A little over 18 months ago, in the wake of poor judgement by a manager of one of its Philadelphia stores, Starbucks buckled in the face of public backlash and changed its restroom policy of paying customers only. Subsequently, Starbucks restrooms were opened to the general public, customer or not, and predictably, the homeless and those suffering from addictions began frequenting Starbucks store restrooms. Now, a joint study by senior finance academics from the University of Texas at Dallas and Boston College Carroll School of Management reveals the cost of that decision. The Perils of Private Provision of Public Goods found that traffic in the 10,752 Starbucks stores studied declined 6.8% after the bathroom policy was changed. Furthermore, the study found the decline was 84% higher for stores near homeless shelters and that those who continued to visit Starbucks spent 4% less time there than before the bathrooms were opened.