Pay to use the rest room?

[NotUrsula]

The New Orleans airport had pay tiolets until the early 70s.

When I was a kid, my mom's preferred polite euphemism for needing to use the toilet was "need to spend a penny".

 

[TCRAIG]

I remember - cost a dime…

 

[AppleDumpling]

I recall seeing them a few times as a kid in NY in the 1960’s.

 

[Tallulah-Belle]

Yes, I remember. I grew up in Salisbury, Massachusetts. Salisbury Beach used to have the pay toilets, they were located on the back side of the old police station on Railroad Ave.

 

[Debbie Jean]

I remember - cost a dime…

And it had to be a dime, not 2 nickels! Lol

 

[Pooh2]

Does anyone here, who's old enough, remember back in the 50s, having to pay to use the individual stalls, at least in the ladies room? I was just a child, but I have a vague memory of the little coin slots and sometimes waiting with my mother for someone to come out and hold the door open so we didn't have to pay. This was in Massachusetts. Anyone else remember?

Salisbury beach in the 80s!!
And there was a very grouchy bathroom attendant who would rush to slam the door when I came out of the stall so my friend could not go on the same dime!
Last time I went to Old Orchard Beach in Maine, there was a bathroom attendant collecting $1 to allow you to enter the bathroom!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Yes, many back in the day.

Organized rebellion back then.

 

[mickey916]

I had completely forgotten about that but I also grew up in Massachusetts and remember having to pay a dime!

 

[DodgerGirl]

I remember seeing these pay restrooms when Mom and went to a Carl's Jr. and we had to pay a fee to use the restrooms there and that was the first time I've seen one and why they did this to public restrooms is beyond me because in my eyes they should be free. But the ones that I dislike are the ones in supermarkets where you have to get a key and when you are finished you return the key. But never in other stores you had to pay to use the restroom but I think it was so people would be afraid of being robbed

 

[RedAngie]

Sure, I remember pay toilets well into the early 80s. On the Boardwalk, in department stores, etc. Most were the dime in the door slot, a few had an attendant to pay at the entrance.

 

[tony67]

Yeah I can recall coin operated stalls in the 70s - don't recall the cost as I never actually used one.

In Europe this is pretty much the standard and honestly I don't mind - there is usually someone there constantly cleaning it

I still recall the first time I ran into this at the Square in Dublin Ireland and it was kind of weird to me then no doubt and I thought it was a scam.

 

[Karin1984]

Still normal in the Netherlands for public bathrooms in stores, malls, train stations etc. In the trains and at the airport the bathrooms are still free

50 - 70 cents and you can often also pay by card nowadays.

 

[Dznypal]

We just got back from the BI cruise in sept. On our tour in Scotland there was a pay toilet. Times have changed though instead of putting a dime in a slot you had to use a credit card. Of course ours didn’t work so we had to wait till we got on the bus.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Yes! Although on a road trip from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts this past weekend we stopped in a D&D where I bought 2 blueberry munchkins to get the key to use the restroom so I guess I am still paying, it was 78 cents, a bargain

 

[BrianL]

If it was in California after 1974, it was illegal. Pay toilets have been illegal here since then.

https://www.mylifetime.com/she-did-...toilet-to-protest-the-inequity-of-pay-toilets

Yeah, but they can still restrict it to customers only, right? That's what the McDonalds I was at was doing - they gave you a token, but only if you ordered food. I actually don't know if you could use an actual coin in the mechanism.

 

[BrianL]

I remember - cost a dime…

And it could lead to sitting, broken-hearted....

 

[loves to dive]

Yep, I remember them and they were all over the country. We lived in Georgia, Texas, Ohio and NM in the 60s and 70s (there were more states scattered in there but that was before my memory). Mama and I would go in the stall together when I was little and as I got older one would just hold the door for the other so we didn't have to pay twice. Off the subject but on it, I also remember S&H green stamps.

 

[SC Minnie]

I remember them up to the late 70's locally. We were in Europe last fall and you had to pay to use all public toilets.

 

[Moliphino]

I've only run into them in Europe. I like the ones that take credit cards. In St. Emilion we had to go to the visitor's center to get change for the toilet because we didn't have enough coins.

 

[barb969]

The crazy thing in NYC around 1950 some restrooms were 10 cents and you could ride the subway to any stop for the same. At that time dimes were worth something. As a child I would never have paid for the restroom.