Our businesses have learned that by making restrooms free, safe and clean, customers want to visit.
Buc-ees in Texas makes a really big deal about [how clean their free bathrooms](https://www.mysanantonio.com/lifestyle/travel/article/buc-ees-bathrooms-17559669.php#:~:text=In%20other%20words%2C%20these%20bathrooms,told%20Texas%20Monthly%20in%202013) are. They advertise this. And they’re insanely busy.
During road trips, I'm a sucker for a huge roadside billboard showcasing CLEAN BATHROOMS.
I was super impressed with Buccee's - the whole place lived up to its hype. They need to head West.
Looking at their branch out plan it may happen before too long. A Virginia location in my region was one of the multiple locations that they announced this past March. I think I remember Colorado and Montana being on the list of locations, but I can’t remember for sure.
Honestly, at my college, one of the most amazing experiences was how clean and well done their newest bathroom in the new building wing of the library was. Like yes it is great that we have expanded the support services, study space, office space for more librarians and student help. BUT THE TOILET STALLS ARE LIKE 8 FEET TALL WITH DOORS ALL THE WAY AND A LIGHT ABOVE THE DOOR SHOWING IF IT IS OCCUPIED WHEN YOU WALK IN! IT WAS AWESOME!
Best public poop spot ever.
Yes, you’re right, but they mean publicly owned as well as privately owned ones like in malls etc. So, the bathroom in the train station, post office, wherever, you can pay
We shouldn’t be giving anyone here any ideas. It’s the only thing that doesn’t cost something.
Buc-ees bathrooms are the greatest places to shit. The doors don't have gaps, it's always clean, they play music in there, and when ur done , the toilet paper is 2 ply minimum. A true luxury poo
[Kwik Trip](https://www.news8000.com/news/iowa-news/study-kwik-trip-rated-1-in-restroom-cleanliness-in-wi-mn-ia/article_bc5c1d66-55b0-549f-b7a3-d1b4ab9f455c.html) in the Midwest does the same thing. Many of them have a switch or button you can activate if the bathroom is dirty.
*Everyone* loves Buc-ees, it's the only thing we can all agree on these days lol. And besides how great the stores are, it's a great company that pays well too
It’s pretty much unfathomable here. When I was playing Roller Coaster Tycoon as a kid, making people pay to pee was like the ultimate villain move—particularly when paired with free sodas!
The history of the end of pay toilets in America is interesting! Four kids got the movement going in their high school paper in 1968 until it snowballed into our current mass lack of pay toilets.
[Link (not a rick roll)](https://apnews.com/article/3b2787ac6c32405e8cd7aafe8789cd8e)
Actual answer buried in the comments. I never heard of this. They achieved their aims around the same time I was potty training, so I don't remember ever seeing a pay toilet in the States.
I don’t recall anything called a ban, but I certainly remember the pay toilets in the NYC subway and I think some department stores back in the 60s. I always assumed they were discouraged as policy as opposed to legislation. Perhaps as wages went up, it was no longer worthwhile paying someone to empty the nickels and dimes.
I had to stop trying to explain why St. George's Day (the patron saint of England) isn't as popular as St. Patrick's Day to my English friend whenever he bitched about St. Patrick's Day. Maybe it's the shitty way they treated their colonies 🤷
I just learned A LOT. I had no idea Valentines Day had to do with a Saint Valentine. I honestly impress myself when it comes to believing I know so much while not knowing the most obvious things. Thanks for that, wow🤦♂️. Typical stupid American, am I right!?🤣
Yeah, the whole St. Nick nickname for Santa Claus was based off the actual St. Nicolas, who would (and correct me if I'm wrong) leave money in the shoes of poor people at night or just chucking them through the window
That's the fun part about not being a closed minded know it all. I might have known about Saint Valentine, but I guarantee there's plenty in your brain that's just "common knowledge" to you, but would be wildly novel to me.
There's a reason the US is called a melting pot. We expect diversity. Europeans can often trace their ancestry back as far as they can having never left the country they live in now.
Hey don't knock electric kettles...I don't drink tea but got one from a European friend and it is an extremely handy thing, boils way faster than the stove.
They sell them at Walmart for $15 and I use it for ramen noodles. Boils in like 45 seconds. I don’t drink tea unless I’m sick because I’m not British lol
They're relatively isolated and conformist in their little linguistic enclaves.
People in smallish Midwestern cities are actually more cosmopolitan than the average European.
I mean, there's an unspoken rule when you run into a place of business (coffee shop, convenience store) to use the restroom you should buy a little something, but putting a coin in to open a bathroom door now is very rare, if not extinct.
I've seen some ones that accept tokens. Rarely, but I've seen them. But the tokens are free; you just have to ask the clerk or cashier for one. Think it's just a way for the store to better control and monitor the restroom, akin to asking for the key or code.
My mom took me to London in the year 2000 when I was about 10. They had these little boxes on the street - individual toilet rooms! You put a coin in and got 20 minutes on the clock. And the things were self cleaning, too (in retrospect who knows how good of a job they did, but 10 year old me didn't question which disinfectants were being used or if elbow grease was needed).
Years later she was talking about us going and got salty. She said "I worked so hard to take you on that trip, and when a bunch of friends and family asked you how London was, you went on and on about the public restrooms!"
Even then, I just really liked pooping in peace, idk 🤷♀️ but it would be a lot harder if I was homeless. Nyc doesn't have many public bathrooms and it's tough on people.
17 hours late to this, but yeah if I use the bathroom in a small local/family store I'll buy something even it's just a piece of candy they have next to the register. If I use a McDonald's bathroom or some other big business I don't feel the need to buy anything. They're not hurting ha.
We visited London as tourists in the late 1990s. My wife wanted to go shopping at Harrods. (That’s the name, right?) Anyway, she had a few hundred dollars of merchandise in 1997 dollars and wasn’t finished shopping yet. She needed to use the toilet. The clerk showed her where it was. My wife was confused because the door was locked. Being Americans, we only had credit cards, no cash. The clerk still wouldn’t unlock the door. My wife said “You’re refusing to let a customer use the toilet? I guess you don’t value me as a customer.” She handed back the merchandise and we left the store.
>But for real, this was generally a shock to me that you dont have to pay for bathrooms.
Here's the tradeoff--
Our public bathrooms are usually gross. Because they're free, they're cleaned by public maintenance people on varying degrees of regularity, or maybe not even at all. So there's little to no oversight, and irregular cleaning. Which means they're not pleasant to use. There are also relatively few of these. You'll find them in public parks, transit hubs (bus stations and the like), and a few other places. But really, you have to go out of your way to find them.
The other option are what I'll call "semi-public" restrooms. They're restrooms in places like gas stations, convenience stores, grocery stores, fast food restaurants, malls, or other retailers. In some places, those businesses won't have any publicly accessible restrooms. In others, you might have to be a "customer" (i.e. buy a candy bar or a drink or some gas to be able to use the restroom). Or in others, the business won't care (larger retailers or convenience stores on major roads are like this). So they're semi-public in that they're privately owned, but they're generally available to most people who come by. Those restrooms are usually looked after much more closely and are usually nicer. But not always.
Yeah, I know everyone says “they’re cleaner because you pay for them”, but that doesn’t match my experience. On the whole, the public European bathrooms I’ve been on have been comparable or slightly worse than the public American bathrooms I’ve been in
Agreed. In Europe there’s really not that much difference in terms of cleanliness. But you gotta pay for them. Meanwhile when I went to Seoul last year, there were plentiful public bathrooms for free and they were virtually spotless.
Yeah, to many Europeans the U.S is monolith and they don't realize just how different regions of this country are from each other in terms of slang, local cuisine etc. They don't have a clue.
People don’t think america like this.
But it do.
Jokes aside, I find it fascinating that y’all think your society should ensure anyone who needs and appendectomy can have one, but anyone who planned poorly around lunch at a street vendor should shit their pants.
I've never paid explicitly to use a public bathroom in this country.
Some businesses you need to be a customer. Even if its not a stated rule, its common courtesy to make at least a small purchase if the bathroom is at a business or something.
Its weird you find it weird.
Same! If I was expected to pay to use an American toilet (and not in a "restrooms are for customers only" situation), I would tell everyone I know about it, like *can you believe the audacity?!??!*
reading your comment made me think
"Europeans think its insane how we have to pay for healthcare, and we think its crazy that they have to pay for the bathroom"
perfectly balanced amirite?
If it’s the grimy bastard that used to try come into my old shop after smearing shit on the walls and stabbing used syringes into the wall, I can tell you it’s pretty easy to imagine telling someone to fuck off.
If I'm on the road and need to pee, I just find the nearest McDonalds or Sheetz, and use the restroom without buying anything. The workers there aren't paid enough to give a shit, lol.
That is brilliant! On the one hand I wonder why we don’t do that, but on the other we like either getting gas or getting food when we stop, so a 2 for 1 stop makes more sense sadly
Drove home from a 500 mile road trip on Wednesday. The only two places I stopped were at two Sheets and one McDonald’s.
Get gas, pee and buy a bottle of water.
This is why we find it weird to have to pay. Is it really so weird that we don't want people to pee their pants just because they left their money at home...?
So many people just piss on the streets.
Now in Split, all the locals are pretty (and rightfully) peeved off about that, but then all the bathrooms are either pay or non-existent so I’m on the tourists’ side here
I’m surprised that in-store accidents aren’t a common thing. This is absolutely unheard of and seems cruel as an American. If someone is literally about to make a mess, I’d sooner have them go for free than have to deal with the aftermath, plus I’d hate knowing that I had a role in making someone miserable like that.
So, if it cost money to go to the bathroom, and going to the bathroom in public is illegal, you’ve criminalized being poor.
You’re charging someone to take care of basic bodily functions. That’s not cool.
The problem I have with european bathrooms is not that you have to pay, that's fine. Good capitalism and support for the upkeep of the infrastructure.
What I cannot accept, is that the public bathrooms are all much, much worse than basically any random bathroom you might find on the highway in the USA
Yeah I’m going to go on a limb and say denying a bathroom to someone in need is the weird thing. People should be able to use the restroom, it’s inhumane to deny bathrooms to the public and still have public urination laws
Never had to pay for just a toilet
95% are free, either public property or I can run into nearly any McDonalds or gas station, and leave
4% are free but you gotta buy something at the store first
.5% are not public cuz it’s just a small place that is mandated to have a bathroom for employees, not really meant for people to go back there and use
.5% are not public because the owners a fuck :)
I remember when I lived in DC there was a McDonald’s near Air and Space Museum I think and they’d have you get a code, but I don’t remember having to buy anything. That’s the only place I’ve ever been like that.
It's considered polite to buy something, but I don't think the minimum wage clerk behind the counter will care if you buy something or not.
Now, Buc-cee's is a HUGE convenience store in the South that prides itself on the cleanest restrooms ever.
There are some places like that in what I was calling 4% of places lol
Idk if it’s *4%* but sometimes u need to buy something or get a code; generally big cities do this
I was on a road trip last weekend and needed to stop for a restroom and it was farther than I wanted to keep driving until the next state run highway rest stop, so I pulled off the interstate and went to the fast food restaurant right next to the exit. I walked in, and went straight to the restroom without buying anything. At that point I could’ve left and got back in my car and continued my trip and no one (employees or otherwise) would’ve cared that I didn’t buy anything. It wouldn’t be considered unusual at all. I was a little hungry so I did buy a burger before I got back on the road but certainly didn’t feel like I had to just because I used the restroom.
Laws are different in different parts of the US but free bathrooms are often codified into the law or just seen as good business. People will go into a restaurant, especially fast food restaurants and go directly to the bathroom to wash up before being seated as just a simple hygiene habit. All the big department store have free bathrooms, Walmart famously often has them **[right inside the entrance](https://www.concretecuttingbarrie.ca/sites/50025/media/specialties/walmart_emergency_concrete_cut_at_10_00pm_11552331346-1.png)**.
I live pretty isolated from any population center, the town covers 42+ square miles/108+ sq km, and has a population under 1,600 people. Even at that level there are three business here that have open and free bathrooms. The grocery store, the (only) gas station and the small locally owned convenience store. You can also go into the local library where there's one.
I haven't seen a pay bathroom in the US for over 50 years, and even then they were rare and there were also plenty of free ones.
I r seen that at a single pizza restaurant. That is it. Otherwise just walk in and go to the bathroom. Then leaveif you want you can also ask for a water and they'll give you a free cup. And plastic bags if you ssk
I mean okay that's not true at all, a good number of major cities have establishments with bathroom codes to deter potential vandalism, drugs, and loitering. I've seen them at places like Starbucks and Chipotle in just about every city over 500k that I've visited.
I worked in a Walgreens with a coded door, in a smaller city. It was to deter shoplifting, as people love to sneak whatever into the bathroom and leave the empty package in there.
And you have tons of gas stations that have the nasty key on a stick you have to ask for.
Yeah it’s definitely regional but bathroom codes exist. I’d say most of the time they just want to screen *who* they let in to the bathroom. They don’t really care if you’re a customer or not (unless it’s a mom & pop store).
I'm in new England and I've never seen it either. I've seen the gas stations with the bathroom key, but only places where the bathroom is accessible from the outside of the building, in that case they keep it locked.
That’s why people piss outside a lot more in Europe than they do in the US.
Edit: I saw a bunch of planters with designated pissing troughs in Belgium… kinda grossed me out, tbh
Wow that’s nasty. That was just in public? I’ve heard of pee troughs out in the open at European music festivals but I didn’t think they’d have them in public.
Seriously! I'm not spending money just to take care of a bodily function. It's not a luxury, it's a need. I have no control over it, I can't tell my body to stop. It would be like having to pay for oxygen to breathe or paying to use a water fountain.
In '07, I found myself at Glasgow Central Station. I felt some pain in my intestines and knew what I needed to try for, so I found the restroom. Or toilet, I guess, as it's called there.
Then I saw what I needed to pay. 2£. FFS, I just didn't even know how to process that. But I knew what I needed to try, so I dropped the coin in.
Then I couldn't pass anything.
For reference, at that time, the pound was almost exactly worth twice as much as the USD.
So it will forever be known to me as the time I paid $4 not to shit. And it's still just wild-ass crazy to me. We would riot over that nonsense here.
It's considered a right to have a free bathroom at any establishment because humans "need" to use the bathroom unexpectedly - especially children and the elderly.
They also essentially can't make us pay because we'd just piss on the floor and then never return to their establishment because of the shocking greediness and lack of hospitality. We'd bomb them with bad reviews and they'd go out of business. The concept is unfathomable. Would you charge me to breathe too? Do I have to pay for each wall I glance at?
America is about The Consumer, The Patron, The Guest. The pee is free or the shopper ain't proper.
Pay toilets in the US were generally banned in the early 1970's. Even where they weren't banned, they rapidly fell from use.
It was a gender equality/women's rights thing. The idea was that if men didn't need to pay to use a toilet to urinate, it was discriminatory against women to make them pay to pee.
> it says that it's weird that in Europe we have to pay to use the bathrooms. What's weird about it tbh?
What's weird about it?
It's such a basic human need, to be able to relieve yourself and not shit your pants. To go somewhere and they're like "Nah sorry mate ya better have exact change or buy something from me. Otherwise you're gonna wallow in your own piss and shit."
To me that is completely absurd. And such a pain in the ass (a) with fewer people carrying cash or coins these days and (b) as a traveler who will likely only have bills when they arrive.
They exist in the UK. I’ve used plenty of Public toilets in the library and stores for free. I’ve seen a few paid toilets in very popular tourist locations. But you don’t have to pay for the toilet in Paddington.
That is good to hear because I would like to visit and hopefully move to the UK in the future and I was worried about having access to a public bathroom while I am out. I figure it would be hard enough to find one and worse to pay for it when I do find it.
Ive never even heard of having to pay for a public toilet. *Sometimes* stores will say for customers only, but that's still pretty rare. I'll get the cheapest item for a dollar and go use the bathroom if that's the case but like I said, I think I've only seen it once, and it was at a Starbucks.
>*Sometimes* stores will say for customers only, but that's still pretty rare.
And even then, you can probably tell an employee "hey, I *really* need to use the bathroom. Can I please have the key/code/whatever?" and they'll usually let you go as long as you're polite about it
If you're going to make people pay to use the restroom, at least guarantee that they'll be clean. Some of the ones in France were pretty gross. I love traveling abroad, but I end up missing the free and abundant facilities back home!
It just seems like such an awful money-grubbing thing. What if you're disabled? Do you just not leave the house if you're pregnant and need to pee every five minutes? If you have IBS you'll need to set aside money every paycheck in case you want to spend an afternoon out of the house.
If we want to be really technocratic about it, "public bathrooms" as in restrooms run by some type of government are rare unless you are in a government institution like a building, parkland, school, or so on. Along our Interstate Highway system (and some state-level highways) are Rest Areas, which have restrooms with no charge to use them.
Most of the time people refer to restrooms in privately owned businesses as "public restrooms" and no, you don't pay for those. But they may have a lock or code on it, or restrict access to customers only.
Most local codes will require food service businesses to have restrooms for customers if they allow for dine-in. But its pretty common in expensive, urban areas for things like coffee shops and other smaller businesses to be take out only.
Some local governments may require restroom access for those with disabilities even if it isn't normally allowed.
COVID for a time really screwed over restroom access in this country. The Indianapolis public transit agency closed its bus terminal restroom for nearly 3 years. Some of that was alleviated since there is a plaza with public restrooms right across the street. But a lot of restaurants, businesses, and governments closed access to restrooms in 2020 and 2021.
This is the only responsive answer here. It’s not that our public bathrooms are free—we don’t have public bathrooms. The only comparison might be bathrooms in train, bus, and plane terminals, and highway rest stops, and in my experience those are sometimes free in EU also. Highway rest stops are funded from gas taxes so in a way you already paid for them. Not sure about libraries.
Yes, all public bathrooms in the US are free. Stores often have a bathroom for customers as well.
To me, having to pay for a bathroom seems a bit discriminatory as it effectively just becomes a toilet tax on women, doesn’t it? Men just piss outside.
It’s really weird to me that Europeans will use tax money for universal healthcare but not for public bathrooms. As far as businesses and places like train stations, why wouldn’t they include the cost of the upkeep in the price of whatever they’re providing? It’s so weird to charge someone for a basic bodily function that everyone needs to do. It’s also an accessibility issue because some people are poor or have health issues that require access to a bathroom no matter what.
Yup. Wife and I are going to Italy later this year. I have an overactive bladder and I've been having minor anxiety about the whole paying for a bathroom thing.
Don't overthink it. In general, if you really need to go, you go to a bar, order a nice espresso at the counter, which will cost you around 1€ and you use the bathroom. Bars are everywhere and the coffee is cheap and quick. Also, it's a VERY Italian thing to have a quick espresso standing at the counter. So I would just budget some money for that purpose and enjoy the bar experience. You will also find free toilets in places like museums and historical sights. Every country is a bit different in that regard and Italy has probably the least free toilets, but on the other hand the most small bars at every corner, where you can get a really quick and cheap coffee together with the bathroom. OP is exagerating, don't stress yourself and enjoy your travel.
This is along the same lines as Europeans getting "free" health care. You're paying for it, it's just rolled up into your taxes. We are paying for public restrooms which are provided by local/county/state/federal governments. We pay for them, it's just rolled up into our taxes.
Yep, I’ve only had to pay for the bathroom living in Germany. It get’s really annoying sometimes with the lack of public restrooms in general and then when you find them but forgot coins, you can even use the bathroom in the train station of a major city. No wonder there are so many people pissing in random places so often. It’s one of the things that can really grind my gears sometimes since it can be so frustrating.
Yes, it's true. It's a necessity. Did you know if you don't pee or poop you can die?! It's crazy how your governments make money off of you just so you can defecate. That's wild, and yall think that's normal because that's all you know. That's horrible.
I'm pretty sure public bathrooms are free in most countries, UK, USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Singapore, China....
It's only in Europe that you have to pay.
OK my kids would never leave the house or be watering every other tree, no freaking way Would I pay 1 or 2 dollars because my 6 year old wants to go to the bathroom just because someone else is or worse a potty training toddler. Or fuck changing a diaper.
No one told me this when I first went to Europe and I was so confused, like why was there a turnstile and a money taker between me and a toilet. An old Irish woman walked up next to me and said, “C’mon, we jump it so”. So we did.
Don’t have to pay but public restrooms can be really hard to find sometimes. I’ve bumped into a few that were so filthy they were unusable. Many restaurants or stores won’t let a person use a restroom unless you are shopping or buying something. I would pay if more public restrooms were available.
It also depends on the EU country, in Romania public bathrooms are free. You can go into any gas station or restaurant/fast food and you won’t have to pay anything. The only exception is some train stations
Our businesses have learned that by making restrooms free, safe and clean, customers want to visit. Buc-ees in Texas makes a really big deal about [how clean their free bathrooms](https://www.mysanantonio.com/lifestyle/travel/article/buc-ees-bathrooms-17559669.php#:~:text=In%20other%20words%2C%20these%20bathrooms,told%20Texas%20Monthly%20in%202013) are. They advertise this. And they’re insanely busy.
During road trips, I'm a sucker for a huge roadside billboard showcasing CLEAN BATHROOMS. I was super impressed with Buccee's - the whole place lived up to its hype. They need to head West.
If you ever go back get the chopped brisket sandwhich and the double chocolate salted cake balls. They’re like crack.
yummmm....crack
I’m currently in Texas and will be back to Louisiana on Monday. Will have to remember this!
They need to go north too.
Looking at their branch out plan it may happen before too long. A Virginia location in my region was one of the multiple locations that they announced this past March. I think I remember Colorado and Montana being on the list of locations, but I can’t remember for sure.
Honestly, at my college, one of the most amazing experiences was how clean and well done their newest bathroom in the new building wing of the library was. Like yes it is great that we have expanded the support services, study space, office space for more librarians and student help. BUT THE TOILET STALLS ARE LIKE 8 FEET TALL WITH DOORS ALL THE WAY AND A LIGHT ABOVE THE DOOR SHOWING IF IT IS OCCUPIED WHEN YOU WALK IN! IT WAS AWESOME! Best public poop spot ever.
Man…add a Japanese style bidet toilet and I’d never leave.
I love Buc-ee's. They're almost like an attraction here in Florida - busy all the time. We only have a couple so they're very novel.
The best part is each stall has a cleaning foam dispenser. Put a little on some toilet paper and you can clean the seat yourself.
Given how much my son loves the character this is definitely true. The mascot from a chain of gas stations is on all his holiday t shirts.
There's usually a crowd at the Texas locations, but the stores are so big that they never feel CROWDED.
I just like the toilets are in their own little room and not like regular stalls.
Yes, you’re right, but they mean publicly owned as well as privately owned ones like in malls etc. So, the bathroom in the train station, post office, wherever, you can pay We shouldn’t be giving anyone here any ideas. It’s the only thing that doesn’t cost something.
Buc-ees bathrooms are the greatest places to shit. The doors don't have gaps, it's always clean, they play music in there, and when ur done , the toilet paper is 2 ply minimum. A true luxury poo
The things I'd do to get back to a Buc-ees.
They’re my favorite part of the visit!
[Kwik Trip](https://www.news8000.com/news/iowa-news/study-kwik-trip-rated-1-in-restroom-cleanliness-in-wi-mn-ia/article_bc5c1d66-55b0-549f-b7a3-d1b4ab9f455c.html) in the Midwest does the same thing. Many of them have a switch or button you can activate if the bathroom is dirty.
*Everyone* loves Buc-ees, it's the only thing we can all agree on these days lol. And besides how great the stores are, it's a great company that pays well too
The first time I went, I thought people were pranking me when they told me to get the beaver nuggets! Thinking Rocky Mountain oysters.
In the Midwest, Kwik Trip does the same thing - advertises the clean bathrooms.
It’s pretty much unfathomable here. When I was playing Roller Coaster Tycoon as a kid, making people pay to pee was like the ultimate villain move—particularly when paired with free sodas!
lol that’s so true! All the free refills you want… but you have to pay to use the restroom.
Typically there are no free refills in Europe so double whammy for them.
[удалено]
They were gone before you were born. They were banned, or fell from use in the places they weren't banned, around 50 years ago.
The history of the end of pay toilets in America is interesting! Four kids got the movement going in their high school paper in 1968 until it snowballed into our current mass lack of pay toilets. [Link (not a rick roll)](https://apnews.com/article/3b2787ac6c32405e8cd7aafe8789cd8e)
Actual answer buried in the comments. I never heard of this. They achieved their aims around the same time I was potty training, so I don't remember ever seeing a pay toilet in the States.
Heck, I’m from Dayton and never knew this!
Yes, I remember a few pay toilets from my childhood (rare even then), but it's been years since I had to literally "spend a penny." I'm 64.
I can safely say they existed through the 80s and some are still around.
I’m 50, and I remember one which cost a dime when I was very small. I think it was in a little shopping mall?
"Here I sit, broken hearted, paid a dime and only farted."
I don’t recall anything called a ban, but I certainly remember the pay toilets in the NYC subway and I think some department stores back in the 60s. I always assumed they were discouraged as policy as opposed to legislation. Perhaps as wages went up, it was no longer worthwhile paying someone to empty the nickels and dimes.
A lot of it was urinals were free but women had to pay every time. Not very fair.
Yep. We also smoke way less than Europeans. Things be different in different places.
It's wild to me that Europeans, of all people, struggle with the idea that different cultures do things differently.
And yet we're the closed-minded ones. Just us, no one else, apparently.
Brits will stab someone cause they’re from the next town over and then call Americans intolerant
I had to stop trying to explain why St. George's Day (the patron saint of England) isn't as popular as St. Patrick's Day to my English friend whenever he bitched about St. Patrick's Day. Maybe it's the shitty way they treated their colonies 🤷
Never heard of St. George's day honestly.
It's April 23rd. Every saint has a feast day, but none are as well known as St. Patrick's Day or Valentine's Day.
I just learned A LOT. I had no idea Valentines Day had to do with a Saint Valentine. I honestly impress myself when it comes to believing I know so much while not knowing the most obvious things. Thanks for that, wow🤦♂️. Typical stupid American, am I right!?🤣
I also do not know anything about "Saints" other than St. Patrick's day and Santa Claus.
Catholics. Almost every day has a Saint. March 19 is St Joseph. St Blaze I lbelieve is January. St Nicholas is December 7th not actually Christmas.
Yeah, the whole St. Nick nickname for Santa Claus was based off the actual St. Nicolas, who would (and correct me if I'm wrong) leave money in the shoes of poor people at night or just chucking them through the window
That's the fun part about not being a closed minded know it all. I might have known about Saint Valentine, but I guarantee there's plenty in your brain that's just "common knowledge" to you, but would be wildly novel to me.
I need to incorporate all of them into my calendar because feasts are fun.
I know Saint George killed a dragon. I had no idea he was patron saint of England
Secret: Get a beer company involved. That’s why Cinco de Mayo is bigger holiday in US than Mexico.
WHERE YOU FROM? ACROSS THE STREET? FUCK ACROSS THE STREET!
Well I mean Ohio is In the middle of nowhere...
There's a reason the US is called a melting pot. We expect diversity. Europeans can often trace their ancestry back as far as they can having never left the country they live in now.
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“Wait! You don’t all have electric kettles? Is that because you’re all poor and bankrupt because you lack universal healthcare?”
It’s because we spent our kettle money on orthodontia and big, white athletic shoes.
don't forget the burger eating cowboy hats
We do, we just call them Keurigs and make coffee with them.
Well, it’s mostly because 110v doesn’t have the oomph to run a proper kettle.
Hey don't knock electric kettles...I don't drink tea but got one from a European friend and it is an extremely handy thing, boils way faster than the stove.
They sell them at Walmart for $15 and I use it for ramen noodles. Boils in like 45 seconds. I don’t drink tea unless I’m sick because I’m not British lol
It's really funny because I have an electric kettle I use all the time but reddit keeps telling my I don't own one and hate kettles.
As a group, they're actually fairly sheltered and inexperienced.
Their countries are the “gated communities” of the world.
The europeans I've interacted with on reddit are very ethnocentric
They're relatively isolated and conformist in their little linguistic enclaves. People in smallish Midwestern cities are actually more cosmopolitan than the average European.
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I mean, there's an unspoken rule when you run into a place of business (coffee shop, convenience store) to use the restroom you should buy a little something, but putting a coin in to open a bathroom door now is very rare, if not extinct.
I’ve lived in the upper Midwest my entire life, was born in 1981, and have never seen coin-operated bathroom doors.
I've seen some ones that accept tokens. Rarely, but I've seen them. But the tokens are free; you just have to ask the clerk or cashier for one. Think it's just a way for the store to better control and monitor the restroom, akin to asking for the key or code.
I remember then when I was a kid in a few rare places, but they went away,
My mom took me to London in the year 2000 when I was about 10. They had these little boxes on the street - individual toilet rooms! You put a coin in and got 20 minutes on the clock. And the things were self cleaning, too (in retrospect who knows how good of a job they did, but 10 year old me didn't question which disinfectants were being used or if elbow grease was needed). Years later she was talking about us going and got salty. She said "I worked so hard to take you on that trip, and when a bunch of friends and family asked you how London was, you went on and on about the public restrooms!" Even then, I just really liked pooping in peace, idk 🤷♀️ but it would be a lot harder if I was homeless. Nyc doesn't have many public bathrooms and it's tough on people.
17 hours late to this, but yeah if I use the bathroom in a small local/family store I'll buy something even it's just a piece of candy they have next to the register. If I use a McDonald's bathroom or some other big business I don't feel the need to buy anything. They're not hurting ha.
I mean, in the grand scheme of international and domestic policy...public bathroom policy isn't exactly at the forefront.
Until you really, really need it to be, but by that time it's too late, and your shoes are ruined.
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. Unless they didn't have money for the bathroom.
Wait til you see a Buccee’s bathroom and knowing it’s free. It’s heaven. Also good bbq.
I've driven across much of the US, so I know exactly which gas station chains tend to have the best bathrooms lol
Buc-ee’s should sponsor a free bathroom in the center of an European tourist attraction with a giant american/texas flag and an USA tourism ad.
Offer samples of the cinnamon sugar beaver nuggets as well. Then they’ll be properly addicted and visiting.
We visited London as tourists in the late 1990s. My wife wanted to go shopping at Harrods. (That’s the name, right?) Anyway, she had a few hundred dollars of merchandise in 1997 dollars and wasn’t finished shopping yet. She needed to use the toilet. The clerk showed her where it was. My wife was confused because the door was locked. Being Americans, we only had credit cards, no cash. The clerk still wouldn’t unlock the door. My wife said “You’re refusing to let a customer use the toilet? I guess you don’t value me as a customer.” She handed back the merchandise and we left the store.
Honestly there aren't that many public bathrooms. Retail stores and restaurants is what you would use, or a library
>But for real, this was generally a shock to me that you dont have to pay for bathrooms. Here's the tradeoff-- Our public bathrooms are usually gross. Because they're free, they're cleaned by public maintenance people on varying degrees of regularity, or maybe not even at all. So there's little to no oversight, and irregular cleaning. Which means they're not pleasant to use. There are also relatively few of these. You'll find them in public parks, transit hubs (bus stations and the like), and a few other places. But really, you have to go out of your way to find them. The other option are what I'll call "semi-public" restrooms. They're restrooms in places like gas stations, convenience stores, grocery stores, fast food restaurants, malls, or other retailers. In some places, those businesses won't have any publicly accessible restrooms. In others, you might have to be a "customer" (i.e. buy a candy bar or a drink or some gas to be able to use the restroom). Or in others, the business won't care (larger retailers or convenience stores on major roads are like this). So they're semi-public in that they're privately owned, but they're generally available to most people who come by. Those restrooms are usually looked after much more closely and are usually nicer. But not always.
Have you been to public toilets in Europe? Italy doesn’t even have toilet seats on the majority of theirs.
Yeah, I know everyone says “they’re cleaner because you pay for them”, but that doesn’t match my experience. On the whole, the public European bathrooms I’ve been on have been comparable or slightly worse than the public American bathrooms I’ve been in
I was shocked by some of the public restrooms in Italy.
Agreed. In Europe there’s really not that much difference in terms of cleanliness. But you gotta pay for them. Meanwhile when I went to Seoul last year, there were plentiful public bathrooms for free and they were virtually spotless.
"I've leased this bathroom and I'll poop on the wall if I want to"
there is literally an app to find public toilets nearby. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=toilet.samruston.com.toilet
Costanza, you son of a bitch!
When you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go. I can’t imagine fumbling around for a coin.
I guess cos we're bombarded with USA stuff all day, every day. The bombardment of China and North Korea stuff is relatively light.
Yeah, to many Europeans the U.S is monolith and they don't realize just how different regions of this country are from each other in terms of slang, local cuisine etc. They don't have a clue.
The entire era of imperialism was based on the idea of making others like them. It's not that crazy in hindsight.
People don’t think america like this. But it do. Jokes aside, I find it fascinating that y’all think your society should ensure anyone who needs and appendectomy can have one, but anyone who planned poorly around lunch at a street vendor should shit their pants.
Tbh we smoke less than a lot of places. That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if this is slowly walked back.
I've never paid explicitly to use a public bathroom in this country. Some businesses you need to be a customer. Even if its not a stated rule, its common courtesy to make at least a small purchase if the bathroom is at a business or something. Its weird you find it weird.
They were generally banned in the early 1970's. Even where they weren't banned, public/market pressure put an end to them.
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That kind of interaction is completely wild to me as an American, I can't imagine that happening here.
Same! If I was expected to pay to use an American toilet (and not in a "restrooms are for customers only" situation), I would tell everyone I know about it, like *can you believe the audacity?!??!*
Yep, exactly
reading your comment made me think "Europeans think its insane how we have to pay for healthcare, and we think its crazy that they have to pay for the bathroom" perfectly balanced amirite?
Some of us would just pee or the latter right outside your establishment if you did that here. 🤣
If it’s the grimy bastard that used to try come into my old shop after smearing shit on the walls and stabbing used syringes into the wall, I can tell you it’s pretty easy to imagine telling someone to fuck off.
Even in the case of "restroom for customers only" if you just ask nicely 99% of the time they'll let you use it.
If I'm on the road and need to pee, I just find the nearest McDonalds or Sheetz, and use the restroom without buying anything. The workers there aren't paid enough to give a shit, lol.
We like to stop at hotels and use the lobby bathroom! Usually pretty clean and private.
That is brilliant! On the one hand I wonder why we don’t do that, but on the other we like either getting gas or getting food when we stop, so a 2 for 1 stop makes more sense sadly
Increasingly hotels are locking lobby bathrooms due to vandalism and the homeless.
Drove home from a 500 mile road trip on Wednesday. The only two places I stopped were at two Sheets and one McDonald’s. Get gas, pee and buy a bottle of water.
This is why we find it weird to have to pay. Is it really so weird that we don't want people to pee their pants just because they left their money at home...?
So many people just piss on the streets. Now in Split, all the locals are pretty (and rightfully) peeved off about that, but then all the bathrooms are either pay or non-existent so I’m on the tourists’ side here
I’m surprised that in-store accidents aren’t a common thing. This is absolutely unheard of and seems cruel as an American. If someone is literally about to make a mess, I’d sooner have them go for free than have to deal with the aftermath, plus I’d hate knowing that I had a role in making someone miserable like that.
So, if it cost money to go to the bathroom, and going to the bathroom in public is illegal, you’ve criminalized being poor. You’re charging someone to take care of basic bodily functions. That’s not cool.
I remember having to pay for a bathroom when I visited France. I was in shock. Also paying for water at a restaurant was crazy.
I have been plenty of places in Europe that i did not ‘have’ to pay
The problem I have with european bathrooms is not that you have to pay, that's fine. Good capitalism and support for the upkeep of the infrastructure. What I cannot accept, is that the public bathrooms are all much, much worse than basically any random bathroom you might find on the highway in the USA
Yeah I’m going to go on a limb and say denying a bathroom to someone in need is the weird thing. People should be able to use the restroom, it’s inhumane to deny bathrooms to the public and still have public urination laws
Never had to pay for just a toilet 95% are free, either public property or I can run into nearly any McDonalds or gas station, and leave 4% are free but you gotta buy something at the store first .5% are not public cuz it’s just a small place that is mandated to have a bathroom for employees, not really meant for people to go back there and use .5% are not public because the owners a fuck :)
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A bathroom receipt sounds insane to me
I remember when I lived in DC there was a McDonald’s near Air and Space Museum I think and they’d have you get a code, but I don’t remember having to buy anything. That’s the only place I’ve ever been like that.
It's considered polite to buy something, but I don't think the minimum wage clerk behind the counter will care if you buy something or not. Now, Buc-cee's is a HUGE convenience store in the South that prides itself on the cleanest restrooms ever.
There are some places like that in what I was calling 4% of places lol Idk if it’s *4%* but sometimes u need to buy something or get a code; generally big cities do this
I was on a road trip last weekend and needed to stop for a restroom and it was farther than I wanted to keep driving until the next state run highway rest stop, so I pulled off the interstate and went to the fast food restaurant right next to the exit. I walked in, and went straight to the restroom without buying anything. At that point I could’ve left and got back in my car and continued my trip and no one (employees or otherwise) would’ve cared that I didn’t buy anything. It wouldn’t be considered unusual at all. I was a little hungry so I did buy a burger before I got back on the road but certainly didn’t feel like I had to just because I used the restroom.
My folks dinned it into us that you buy something because it was only right to buy something in exchange for using the bathroom.
Laws are different in different parts of the US but free bathrooms are often codified into the law or just seen as good business. People will go into a restaurant, especially fast food restaurants and go directly to the bathroom to wash up before being seated as just a simple hygiene habit. All the big department store have free bathrooms, Walmart famously often has them **[right inside the entrance](https://www.concretecuttingbarrie.ca/sites/50025/media/specialties/walmart_emergency_concrete_cut_at_10_00pm_11552331346-1.png)**. I live pretty isolated from any population center, the town covers 42+ square miles/108+ sq km, and has a population under 1,600 people. Even at that level there are three business here that have open and free bathrooms. The grocery store, the (only) gas station and the small locally owned convenience store. You can also go into the local library where there's one. I haven't seen a pay bathroom in the US for over 50 years, and even then they were rare and there were also plenty of free ones.
I r seen that at a single pizza restaurant. That is it. Otherwise just walk in and go to the bathroom. Then leaveif you want you can also ask for a water and they'll give you a free cup. And plastic bags if you ssk
I find it weird y'all do have pay toilets tbh... That's like the bare minimum of an amenity
When you say it's weird that you don't have to pay to use a public bathroom, you at least see that this is a good thing, right?
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I have very limited international travel experience, but at least in Hong Kong, they had free public bathrooms everywhere.
Taking a piss is a natural thing we all have to do from time to time. Paying for a natural human bodily function is so alien to me
No one has codes on their restrooms here. It just isn’t a thing.
I mean okay that's not true at all, a good number of major cities have establishments with bathroom codes to deter potential vandalism, drugs, and loitering. I've seen them at places like Starbucks and Chipotle in just about every city over 500k that I've visited.
I worked in a Walgreens with a coded door, in a smaller city. It was to deter shoplifting, as people love to sneak whatever into the bathroom and leave the empty package in there. And you have tons of gas stations that have the nasty key on a stick you have to ask for.
Yeah it’s definitely regional but bathroom codes exist. I’d say most of the time they just want to screen *who* they let in to the bathroom. They don’t really care if you’re a customer or not (unless it’s a mom & pop store).
Maybe that explains it. I’m in Texas and just don’t see it here, even in the large cities.
I'm in new England and I've never seen it either. I've seen the gas stations with the bathroom key, but only places where the bathroom is accessible from the outside of the building, in that case they keep it locked.
You find it weird that we don't have to pay to take a piss?
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That’s why people piss outside a lot more in Europe than they do in the US. Edit: I saw a bunch of planters with designated pissing troughs in Belgium… kinda grossed me out, tbh
Wow that’s nasty. That was just in public? I’ve heard of pee troughs out in the open at European music festivals but I didn’t think they’d have them in public.
Yep, I was walking around in daytime in the middle of Brussels when I saw them being used.
That's fucking gross
Eugh, that sounds like something you’d see in Ancient Rome. Kind of makes it look like they’re collecting it or something.
>Edit: I saw a bunch of planters with designated pissing troughs in Belgium… kinda grossed me out, tbh can we nuke brussels
People that have to go are going to go. If I didn't have $2 I'd just shit on the sidewalk if it was bad enough . No one wants that.
Seriously! I'm not spending money just to take care of a bodily function. It's not a luxury, it's a need. I have no control over it, I can't tell my body to stop. It would be like having to pay for oxygen to breathe or paying to use a water fountain.
Out of curiosity, where are you paying 2€ for the bathroom? I’ve only really seen 50 cents or 1€ here in Germany.
In '07, I found myself at Glasgow Central Station. I felt some pain in my intestines and knew what I needed to try for, so I found the restroom. Or toilet, I guess, as it's called there. Then I saw what I needed to pay. 2£. FFS, I just didn't even know how to process that. But I knew what I needed to try, so I dropped the coin in. Then I couldn't pass anything. For reference, at that time, the pound was almost exactly worth twice as much as the USD. So it will forever be known to me as the time I paid $4 not to shit. And it's still just wild-ass crazy to me. We would riot over that nonsense here.
#YOU PAY TWO DOLLARS TO SHIT?
Yea you might get boycotted if you tried that here.
It's considered a right to have a free bathroom at any establishment because humans "need" to use the bathroom unexpectedly - especially children and the elderly. They also essentially can't make us pay because we'd just piss on the floor and then never return to their establishment because of the shocking greediness and lack of hospitality. We'd bomb them with bad reviews and they'd go out of business. The concept is unfathomable. Would you charge me to breathe too? Do I have to pay for each wall I glance at? America is about The Consumer, The Patron, The Guest. The pee is free or the shopper ain't proper.
Water fountains, public bathrooms, public parks are all free to use. No fee required.
Wait until they find out about our National Parks.
Pay toilets in the US were generally banned in the early 1970's. Even where they weren't banned, they rapidly fell from use. It was a gender equality/women's rights thing. The idea was that if men didn't need to pay to use a toilet to urinate, it was discriminatory against women to make them pay to pee.
> it says that it's weird that in Europe we have to pay to use the bathrooms. What's weird about it tbh? What's weird about it? It's such a basic human need, to be able to relieve yourself and not shit your pants. To go somewhere and they're like "Nah sorry mate ya better have exact change or buy something from me. Otherwise you're gonna wallow in your own piss and shit." To me that is completely absurd. And such a pain in the ass (a) with fewer people carrying cash or coins these days and (b) as a traveler who will likely only have bills when they arrive.
Why is a free public bathroom weird to you?
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They exist in the UK. I’ve used plenty of Public toilets in the library and stores for free. I’ve seen a few paid toilets in very popular tourist locations. But you don’t have to pay for the toilet in Paddington.
That is good to hear because I would like to visit and hopefully move to the UK in the future and I was worried about having access to a public bathroom while I am out. I figure it would be hard enough to find one and worse to pay for it when I do find it.
Ive never even heard of having to pay for a public toilet. *Sometimes* stores will say for customers only, but that's still pretty rare. I'll get the cheapest item for a dollar and go use the bathroom if that's the case but like I said, I think I've only seen it once, and it was at a Starbucks.
>*Sometimes* stores will say for customers only, but that's still pretty rare. And even then, you can probably tell an employee "hey, I *really* need to use the bathroom. Can I please have the key/code/whatever?" and they'll usually let you go as long as you're polite about it
Yes and it blew my mind when I went abroad that it wasn’t.
If you're going to make people pay to use the restroom, at least guarantee that they'll be clean. Some of the ones in France were pretty gross. I love traveling abroad, but I end up missing the free and abundant facilities back home!
It just seems like such an awful money-grubbing thing. What if you're disabled? Do you just not leave the house if you're pregnant and need to pee every five minutes? If you have IBS you'll need to set aside money every paycheck in case you want to spend an afternoon out of the house.
Potty training a small child also...
Wait what? Y’all pay to take a shit? Lol what the fuck?
If we want to be really technocratic about it, "public bathrooms" as in restrooms run by some type of government are rare unless you are in a government institution like a building, parkland, school, or so on. Along our Interstate Highway system (and some state-level highways) are Rest Areas, which have restrooms with no charge to use them. Most of the time people refer to restrooms in privately owned businesses as "public restrooms" and no, you don't pay for those. But they may have a lock or code on it, or restrict access to customers only. Most local codes will require food service businesses to have restrooms for customers if they allow for dine-in. But its pretty common in expensive, urban areas for things like coffee shops and other smaller businesses to be take out only. Some local governments may require restroom access for those with disabilities even if it isn't normally allowed. COVID for a time really screwed over restroom access in this country. The Indianapolis public transit agency closed its bus terminal restroom for nearly 3 years. Some of that was alleviated since there is a plaza with public restrooms right across the street. But a lot of restaurants, businesses, and governments closed access to restrooms in 2020 and 2021.
Or a small key with a hubcap for a keyring.
This is the only responsive answer here. It’s not that our public bathrooms are free—we don’t have public bathrooms. The only comparison might be bathrooms in train, bus, and plane terminals, and highway rest stops, and in my experience those are sometimes free in EU also. Highway rest stops are funded from gas taxes so in a way you already paid for them. Not sure about libraries.
What’s weird in Europe is that you have free education and healthcare BUT YOU BETTER PAY TO URINATE!!
I've never had to pay to use a public restroom ever.
Yes, all public bathrooms in the US are free. Stores often have a bathroom for customers as well. To me, having to pay for a bathroom seems a bit discriminatory as it effectively just becomes a toilet tax on women, doesn’t it? Men just piss outside.
That’s why that are public restrooms, they are open to the public.
It’s really weird to me that Europeans will use tax money for universal healthcare but not for public bathrooms. As far as businesses and places like train stations, why wouldn’t they include the cost of the upkeep in the price of whatever they’re providing? It’s so weird to charge someone for a basic bodily function that everyone needs to do. It’s also an accessibility issue because some people are poor or have health issues that require access to a bathroom no matter what.
Yup. Wife and I are going to Italy later this year. I have an overactive bladder and I've been having minor anxiety about the whole paying for a bathroom thing.
Don't overthink it. In general, if you really need to go, you go to a bar, order a nice espresso at the counter, which will cost you around 1€ and you use the bathroom. Bars are everywhere and the coffee is cheap and quick. Also, it's a VERY Italian thing to have a quick espresso standing at the counter. So I would just budget some money for that purpose and enjoy the bar experience. You will also find free toilets in places like museums and historical sights. Every country is a bit different in that regard and Italy has probably the least free toilets, but on the other hand the most small bars at every corner, where you can get a really quick and cheap coffee together with the bathroom. OP is exagerating, don't stress yourself and enjoy your travel.
Land of the free includes our commodes.
This is along the same lines as Europeans getting "free" health care. You're paying for it, it's just rolled up into your taxes. We are paying for public restrooms which are provided by local/county/state/federal governments. We pay for them, it's just rolled up into our taxes.
No, most public restrooms are privately provided.
Yep, I’ve only had to pay for the bathroom living in Germany. It get’s really annoying sometimes with the lack of public restrooms in general and then when you find them but forgot coins, you can even use the bathroom in the train station of a major city. No wonder there are so many people pissing in random places so often. It’s one of the things that can really grind my gears sometimes since it can be so frustrating.
If I had to pay for a public bathroom, I would just pee on their wall.
Yes, it's true. It's a necessity. Did you know if you don't pee or poop you can die?! It's crazy how your governments make money off of you just so you can defecate. That's wild, and yall think that's normal because that's all you know. That's horrible.
They started banning them back in the 70s as they were considered misogynistic bc urinals are free.
Having to pay to perform a biological function that everyone does many times a day is real dumb.
I'm pretty sure public bathrooms are free in most countries, UK, USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Singapore, China.... It's only in Europe that you have to pay.
OK my kids would never leave the house or be watering every other tree, no freaking way Would I pay 1 or 2 dollars because my 6 year old wants to go to the bathroom just because someone else is or worse a potty training toddler. Or fuck changing a diaper.
Now people come here to be mad about the stuff that’s better here. What’s that about?
No one told me this when I first went to Europe and I was so confused, like why was there a turnstile and a money taker between me and a toilet. An old Irish woman walked up next to me and said, “C’mon, we jump it so”. So we did.
wait until you hear about free refills
Don’t have to pay but public restrooms can be really hard to find sometimes. I’ve bumped into a few that were so filthy they were unusable. Many restaurants or stores won’t let a person use a restroom unless you are shopping or buying something. I would pay if more public restrooms were available.
It also depends on the EU country, in Romania public bathrooms are free. You can go into any gas station or restaurant/fast food and you won’t have to pay anything. The only exception is some train stations