier.

“In any case, the payphone is one of those vestiges of the past – like cabinet TVs, 8-track tapes, cassettes and travel agents (among others) – that technology is relegating to the sidelines,” Elek’s email reads. While he said he cannot disclose current numbers, he said that as of 2007, Verizon operated 220,000 payphones across the country, which was about 25 percent of the 872,256 payphones the FCC said were operational in 2007.

Today, Verizon has sold many of those 220,000 payphones and now operates phones only in the Northeast U.S.