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Comment by dgellow | Hacker News Reader

That’s so weird to read, in Western Europe you just ask someone working there for a code to open the door and can use Starbucks bathrooms freely (or you get it printed on your bill if you bought something). In some countries you have a small fee to pay if you’re not consuming anything, for example 0.5€ is common in Germany.

I couldn’t really imagine to not have access to bathrooms, it’s such a critical thing.

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In this US, most bathrooms are open and don't require a code. In some US cities, you have to get a code because people will camp in the bathrooms to use drugs.

In most places where I live (San Francisco) it's easy to get access to the bathroom for free if you don't look like you're about to do heroin.

During covid something like 70-80% of businesses on the US west coast I can think of closed their bathrooms to the public and even now if I stop in at a restaurant for take-out (or even dine-in!) the odds are good that they don't let customers use the restroom anymore.

I stopped off to buy gas during a drive a couple weeks ago and the gas station didn't have a customer-accessible restroom, neither did the Subway across the street, or the Dominoes next to it, or the grocery store next to that.

I guess not wanting to sterilize the bathroom surfaces hourly served as a good excuse to not make them available, and they're in no hurry to reverse it.

You have to ask nicely. "Out of order" just means "no homeless people".

No, you quite literally will not be allowed to use it, it's store policy. We're not talking "out of order" signs here

In the vast majority of the US, the norm is that most establishments have free public bathrooms. Having a code or lock is a sign you’re in a bad area here, like having bars on windows.

I am not sure if its universal but in most if EU a "restaurant" business cannot get a permit unless it offers a public bathroom.

Yes, but at least in Germany the owner can restrict access to paying customers or raise a fee. They often do, because e.g. train station coffee shops are abused by cheapskates to avoid paying for the actual public toilets.

+1 on the non-customer fee, I don't know why the US doesn't do that.

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