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Re:Public toilets are vanishing and that's a civic catastrophe by citizenkeen on Saturday July 20, 2024 @09:23AM (#41016309)
This is so disgusting. The idea of milking maximum profit from such a basic human function really highlights the way extreme capitalism trends toward evil.
Re:Public toilets are vanishing and that's a civic catastrophe by freedomben on Saturday July 20, 2024 @10:39AM (#41016800)
I agree very much in principle, but pragamatically (i.e. in the real world) this strikes me as utopian and impossible, at least until human nature changes.

Toilets are a scarce resource (economically speaking), and thus there must be some rationing method in place. If it's not monetary, it will be something else. In a perfect world there would be plentiful bathrooms and everyone would diligently clean up after themselves and take the trash out when full, so operating costs would be minimal (power and water bill and occassional maintenance). In the real world though, people don't do that, meaning you have to hire people to clean. Some people will also vandalize, which gets expensive in a hurry. Public (government-run) restrooms tend to be even worse because they aren't actively monitored, and for whatever reason people like to trash them.

Re:Public toilets are vanishing and that's a civic catastrophe by Arnt on Saturday July 20, 2024 @09:55AM (#41016531)
I know sometime who ran a gas station. They had to clean their toilet after every fifth customer on average. That's a real cost.

Explain what's evil, please.

Re:Public toilets are vanishing and that's a civic catastrophe by baggy_trough on Saturday July 20, 2024 @12:57PM (#41017859)
Evil is apparently when people who don't know what it costs to provide a service think they should get it for free.
Re:Public toilets are vanishing and that's a civic catastrophe by 01HNNWZ0MV43FF on Saturday July 20, 2024 @01:51PM (#41018270)
The idea that giving up all your privacy isn't worse than spending a dollar really highlights something
Re:Public toilets are vanishing and that's a civic catastrophe by jtsiskin on Saturday July 20, 2024 @02:03PM (#41018349)
Wait until you hear about the cost of food, shelter, and healthcare…
Re:Public toilets are vanishing and that's a civic catastrophe by TeaBrain on Saturday July 20, 2024 @04:28PM (#41019549)
It's a proposed alternative to having no option at all. Restrooms are too expensive to maintain and prone to misuse to justify maintaining free options, which is why public restrooms have become virtually non-existent in US cities, following the eradication of pay restrooms. It is a much more moral option than giving the public no option at all, other than to become a customer at a business in order to be granted access to the business's restrooms, which would typically be far more expensive.

In some places, like Phoenix, the situation is currently so bad that even paying customers cannot use the restroom in some smaller shops, due to the large homeless population. Having any option at all, whatever the cost, would be a far better alternative.

Re:Public toilets are vanishing and that's a civic catastrophe by Amezarak on Saturday July 20, 2024 @06:32PM (#41020624)
Maybe the "prone to misuse" bit is the problem, and we need to address the underlying issues there. In most of rural and suburban America, all public businesses have bathrooms freely available for the public (i.e., no asking for a key or whatever), and free, clean government-run public bathrooms exist in public spaces like parks or "downtown" areas. I see this slowly shifting, but obviously the problem is changing behaviors and not some feature of human nature.
Re:Public toilets are vanishing and that's a civic catastrophe by TeaBrain on Saturday July 20, 2024 @06:44PM (#41020703)
I agree that it is largely an urban issue, but it is a serious issue, which likely exists in large part due to the greater density of urban homeless populations and drug related crime. Solving these problems is arguably far less trivial than re-establishing pay restrooms in the urban US.
Re:Public toilets are vanishing and that's a civic catastrophe by refurb on Saturday July 20, 2024 @09:47PM (#41021743)
Should people be able to use the toilet in your home? I mean, it seem odd to deny someone access to your private property for a basic human function?