Pay toilets and NYT: a free market microcosm
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Pay toilets and NYT: a free market microcosm
1–10 of 119 posts
Re: Pay toilets and NYT: a free market microcosm
#2I live in an economy with ubiquitous free toilets and they do not all descend to the unbearable.
Socialised maintenance of the commons takes many forms. Only a reductionist believes the absence of paid toilets reduces toilets to the unspeakably bad.
I concede the best toilets are free, but gatekept by transactional relationships of higher worth. The razors I steal from Singapore Airlines majestic marble temples in changi are both put out for me to steal and funded from my frequent flyer value. But, the toilets by the bayside I use when I go for fish and chips by the jetty are not, they are kept clean because we want that, to maximise utility for chip eaters.
Sure, it's a "tax" -so what? You want it to devolve to a 50c charge and beggars shit in bags? Screw you.
Re: Pay toilets and NYT: a free market microcosm
#3The author clearly has never cleaned toilets for a living, yet waxes philosophical, completely missing the point on why public services are kneecapped in this country.
Re: Pay toilets and NYT: a free market microcosm
#4I live in an economy with ubiquitous free toilets and they do not all descend to the unbearable. Socialised maintenance of the commons takes many forms. Only a reductionist believes the absence of paid toilets reduces toilets to the unspeakably bad. I concede the best toilets are free, but gatekept by transactional relationships of higher worth. The razors I steal from Singapore Airlines majestic marble temples in ch…
Yeah, I recall one mall in my home town had a pay toilet, which was the only well known pay toilet in the city.
So everyone used the toilet in burger king, which was free and more conveniently placed than the mall's own toilets anyway.
Plenty of other free toilets, both business run and government run.
Re: Pay toilets and NYT: a free market microcosm
#5The author clearly has never cleaned toilets for a living, yet waxes philosophical, completely missing the point on why public services are kneecapped in this country.
Public services are kneecapped in this country because non-white people use them.
Same reason why we defunded public universities (imposing the student loan system) just as agitation was enabling women and people of color equal access.
Re: Pay toilets and NYT: a free market microcosm
#6I was in a country that had pay toilets. What I observed during my trip was that every town had that one place where the coin mechanism just happened to be jammed, and the turnstile would give way with just a little push. I tended to pay anyway, but it seemed to be a practical solution. And that toilet tended to be a bit more dirty, probably because it was more crowded but cleaned on the same schedule as the rest.
The free toilets at freeway rest areas in my state are just fine.
Re: Pay toilets and NYT: a free market microcosm
#7The author clearly has never cleaned toilets for a living, yet waxes philosophical, completely missing the point on why public services are kneecapped in this country.
Public services are kneecapped in this country because non-white people use them. Same reason why we defunded public universities (imposing the student loan system) just as agitation was enabling women and people of color equal access.
I don’t like public services because every time I have ever used public services, even extremely (excessively) overfunded ones in liberal coastal US cities, they have had mediocre to extremely shitty quality from the perspective of the consumer.
Services aren’t supposed to be jobs programs. I like privatization as a rule. It has nothing to do with racism, it has to do with an intense dislike of being fleeced by politicians.
Re: Pay toilets and NYT: a free market microcosm
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
Public services are kneecapped in this country because non-white people use them. Same reason why we defunded public universities (imposing the student loan system) just as agitation was enabling women and people of color equal access.
I don’t like public services because every time I have ever used public services, even extremely (excessively) overfunded ones in liberal coastal US cities, they have had mediocre to extremely shitty quality from the perspective of the consumer. Services aren’t supposed to be jobs programs. I like privatization as a rule. It has nothing to do with racism, it has to do with an intense dislike of being fleeced by polit…
I've seen plenty of shitty (sorry!) privatized toilets at various events and locations. They are rarely directly "paid" - more like the event holder rents them and provides them free of charge - but the privatization aspect hasn't guaranteed me some magical clean toilet experience.
Sometimes us Americans just reveal ourselves to be selfish and... again... shitty.
Re: Pay toilets and NYT: a free market microcosm
#9I don't want to seem too accusatory, but this just felt like an angry rant without much research.
I've been to a few places on this earth, and while I know there are some Europeans who'll proudly talk about how paying for toilets helps keep them clean, I haven't noticed them being any better than gas station bathrooms in the US. Some are okay, some are total disaster sites. The only difference is someone or a machine standing at the door taking your money.
Meanwhile, in East Asia, I've never encountered a pay toilet. I've also really only encountered truly dirty toilets in the middle of very remote parks. Japan, Taiwan, and Korea all have excellent free toilets. Even China does pretty decently. Parks and urban areas across the country have toilets that are well maintained, and I noticed public bathrooms even in the middle of residential areas around Beijing that were hosed down a few times a day.
So no, I don't agree that the only way to fix things is to revert to literal nickel and diming. Learn from the countries that manage their systems better instead of giving up and saying it's impossible.
Re: Pay toilets and NYT: a free market microcosm
#10Has someone gone and bulk downvoted everyone that disagrees with the premise that toilets must be paid? It seems every comment is at 0 or negative