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The 50 cents is dual purpose, the one is obvious in that it pays for the attendant and them keeping it clean, but the other is like using a coin to unlock a trolley, it cuts back misuse by a lot. Once you've been to free vs 50 cent toilets a few times you'll see (and smell) the difference.
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In Australia all toilets are free and they are mostly in great condition. I was surprised visiting Italy and having to pay money for some of the worst maintained toilets I’d seen.
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The trolley analogy doesn't really hold up in this context, does it?

The incentive to do the right thing that a coin-deposit shopping cart ("trolley") adds is the ultimate return of that coin. It's not much money, but it is nonetheless returned when the cart is put back where it belongs.

If a cart always costs 50 cents and there is no hope of ever getting that money back, then: The monetary incentive to return the cart doesn't exist.

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Well, even if you don’t get your 50 cents back you usually have an incentive to leave the restroom when you’re done.
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Does stretching the analogy help to ameliorate the difference betwixt a payment and a returnable deposit?
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Be...twixt?
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Yes, it's a word.
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An archaic word.
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> If a cart always costs 50 cents and there is no hope of ever getting that money back, then: The monetary incentive to return the cart doesn't exist

The grandparent post is just talking about incentives.

I guess what you're saying is that if you pay 50 cents for the bathroom then there's no actual incentive to keep it clean because the 50 cents is gone either way, unlike a cart deposit?

You're probably right about that, but I also don't think most people actually need an incentive not to make a huge mess. I would put money that most messes in public bathrooms are caused by the people that the 50 cent charge filters out. The rest experience some social pressure from the attendant to keep things clean. If all else fails, the attendant can clean up a mess before the next person uses it

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manning the loo in a developed country would be a much higher expense, and that too if you can convince someone to do it.
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Would much prefer this than what we have in NYC, which is go into a bar or cafe, buy something small and then use the restroom. Another thing I'll do sometimes is if I see a busy bar where the bartender isn't paying attention you can walk in, pretend you're looking for friends you're meeting, use the toilet and then sneak out.
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As the result will be shit and piss elsewhere in the open, a compromise could be having shitty free public toilets and nice toilets where you pay (or maybe not nice, but bearable).

The alternative would be social workers, more psychotherapists, free healthcare, ...

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Surely more social workers will stop people from pissing on the floor
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Not all people are doomed from the start to become asocial messed up beings. Probably no one is - but they all have a history and their reasons. And even messed up beings who don't mind shitting anywhere - can suddenly get some conscience again, if someone speaks to them in the right words.

Also even the most messed up people would use a urinal, if avaiable.

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That practically ensures that some people who have to go really badly, and for whom €0.50 is a big deal, will just drop their business on the sidewalk.
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The only place in France I have seen this happen was Paris and public toilets are free there. I haven't seen paid toilets at all in France for a long time, actually. Maybe in train stations though.
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I've seen paid toilets in train stations (last month in le Mans, a few years ago in a corner of Montparnasse station, though that was before the last round of renovation) and in a mall (CNIT in la Defense). Some RATP train stations have public toilets that you can access with your train ticket, so it's not quite free.
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I went to Paris a month ago and saw paid public toilets. Those enclosed things on the sidewalk.
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I was just in Paris and I never had to pay for the public sidewalk toilets. Where did you see paid ones? I didn't get to all the arrondisements, so I'm curious.
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I don't remember actually. I was staying in Montparnasse so the 14th. Was 1 Euro wherever it was. Might've been this one: https://maps.app.goo.gl/5vPoD7jM3ELyP6gL7

And it's not this other one on the same street, cause this was free https://maps.app.goo.gl/Firjcsabthu8DHtQ6

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Yes; the inverse is not true; making it free won't ensure that it won't happen.
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This was a year ago in Nice for reference.
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I was in Nice as well and found one place that had a public urinal(my back was literally to people walking around). It was a bit odd...but I really had to go.
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Oh I don't doubt you, I was just reflecting that I think that paid toilets have largely been made free in the last 10 years or so.

But I'm sure there still exist quite a few, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were especially found in right-wing cities like Nice.

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The modern toilet should let you pay with your personal info:

Toilet: "Sign up (learn more) or proceed with Google Account ..."

Google: "pissoir.fr wants access to your pissing history ...(Y/n)"

Toilet: By pissing here, you consent to the collection and analysis of urine samples ..

:)

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    - Ask the attendant.
    - Explain the problem.
    - Someone behind you gives you fifty cents.
    - Attendant waves you in.
    - Come back and pay later.
    - Someone nearby helps.
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> but this setup is certainly better than eliminating public restrooms entirely.
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Somehow that seems ensured regardless.
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how is that different from what they'd do if the pay toilet didn't exist?
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It also makes it more likely that hobos and drug addicts don't soil and destroy the public bathrooms.
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