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Downstream of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_to_End_Pay_Toilets_in_America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_to_End_Pay_Toilets_i...

tomjakubowski 2mo ago
Fascinating stuff. And what a logo. > Starting a national crusade to cast away coin-operated commodes, Gessel told newsmen, "You can have a fifty-dollar bill, but if you don't have a dime, that metal box is between you and relief." I'm sympathetic to this argument. Carrying around loose change with US-style billfold wallets has never been convenient, and back in the day you'd often find yourself without change for a bus fare or a pay phone and so on in a critical moment. Today, though, almost everyone carries either a contactless credit card or a phone with an NFC wallet. I would pay $0.25 for access to a clean public toilet if I could swipe one of those instead of having to carry change. LA Metro has these restroom facilities at their rail stations, which are free for a 10 minute visit but require an access code on your phone or a standalone entry pass. I've never used one, but heard great things. https://thronelabs.co/ https://thronelabs.co/
- ipdashc 2mo ago
  > Today, though, almost everyone carries either a contactless credit card or a phone with an NFC wallet. I would pay $0.25 for access to a clean public toilet if I could swipe one of those instead of having to carry change. This is one of those things that gets ruined by credit card transaction fees though, right? It is kinda depressing that after all these fintech companies and society's ~decade long scam-filled obsession with cryptocurrency, we still don't really have a good solution for microtransactions. Credit card companies still take that fixed fee everywhere, right?
  - lotsofpulp 2mo ago
    It gets ruined by the government choosing to not operate an electronic money transfer system as infrastructure similar to cash.
    - mp2 2mo ago
      >operate an electronic money transfer system as infrastructure similar to cash. if the government were smart they'd pass a law to do this, makes it much easier to get rid of cash
  - streptomycin 2mo ago
    Not ruined, just diminished. If too much of the $0.25 is taken by fees, then make it $0.50, or $1, or whatever. In many places, there'd be plenty of business still.
- warkdarrior 2mo ago
  > Today, though, almost everyone carries either a contactless credit card or a phone with an NFC wallet. I would pay $0.25 for access to a clean public toilet if I could swipe one of those instead of having to carry change. Nowadays it'd be $5.25 per use, plus tip (22% or more).
baggy_trough 2mo ago
Another example of completely counterproductive interference in the free market, this time eliminating public toilets more or less entirely because you can't make money from them and the state is too incompetent to provide them.
Marha01 2mo ago
> While CEPTIA's campaign was successful in largely eliminating pay toilets in the United States, critics charge that the result was not a flourishing of free public toilets, but rather fewer public toilets of any sort than in other countries that did not see a movement against pay toilets. Road to hell is paved with good intentions.

tomjakubowski 2mo ago

Fascinating stuff. And what a logo. > Starting a national crusade to cast away coin-operated commodes, Gessel told newsmen, "You can have a fifty-dollar bill, but if you don't have a dime, that metal box is between you and relief." I'm sympathetic to this argument. Carrying around loose change with US-style billfold wallets has never been convenient, and back in the day you'd often find yourself without change for a bus fare or a pay phone and so on in a critical moment. Today, though, almost everyone carries either a contactless credit card or a phone with an NFC wallet. I would pay $0.25 for access to a clean public toilet if I could swipe one of those instead of having to carry change. LA Metro has these restroom facilities at their rail stations, which are free for a 10 minute visit but require an access code on your phone or a standalone entry pass. I've never used one, but heard great things. https://thronelabs.co/ https://thronelabs.co/

ipdashc 2mo ago
> Today, though, almost everyone carries either a contactless credit card or a phone with an NFC wallet. I would pay $0.25 for access to a clean public toilet if I could swipe one of those instead of having to carry change. This is one of those things that gets ruined by credit card transaction fees though, right? It is kinda depressing that after all these fintech companies and society's ~decade long scam-filled obsession with cryptocurrency, we still don't really have a good solution for microtransactions. Credit card companies still take that fixed fee everywhere, right?
- lotsofpulp 2mo ago
  It gets ruined by the government choosing to not operate an electronic money transfer system as infrastructure similar to cash.
  - mp2 2mo ago
    >operate an electronic money transfer system as infrastructure similar to cash. if the government were smart they'd pass a law to do this, makes it much easier to get rid of cash
- streptomycin 2mo ago
  Not ruined, just diminished. If too much of the $0.25 is taken by fees, then make it $0.50, or $1, or whatever. In many places, there'd be plenty of business still.
warkdarrior 2mo ago
> Today, though, almost everyone carries either a contactless credit card or a phone with an NFC wallet. I would pay $0.25 for access to a clean public toilet if I could swipe one of those instead of having to carry change. Nowadays it'd be $5.25 per use, plus tip (22% or more).

baggy_trough 2mo ago

Another example of completely counterproductive interference in the free market, this time eliminating public toilets more or less entirely because you can't make money from them and the state is too incompetent to provide them.

Marha01 2mo ago

> While CEPTIA's campaign was successful in largely eliminating pay toilets in the United States, critics charge that the result was not a flourishing of free public toilets, but rather fewer public toilets of any sort than in other countries that did not see a movement against pay toilets. Road to hell is paved with good intentions.