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I won't do your homework for you but there's people that have done the work of reporting out the numbers it takes to operate a clean government bathroom. It's n
by mrngld 1mo ago
I won't do your homework for you but there's people that have done the work of reporting out the numbers it takes to operate a clean government bathroom. It's not just "reasonable wage" territory. It's "civilization can't afford this" level expensive, the type of problem you can't throw money at because it's so bad it's obvious that the real problem and solution exists elsewhere.
And it's only in the West that public restrooms are that expensive. Japans are less expensive because the locals use them like civilized people and they don't have enormous on-going cleaning and repair costs.
So, the problem isn't in paying the cleaners. It's upstream. No pun intended.
- mym1990 1mo agoI don’t disagree that the problem is difficult and has various surface areas to address, but everyone can’t blame the drug users when even putting up the stall costs north of $500,000. That’s just governmental bureaucracy at play. Additionally, not all areas of the country are infested with the “homeless and drug addicts”. People can spin that all they like but areas where people take care of their local services are plentiful. Lastly, don’t talk to me about prohibitive pricing in government initiates. When we stop spending hundreds of billions bombing other countries, then come talk about things being too expensive. Nice condescending comment about the homework though, you must have been pleased with that one.
- CWuestefeld 1mo agoWhy is it so infeasible for government to keep their facilities clean, while Buc-ee's can have sparkling clean facilities and still turn a profit?
- lotsofpulp 1mo agoInfeasible for a government would mean it is sufficiently expensive that it is not politically popular to spend that much money on public bathrooms. Also, Buc-ees does not offer free bathrooms in urban, dense areas with higher proportions of mentally ill and drug addicted populations, so that comparison makes no sense.
- CWuestefeld 1mo agoI used Buc-ee's as an example because they're famous for their clean bathrooms. But there certainly exist clean bathrooms in urban areas. I'd venture to say that those aren't all in high-end establishments that exclude any "riff-raff". It's possible to find clean toilets in urban McDonald's or Wal-Mart; maybe not all of them, but certainly not none either. And regarding expense on public bathrooms: * San Francisco spent $1.7M on a single toilet * Seattle spend $5 installing 5 toilets. * NYC's public restrooms routinely cost $2M-$4M Now, those are building projects rather than ongoing operations. But it shows that governments are willing to spend absurd amounts on toilets. I don't know exactly what the problem is, but there's something about government (mis)management in the issue.
- lotsofpulp 1mo agoThe problem is a small minority ruining the commons. https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2026/08/vandals-set-fires-in-several-oregon-state-park-restrooms-along-coast.html https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2026/08/vandals-set-fires-i...
- CWuestefeld 1mo agoSure, but why is it that government-run institutions are (we're being told in this thread) uniquely vulnerable to the problem? Why isn't it happening at Buc-ee's or at McDonald's in the same degree?
- lotsofpulp 1mo agoThose places are staffed or closed between 10pm and 7am, dissuading vandals: >The vandalism happened between about 10 p.m. on Aug. 21 and 7 a.m. the following day, according to officials. But also, the lack of desire to spend money on staffing government restrooms in the first place.