5 ms·

This would not be a problem if Europe had free toilets like the United States. I really don't understand why I should have to pay to pee.

cpursley 8y ago
Start up idea: Free app controlled urinals that play curated digital advertisements in front of you while you pee.
- yoz-y 8y ago
  In China I have already seen toilets where each individual urinal/stall had its own small tablet showing ads. Might be viable.
- iagooar 8y ago
  Would you, as a company, like people to associate your brand with dark, smelly & dirty places?
  - donkeyd 8y ago
    That was pretty much my teacher's reaction when I pitched 'free toilet paper for students by printing ads on them', in business school.
  - nielsbot 8y ago
    Depends on what you're selling...
  - nsxwolf 8y ago
    People buy ad space above urinals all the time.
  - yellowapple 8y ago
    Might be perfect if you sell cleaning supplies.
- cirgue 8y ago
  I don't want to live in a society where that idea would succeed.
- onetimemanytime 8y ago
  Peeoogle...ads based on your instant urine analysis.
- antisthenes 8y ago
  Don't forget the camera to track your eye movement to see how effective the advertisement is!
diggan 8y ago
Some places do have free toilets everywhere but still people pee outside on the street. Barceloneta in Barcelona comes to mind as one of the the places like that.
yoz-y 8y ago
There are free toilets in paris already, but they are few and far in between. Also their automatic cleaning cycle is very long. The most ridiculous is that the toilets are paid in the train stations though.
strict9 8y ago
Where is this in the US? McDonalds? Those don't exist except interstate highways.
- hijinks 8y ago
  You can walk into almost any place where you get food in the US to use a toilet. Last time I was in EU was 10 years ago but tried to use a toilet in a bar and got yelled at unless I bought something first.
  - raitom 8y ago
    Which is 100% normal. What entitle you to use the toilet for free? Someone will eventually have to clean after you and it costs money. Even in the US you cannot just walk into every bars and restaurants and use their toilets for free...
    - Nasrudith 8y ago
      Exposure leads to traffic leads which leads to sales is the main reason for why it is mutually beneficial usually. You stop in a place you usually wouldn't bother with just for the restroom and start to be familiar with it and remember it. Take another extreme - allowing people in only if they will definitely buy something in the store. It reduces shoplifting and traffic that doesn't buy anything! Except that would drastically reduce sales from lack of people who haven't already decided in addition to being put off by it. The "buy something" policies strike me as similarly pennywise and pound foolish.
      - lotsofpulp 8y ago
        It depends on your clientele. If you're in an area where everyone is well behaved, then you might be right. If you're in a place with tons of mentally disabled folk or other type of people that don't respect public areas, then it's going to cost you more than it helps you. Also, it could be more headache than its worth if you're at a big tourist spot where the probability of someone buying something is not high enough compared to the enormous amount of people who will want to use a bathroom.
chrisseaton 8y ago
Where are there free public toilets in the US? I've never seen any. For example this article talks about the situation in the New York. Where there are... 20 public toilets. And they're owned... by the French. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/18/nyregion/with-few-public-toilets-new-york-has-no-place-to-go-if-you-have-to-go.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/18/nyregion/with-few-public-... This article recommends people go begging to hotels because there are so few public toilets. https://www.thrillist.com/lifestyle/new-york/best-public-restrooms-nyc https://www.thrillist.com/lifestyle/new-york/best-public-res... But I've never been asked to pay to use a bathroom in Europe.
- Merad 8y ago
  Gas stations, fast food restaurants and large chain stores (Walmart, grocery stores, etc.) are all effectively free public toilets, at least in the regions where I've lived. I imagine they legally have the right to limit access to customers, but I can't remember ever seeing it done in practice.
  - chrisseaton 8y ago
    I thought we were talking about public toilets, as in run by the city. Otherwise what's this discussion about? Do people think restaurants and shops in Europe don't have toilets as well?
    - mbostleman 8y ago
      Same here. It's interesting how that distinction is often non existent.
    - gscott 8y ago
      In San Diego at least public toilets get used by the homeless and drug users so voters asked for them to be removed. Then the homeless migrate to using fast food toilets, now they are getting keypads, keyed-locks, tokens, or worse having the code on the receipt so you have to buy something first even if you need to really use the restroom first. Frustrating since I am diabetic and use the restroom a lot.
dysfunction 8y ago
I too hate the idea of paid toilets in public buildings like train stations in Europe, but dense, non-car-focused cities in the US like NYC or San Francisco also have public restrooms few and far between. Most fast-food places require you to make a purchase to use them. Starbucks did recently drop this policy, the tradeoff being that their restroom now have even longer lines and tend to be nastier.
aclelland 8y ago
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45009337 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45009337 A timely piece from the BBC about the reduction in toilet provision in the UK over the last few years. The tldr is that public spending on toilets is discretionary and councils have cut spending there since it's an easy target when needing to cut their budgets.
mbostleman 8y ago
Yea, I noticed this same thing (the fee for public toilets) on a trip to Bolivia earlier this year. It seems the same as government agencies that split out the cost of their downstream credit card processing fees and optionally add them to the price of their product (like paying your water bill for instance). So rather than doing the most efficient thing by enabling online processing building in the transaction cost, the consumers are all incentivized to stick with paper checks and the water department carries on assuming that managing the incoming paper checks have no associated processing cost because the cost is internal and they don't have a third party charging them. This seems to be more common in the public sector. It happens in the private sector but, in my experience, when it does it is with small mom and pop companies that are similarly incapable of seeing the big picture.
Grue3 8y ago
It depends on the country. France has extensive coverage of free toilets. Like the article says they have the "self-cleaning" toilets (they're actually very disgusting), many public parks have staffed(!) free toilets and so on. On the other hand in Netherlands you'd be lucky to find a free toilet even in food establishments.

cpursley 8y ago

Start up idea: Free app controlled urinals that play curated digital advertisements in front of you while you pee.

yoz-y 8y ago
In China I have already seen toilets where each individual urinal/stall had its own small tablet showing ads. Might be viable.
iagooar 8y ago
Would you, as a company, like people to associate your brand with dark, smelly & dirty places?
- donkeyd 8y ago
  That was pretty much my teacher's reaction when I pitched 'free toilet paper for students by printing ads on them', in business school.
- nielsbot 8y ago
  Depends on what you're selling...
- nsxwolf 8y ago
  People buy ad space above urinals all the time.
- yellowapple 8y ago
  Might be perfect if you sell cleaning supplies.
cirgue 8y ago
I don't want to live in a society where that idea would succeed.
onetimemanytime 8y ago
Peeoogle...ads based on your instant urine analysis.
antisthenes 8y ago
Don't forget the camera to track your eye movement to see how effective the advertisement is!

diggan 8y ago

Some places do have free toilets everywhere but still people pee outside on the street. Barceloneta in Barcelona comes to mind as one of the the places like that.

yoz-y 8y ago

There are free toilets in paris already, but they are few and far in between. Also their automatic cleaning cycle is very long. The most ridiculous is that the toilets are paid in the train stations though.

strict9 8y ago

Where is this in the US? McDonalds? Those don't exist except interstate highways.

hijinks 8y ago
You can walk into almost any place where you get food in the US to use a toilet. Last time I was in EU was 10 years ago but tried to use a toilet in a bar and got yelled at unless I bought something first.
- raitom 8y ago
  Which is 100% normal. What entitle you to use the toilet for free? Someone will eventually have to clean after you and it costs money. Even in the US you cannot just walk into every bars and restaurants and use their toilets for free...
  - Nasrudith 8y ago
    Exposure leads to traffic leads which leads to sales is the main reason for why it is mutually beneficial usually. You stop in a place you usually wouldn't bother with just for the restroom and start to be familiar with it and remember it. Take another extreme - allowing people in only if they will definitely buy something in the store. It reduces shoplifting and traffic that doesn't buy anything! Except that would drastically reduce sales from lack of people who haven't already decided in addition to being put off by it. The "buy something" policies strike me as similarly pennywise and pound foolish.
    - lotsofpulp 8y ago
      It depends on your clientele. If you're in an area where everyone is well behaved, then you might be right. If you're in a place with tons of mentally disabled folk or other type of people that don't respect public areas, then it's going to cost you more than it helps you. Also, it could be more headache than its worth if you're at a big tourist spot where the probability of someone buying something is not high enough compared to the enormous amount of people who will want to use a bathroom.

chrisseaton 8y ago

Where are there free public toilets in the US? I've never seen any. For example this article talks about the situation in the New York. Where there are... 20 public toilets. And they're owned... by the French. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/18/nyregion/with-few-public-toilets-new-york-has-no-place-to-go-if-you-have-to-go.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/18/nyregion/with-few-public-... This article recommends people go begging to hotels because there are so few public toilets. https://www.thrillist.com/lifestyle/new-york/best-public-restrooms-nyc https://www.thrillist.com/lifestyle/new-york/best-public-res... But I've never been asked to pay to use a bathroom in Europe.

Merad 8y ago
Gas stations, fast food restaurants and large chain stores (Walmart, grocery stores, etc.) are all effectively free public toilets, at least in the regions where I've lived. I imagine they legally have the right to limit access to customers, but I can't remember ever seeing it done in practice.
- chrisseaton 8y ago
  I thought we were talking about public toilets, as in run by the city. Otherwise what's this discussion about? Do people think restaurants and shops in Europe don't have toilets as well?
  - mbostleman 8y ago
    Same here. It's interesting how that distinction is often non existent.
  - gscott 8y ago
    In San Diego at least public toilets get used by the homeless and drug users so voters asked for them to be removed. Then the homeless migrate to using fast food toilets, now they are getting keypads, keyed-locks, tokens, or worse having the code on the receipt so you have to buy something first even if you need to really use the restroom first. Frustrating since I am diabetic and use the restroom a lot.

dysfunction 8y ago

I too hate the idea of paid toilets in public buildings like train stations in Europe, but dense, non-car-focused cities in the US like NYC or San Francisco also have public restrooms few and far between. Most fast-food places require you to make a purchase to use them. Starbucks did recently drop this policy, the tradeoff being that their restroom now have even longer lines and tend to be nastier.

aclelland 8y ago

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45009337 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45009337 A timely piece from the BBC about the reduction in toilet provision in the UK over the last few years. The tldr is that public spending on toilets is discretionary and councils have cut spending there since it's an easy target when needing to cut their budgets.

mbostleman 8y ago

Yea, I noticed this same thing (the fee for public toilets) on a trip to Bolivia earlier this year. It seems the same as government agencies that split out the cost of their downstream credit card processing fees and optionally add them to the price of their product (like paying your water bill for instance). So rather than doing the most efficient thing by enabling online processing building in the transaction cost, the consumers are all incentivized to stick with paper checks and the water department carries on assuming that managing the incoming paper checks have no associated processing cost because the cost is internal and they don't have a third party charging them. This seems to be more common in the public sector. It happens in the private sector but, in my experience, when it does it is with small mom and pop companies that are similarly incapable of seeing the big picture.

Grue3 8y ago

It depends on the country. France has extensive coverage of free toilets. Like the article says they have the "self-cleaning" toilets (they're actually very disgusting), many public parks have staffed(!) free toilets and so on. On the other hand in Netherlands you'd be lucky to find a free toilet even in food establishments.