78. Porta-Potties

October 1, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

The Hidden Science of the Porta-Potty

Nobody grows up dreaming of the porta-potty business. "It's not a fireman, it's not a doctor," says Ron Inman, vice president of Honey Bucket, a portable toilet company operating in seven states. "But when you roll up your sleeves and get into business and do it right, it's complex." That complexity is invisible to the three-beers-deep concertgoer hustling toward the blue box, but behind every polyethylene stall is an industry of surprising sophistication—one that hauls toilets up mountain slopes for the Winter Olympics, lowers them 2,000 feet into gold mines, and calculates exactly how many units a beer-soaked festival will need before disaster strikes.

An Industry Built on Unlikely Foundations

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What you'll learn

1 (03:06) **Porta-Potties: An Unloved but Essential Industry** - Zachary Crockett introduces the episode on the economics of portable toilets, framing them as a ubiquitous but unglamorous necessity.
2 (03:29) **The Trade Group and Industry Origins** - Veronica Crozier, executive director of the Portable Sanitation Association International (PSAI), explains the industry's history and her family's connection to it.
3 (05:25) **Industry Structure and Profitability** - The U.S. market is fragmented, with many regional family-owned companies and a few large national players.
4 (07:32) **The Standard Porta-Potty and Its Variations** - Most units are nearly identical, but color and branding strategies vary by customer.
5 (09:05) **Winning Contracts: Construction vs. Events** - The business relies on building relationships and chasing building permits, with construction providing the bulk of revenue.
6 (10:37) **The Winter Olympics Case Study** - Honey Bucket's successful bid for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics required innovative problem-solving.
7 (14:33) **The Formula for Toilet Placement** - Determining the number of toilets for an event is a calculated science.

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Show Notes

They're not always the nicest places to go — but for their owners, portable toilets are a lucrative revenue stream. Zachary Crockett lifts the lid. This episode was originally published on January 26th, 2025.

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