Business review site "Yelp" recently published a list of cities where plumbers are in the highest demand the day after Thanksgiving, a day dubbed "Brown Friday" by the site for how many plumbers are on call to service clogged toilets after the major holiday meal.
The New York Post flagged the blog published by Yelp Director of Consumer Communications Bjorn Tierney, which disclosed the "top 30 cities that experience plumbing problems during Brown Friday and beyond."
"With the holiday season upon us, nothing can bring a celebration to a halt like an embarrassing plumbing emergency. Whether it’s a clogged toilet, leaky pipe, or an overflowing dishwasher, the day after Thanksgiving – known as ‘Brown Friday’ – is one of the busiest days of the year for plumbers on Yelp," the blog said.
Tierney described how Yelp members analyzed data from users searching for emergency plumbers or other related requests on its site – like "clogged up toilets, leaky faucets and more" – and found that Portland, Oregon was the "number one city on the list."
"The city saw an increase of 23% in searches for common plumbing issues during the Brown Friday time period, comparing searches in the seven days prior to Thanksgiving Day to searches made seven days following Thanksgiving Day in 2022," the blog added.
The blog provided a graphic listing the 30 "Most Clogged Up Cities for Thanksgiving-related Plumbing Issues." Following Portland in the top 10 were Virginia Beach, Raleigh, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Sacramento, Boston, New Orleans, Milwaukee, and Phoenix.
The rest of the list included major U.S. cities like Austin, Orlando, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Dallas.
The blog noted how, though Los Angeles didn’t crack the top 10 list, "Angelenos were an overwhelming number one for ‘number two,’ as the city tracked the highest number of Request a Quote submissions for plumber projects on Yelp during the holiday hosting season, spanning November and December of 2022."
St. Louis was a notable addition to the list, as it was "the number one city searching for ‘24-hour plumbers’ during the Brown Friday time period."
THANKSGIVING QUIZ!: HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW THESE SURPRISING FACTS ABOUT THE ANNUAL HOLIDAY?
The blog post also provided tips so that users could prevent unnecessary problems with their kitchens and bathrooms during the holiday frenzy. These tips included making sure homemakers consider problems occurring in kitchens rather than only the bathrooms.
Tierney wrote, "because so much time is spent in the kitchen prepping for parties, many issues can occur due to excessive water use in the kitchen and food scraps in the pipes. Be sure to wipe dishes clean before loading the dishwasher and use a sink strainer to catch food scraps to prevent clogged drains."
It also advised readers to "leave a note in the restroom reminding guests to only flush items that are safe for the drains," and use multiple bathrooms in one’s home "to cut down on potentially overloading a single toilet."
