#36 1991 · Schiphol Airport · Facilitieswrong-door
Schiphol etched a fly into its urinals and cleaning costs fell — men aim at targets
the problem
Spillage made airport washrooms expensive to keep clean, and signage changed nothing
background
During Schiphol's 1991 terminal renovation, the team led by manager Aad Kieboom faced the eternal washroom problem: spillage that made cleaning a major recurring cost, immune to signage and appeals.
Cleaning-department head Jos van Bedaf remembered his 1960s army service, where someone had drawn a small dot in a latrine urinal — and that latrine stayed cleaner than the others. Schiphol etched a fly by the drain: give men a target and they aim. A fly, van Bedaf reasoned, is the one animal nobody minds hitting.
the move
A cleaning manager who remembered a barracks trick had a fly etched by the drain: give men something to aim at and they aim.
the payoff
Spillage reportedly fell ~80% and cleaning costs ~8% (the figures are 'very empirical', by their own admission). Thaler's favourite nudge; copied worldwide.
what came after
Richard Thaler calls it his favourite illustration of a nudge — make the right thing easier rather than the wrong thing impossible. The 80% spill reduction was, by the team's own admission, 'very empirical'; the fly conquered the world's airports anyway, and urinal targets are now an industry.
filed under
references
- [1]Aiming to reduce cleaning costsWorks That Work (Blake Evans-Pritchard), 2013worksthatwork.com
- [2]How a picture of a fly reduced washroom cleaning costs by 8%The Decision Lab, 2021thedecisionlab.com