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Please don't pay to use a pay toilet

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Re: Please don't pay to use a pay toilet

#41

Post by CoryG89 »

chanz wrote: post #38

Maybe a good solution for those who can't pay is to make them pay by time. As example I don't want to wait so I pay as example one euro/dollar. Someone who can't pay, just waits 3-5 minutes or pushes a button 50 times. Sounds stupid, but this could work in my opinion. Anyone who has enough money can afford to pay, but is less likely to mess with a button or wait 5 mins. A homeless on the other hand, could at least wa…

The problem would be when a paying customer comes up while a non paying person is waiting. Does the paying customer cut in front of the waiting one? If so, the waiting time gets reset? Or do you just make the paying customer wait as well?

Re: Please don't pay to use a pay toilet

#42

Post by __derek__ »

denom wrote: post #15
__derek__ wrote: post #4

This framing is ridiculous. The water, power, toilet paper, fixtures, etc., cost money to provide. Someone is always paying for the toilet.

yeah, but if we _all_ pitch in then these costs are marginal, and we can help provide some feeling of humanity to those in need--that's worth a lot more!

That goes along with what I'm saying. RMS doesn't acknowledge that there is a cost. There's a lot of value in ensuring that people have access to a toilet when they need it, but that doesn't negate the fact that someone has to pay to facilitate that.

Re: Please don't pay to use a pay toilet

#43

Post by LeanderK »

teilo wrote: post #10

When traveling in Germany, pay toilets were one of the things I liked. I don't like going into some place of business to use their toilet without buying something. It was actually cheaper for me to use a pay toilet. Furthermore, they were easy to find, clean, and well maintained.

am german, i also don't mind using a pay toilet, because they are mostly super, super clean. Sometimes they are really expensive (it's like parking space), but mostly they take a few cents and you really get something in return.

Re: Please don't pay to use a pay toilet

#44

Post by chanz »

echlebek wrote: post #40
chanz wrote: post #38

Maybe a good solution for those who can't pay is to make them pay by time. As example I don't want to wait so I pay as example one euro/dollar. Someone who can't pay, just waits 3-5 minutes or pushes a button 50 times. Sounds stupid, but this could work in my opinion. Anyone who has enough money can afford to pay, but is less likely to mess with a button or wait 5 mins. A homeless on the other hand, could at least wa…

What happens when another person wants to use the toilet? Two possible scenarios. A) They have to wait 5 minutes (pointlessly) plus the duration of the next person's stay. B) They pay to bump the person behind in the queue. Both scenarios are bad. In A, the toilet is not being used to its effective capacity. In B, paying customers can prevent non-paying customers from ever getting to use the toilet. Toilets should be…

If there is just one toilet, then yes those scenarios are the worst case to the idea.

So if a toilet needs a queue, then the first in-first out method should be used to prevent someone from bumping the queue and prevent over excessive wait times for someone who can't pay.

Also if they want to pay for the toilet, they can always pay for who is in front of them.

To enforce such rules is always a problem, but so are all rules in our society.

Re: Please don't pay to use a pay toilet

#45

Post by kahirsch »

nessus42 wrote: post #29

When I was in Paris, circa 2000, I came across some interesting pay toilets that were kind of like the Cadillacs of porto-potties. They were located on streets in nice shopping areas. You'd pay for the door to open. They had running water, but no water or fluid in the toilet bowl. Instead, the toilet was more like a concave shelf for peeing and/or pooping on. When you were done, you'd leave through the door, which wo…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanisette

Re: Please don't pay to use a pay toilet

#46

Post by nessus42 »

kahirsch wrote: post #45
nessus42 wrote: post #29

When I was in Paris, circa 2000, I came across some interesting pay toilets that were kind of like the Cadillacs of porto-potties. They were located on streets in nice shopping areas. You'd pay for the door to open. They had running water, but no water or fluid in the toilet bowl. Instead, the toilet was more like a concave shelf for peeing and/or pooping on. When you were done, you'd leave through the door, which wo…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanisette

Yes, that's exactly what I saw and used!

Re: Please don't pay to use a pay toilet

#47

Post by maxander »

gwern wrote: post #19

Having run into many public toilets and restrooms which were unusable because they were covered in feces or urine or had crazy homeless people in them harassing people (most recently, in December in Oxford, whose homeless are even worse than SF's, if you can believe it), I often wish I could pay to use a pay toilet. People value more what they pay for, it keeps out people who only want to trash them, and it can pay f…

> Having run into many public toilets and restrooms which were unusable because they were covered in feces or urine or had crazy homeless people in them harassing people [...]

As a matter of course- because really the issue of pay toilets is just one small protuberance from the much larger social problem, which is that currently society doesn't provide remotely appropriate care for a large segment of the mentally ill. That a tourist taking a piss in Manhattan entails thorny socioethical issues is surprising yet direct result.

The same problem repeats itself all over urban life. It's why the bus stop shelter doesn't keep you dry, why park benches are uncomfortable, and why you're likely to hear an ambulance siren at least once in an ordinary day. Someday society will realize that the underlying problem isn't a necessary truth, and everything will suddenly seem so much nicer.

Re: Please don't pay to use a pay toilet

#49

Post by brianwawok »

nessus42 wrote: post #29

When I was in Paris, circa 2000, I came across some interesting pay toilets that were kind of like the Cadillacs of porto-potties. They were located on streets in nice shopping areas. You'd pay for the door to open. They had running water, but no water or fluid in the toilet bowl. Instead, the toilet was more like a concave shelf for peeing and/or pooping on. When you were done, you'd leave through the door, which wo…

SF had these minus the pay. Still disgusting inside. Paper rammed all over. Maybe the price was part of why it worked

Re: Please don't pay to use a pay toilet

#50

Post by brianwawok »

jdavis703 wrote: post #9
castratikron wrote: post #3

Most Americans under a certain age have probably never heard of a pay toilet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_to_End_Pay_Toilets_i...

Aren't these quite common in Europe still? I'm 25 and American and have paid for toilets several times (I even remember having to pay at a McDonalds in Washington, DC back when I was really little).

Common in Mexico too. Guy standing outside with TP collects the money. Well worth it over Mexican free toilets.
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