
Why Don't We Have Pay Toilets in America? (2014) - monort
https://psmag.com/economics/dont-pay-toilets-america-bathroom-restroom-free-market-90683
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serf
just an anecdote, but they're all over Portland. Just about every restaurant
or coffee shop near any main urban thoroughfare has them. The shop owners will
often refund the quarter for customers, but they do exist.

It's the private business owners (unethical..) way of dealing with a fairly
huge homeless problem.

It's not just small places, either. A Target I happened upon had such coin
devices on the bathroom door.

another anecdote : i've never witnessed as much (illegal) public urination in
one spot. I watched a homeless man piss on a glass window with two indoor
female onlookers at a Starbucks that was about 4 blocks from the convention
center PyCon was being held at.

The absurdity of the act made me crack up, but I can't help but wonder, then
and now, whether or not such absurd grotesque behavior is fueled partially by
things like pay-bathrooms.

