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Comment by strict9 | Hacker News Reader

Where is this in the US? McDonalds? Those don't exist except interstate highways.

This shouldn't be downvoted. Restrooms within U.S. urban centers are hard to find, for patrons only, if they have public restrooms at all. Seattle, NYC, Atlanta, San Diego, L.A...all the same. There's a reason people urinate behind dumpsters.

10 years ago on NYE at Times Square, people were literally dropping squat or pissing in bottles in the middle of a televised street for lack of anywhere else to do it. I've been desperate enough to have to to it myself.

Somewhere in the suburbs? Sure, just stop at a McDonald's, a public park, a mall, or any number of places with toilet access. But cities themselves largely lack them.

Time square was also cordoned off during New Years celebrations I believe. Why they didn't include sufficient portapotties within the perimeter but out of central show areas is beyond me.

Even worse, the way they had security set up was that herded everybody into corrals after frisking them. No re-entry into your pen was permitted.

There were portapotties stationed up and down the strip...outside of the corrals. If you dared to use them, you were done for the night-- you couldn't get back into your pen unless you evaded the cops and hopped a fence.

Times Square during NYE is a very special case; when you go into the cattle pen, you know that you're not getting out for the next 16 hours.

>>Restrooms within U.S. urban centers are hard to find, for patrons only

Like you said, find a restaurant, or a Dunking Donuts and buy something...or just sneak in. Look at the menu up as you're thinking and then run to the bathroom. At the places I usually is it I don't feel guilty, if I ate there yesterday I paid for today's bathroom use :)

Public bathrooms are a lot of trouble with cleaning, crime etc and usually are closed at nighttime in parks too. Tech can mitigate some of those concerns but still...

Tangent: I love highway rest stops and I think they are one more example to the middle class of what government can do (along with, you know, the Interstate system). Not all government is evil, Aunt Sally.

Now to your point: Almost all businesses in the US allow people to use the restroom without buying merchandise or food, unless marked specifically. The places that don't allow it are typically in high traffic tourist areas that already have public facilities, or otherwise have a homeless problem that has them needing to keep their facilities from being abused.

I don't think anyone argues that it's impossible for the government to do something people want. A better question is if they do manage to produce a desired result, is it worth the cost?

It varies. The public park here has 4 buildings with restrooms and a couple of portable toilets. But that's a really nice park.

Gas stations are required by the state to have publicly accessible bathrooms (and have also long decided this is good business).

Pretty much any place with seating will have bathrooms. Of course many will try to restrict them to customers.

I can't find anything that says gas stations or any business is required to provide bathrooms to people who aren't paying them. All I can search is that restrooms must be public (which I take to mean as not just for employees):

https://www.cga.ct.gov/2006/rpt/2006-R-0739.htm

But at least in Florida it seems they can be restricted to paying customers:

http://www.nbc-2.com/story/25446355/good-question-restaurant...

California health code takes it a step further. If accessing the restroom involves traversing a food prep area, it cannot be made public.

Other laws usually require dining establishments to have public restrooms; what this mostly does is prevent using restrooms that involve passing through the prep area to satisfy those requirements.

You can walk into almost any place where you get food in the US to use a toilet.

Last time I was in EU was 10 years ago but tried to use a toilet in a bar and got yelled at unless I bought something first.

Which is 100% normal. What entitle you to use the toilet for free? Someone will eventually have to clean after you and it costs money.

Even in the US you cannot just walk into every bars and restaurants and use their toilets for free...

Exposure leads to traffic leads which leads to sales is the main reason for why it is mutually beneficial usually. You stop in a place you usually wouldn't bother with just for the restroom and start to be familiar with it and remember it.

Take another extreme - allowing people in only if they will definitely buy something in the store. It reduces shoplifting and traffic that doesn't buy anything! Except that would drastically reduce sales from lack of people who haven't already decided in addition to being put off by it. The "buy something" policies strike me as similarly pennywise and pound foolish.

It depends on your clientele. If you're in an area where everyone is well behaved, then you might be right.

If you're in a place with tons of mentally disabled folk or other type of people that don't respect public areas, then it's going to cost you more than it helps you.

Also, it could be more headache than its worth if you're at a big tourist spot where the probability of someone buying something is not high enough compared to the enormous amount of people who will want to use a bathroom.

All Starbucks now by official policy allow access to their facilities. Previously it was convention to allow people who asked politely, but occadionally you might have had to have a receipt.

That said, by and large sny national chain will allow use of their facilities.

> McDonalds? Those don't exist except interstate highways.

What? McDonald's are pretty much everywhere in Oregon

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