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But back on topic, it costs serious money to maintain a public restroom. Cleaning, maintenance, paper goods, it all costs a lot.
No one questions that, and it takes a pretty urban-liberal viewpoint to believe that all businesses should have open-access bathrooms; even food-service places have a right to limit access to customers.
Which, to me, misses the point here. If people think they have some right to Starbucks bathrooms, it's because Starbucks has spent over a decade and billions of dollars to (1) run nearly everyone else out of business, by, in part (2) presenting themselves as everyone's living room or dorm common room away from home. If they want to limit bathroom access, it's fine with me; if they or their adoring customer base want to whine about that now, tough... limongiello cookies.
One of the national brands soup and sandwich places open a restaurant in Portland, and set a "pay what you think it is worth" policy. In theory, if a customer was wealthy, they would voluntarily pay more. Poor people could eat and pay less. The policy In the area where a lot of homeless hang out. They didn't keep it up for long.
If you are talking about Panera, their Panera Cares model lasted over 8 years. They were around much longer then many other restaurants.
They donate leftover food at the end of the night to local food banks. Which is much better way to help those in need, instead of allowing everyone the opportunity to have free or cheap Panera.
We don't encounter locked bathrooms in western New York.
Businesses that lock them against non-customers should lower their prices. They aren't paying for the water, paper towels or blow dryers, soap and cleaning supplies, electricity, maintenance and cleaning, and all the other costs that go into keeping a bathroom open to the public.
I'm sure their profits far outweigh the costs anyway. Open the bathrooms or install coin collectors on the outside of the door. A dime or a quarter unlocks the bathroom door. We used to have them all over the place. The business can even hand out free entrance slugs to their customers who request one.
I was surprised to find last month that in New Orleans, some businesses charge a quarter to open the door (not the stall,
the door to the entire restroom). It was amazing how many fairly wealthy looking people didn't have a quarter.
I would think the wealthy would be the ones less likely to have a quarter. I dont carry around a lot of change, so wouldnt always have a quarter. My SO doesn't carry any cash, so definetly wouldn't have a quarter. I don't see what is so amazing about that. A lot of people use credit or debit for a majority of their purchases these days.
If you are talking about Panera, their Panera Cares model lasted over 8 years. They were around much longer then many other restaurants.
They donate leftover food at the end of the night to local food banks. Which is much better way to help those in need, instead of allowing everyone the opportunity to have free or cheap Panera.
I'm not entirely sure what this has to do with public bathrooms. There are of course many companies that do things of actual value to the local community, especially the underprivileged segment. Starbucks isn't one of them and never was, despite their funky northwest-liberal vibe; that people riot in the streets over their hangout and bathroom policies is just incomprehensible.
I would think the wealthy would be the ones less likely to have a quarter. I dont carry around a lot of change, so wouldnt always have a quarter. My SO doesn't carry any cash, so definetly wouldn't have a quarter. I don't see what is so amazing about that. A lot of people use credit or debit for a majority of their purchases these days.
So add a chip reader. Or toss couple of coins in your pocket if you use public restrooms.
Contrary to their much-publicized open-door policy, which took effect in May, even Starbucks patrons are finding the bathrooms closed.
That's was pretty much the expectation--that allowing anyone to come in to just use their restrooms, would eventually lead to closing them to everyone. That appears to be what's happening in NYC, with either closed signs posted, or bathrooms closed for "extended cleaning." In addition, one-third of the Starbucks restrooms in Manhattan still have "Employees Only" signs posted, 7 months after the new policy took effect.
NYC is terrible for public restrooms, but worse comes to worse, you can always duck into a bar, buy a beer, drink half of it, and use the bathroom.
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