All About Vandalism

The designer of Rollfast is possibly the only person in the world to do an in-depth study and research into the causes and effects of vandalism on toilet tissue dispensers. (It was because of this deep and thorough research that enabled us to sell 26,000 dispensers for $75 while you could buy a Durolla for $25. Deep research is the key to any successful product - and we like to think our designer is a professional product design engineer).

Dispensers have to put up with abuse that no other piece of washroom equipment does because when someone goes into a toilet cubicle and shuts the door no one can see what they do - but the designer knows what they do! This enabled him to identify the real problems and thus design a dispenser specifically to circumvent what vandals are known to do.

Vandalism is the one thing above all other things that is stifling the whole public washroom scene. The costs are enormous. On average, operators have to replace a dispenser in every cubicle, sometimes as often as once a year. Don't be shocked, this is real life. Operators of public toilets are so frustrated, even angry, about the ongoing costs they often don't want to talk about it. Many times I found they clam up and pretend there is no problem when there really is! :

I spoke to the management of a large busy shopping centre in Sydney who claimed they had "no problem with vandalized dispensers at all". As I walked away I needed a restroom, and there was a tradesman fitting a new dispenser! I told him management had just said there was no vandalism of dispensers and he just laughed and said "Well it is no problem to me, I am replacing them regularly". "So how many do you replace on average?" "About one new dispenser per cubicle per year". Please believe me, this is quite normal.

So if you are considering this proposition and through due diligence wish to do your own research (which I strongly urge you to do), please talk to many people not just one or two to ensure you get the true picture.

So what causes vandalism?

The main reason is when a user cannot access tissue when plenty of tissue can be seen in the dispenser. This can be difficulty getting tissue out of a slot or, worst of all, when the end tears off close to the roll on a jumbo, the end can be impossible to find. An angry user will seek to take revenge on the dispenser - they may kick it off the wall or use brute strength to tear it apart in order to access tissue or they may even urinate on it. A blocked key hole (the most common reason of all why a dispenser is replaced) is more of a boredom thing - somewhere to dispose of their chewing gum.

Finally, like Rollfast Mark I, Mark II is designed to be mounted ABOVE the bowl, not IN FRONT of it, this makes it harder to kick or be urinated on and leaves more room in the cubicle for a user to undress and turn around.

Here is a factual real life example.

We found someone who told it the way it really is. This person managed a busy shopping centre in one of the most up-market suburbs in Darwin, Australia; a city of about 120,000 people.The following are the actual costs of running the toilets in that shopping centre (all figures are in AUD).

The centre has 11 toilet cubicles and in six years 55 dispensers have had to be replaced because of vandalism. That is .83 dispenser in each cubicle each year - in other words, about average.

If they replace with a cheap dispenser (say $50) plus a tradesman's fee for fixing the new one (say $120), that is $170 each time times 55 is $9,792 and divide by six years is $1,558 per year.

The tissue cost using jumbo rolls works out at $15.87 per day or $5,793 per year. So the total cost per year (vandalism and tissue cost) is $7,351. (These figures were gathered around year 2015).

If they had been using Rollfast, the tissue cost would drop from $5,793 to around

$3,500 per year (see Jumbo Tissue Costs More) page and you can confidently expect a nil budget for replacement of vandalised dispensers.

So the total cost would drop from $7,351 to an estimated $3,500, a saving of $3,851 per year. Rollfast Mark II will probably retail @ AUD $180 plus fitting charge @ $120 = $300 X 11 cubicles a total of $3,300.

So less than a year of savings covers the cost of Rollfast Mark II fitted in all cubicles!! Plus huge savings for ever after!!

How many operators of public toilet facilities could resist that offer?

Footnote: The operator of that facility has now retired but is happy to confirm the above facts to any interested parties. Contact with her can be arranged through the designer, please use the contact page.

Is the vandal resistance of Rollfast proven?

Oh yes. We approached the Brisbane City Council with Rollfast Mark I and presented it as a dispenser that offered extreme vandal resistance (there is no such thing as vandal proof - there is always the jaws of life or a stick of dynamite). They said the vandal problems were so bad along the Wynnum Foreshore that they had virtually given up providing dispensers or even tissue at all. About 40 units were installed as a trial.

We offered to come back in a month to check on the survival rate. They amazed us by saying two days is the longest anything had survived, we'll let you know next week! We never had a word of complaint from them, but we did check after a month and they were all still unharmed and in perfect working order. Ten years later when we were in Brisbane we went to the Wynuum Foreshore and to our delight they were still there and were still in perfect working order Two were missing and most were going rusty (relax, Mark II is made of plastic).

All this happened so long ago there is no-one left at the council to confirm this story. It has taken literally decades to come up with, and perfect, this new design.

From the archives of the Mark I era is this gem:

Yes, Rollfasts' vandal resistance is proven!.

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