Wow, that's really shitty.

/ducks

Makes more sense than a bathroom key. I'd rather not have to carry around a key on some sort of stick that's been dropped on the floor who knows how many times. At least the coins never actually enter the bathroom. Not to mention the fast food employees handling that nasty key and giving me change or condiments. Much more sanitary.

Nice. Will they allow walk-ups to use their washrooms now?

If they give you the free tokens upon request, I don't see that it's much different from going to the gas station attendant to get the restroom key.

whups, hit "enter" with wrong key focus...

I never really noticed too much vanadalism in these washrooms (and I've been to some sketchy fast food joints) unless they count shit and piss as "vandalism".

Will this measure mean cleaner rest rooms?

And what happens when the token box is filled up? Will they jump to empty it during the dinner rush?

Anything that could mean cleaner public restrooms is good.

This is pretty sad. I understand Burger King's problem though. I hate the vandelism in bathrooms. Some of the "entries" are very...vulgar.

Don't they *have* to provide restrooms? Not like they are doing any favors, IIRC it's the law since it's a sit down establishment.

@linus:

Hey, back off. Public restrooms are excellent sources of phone numbers for dates for some of us.

I am suprised that Burger King is allowing folks to do this. Something about providing a public service or something like that. Folks are just going to use the sinks.

What's the problem? Why should Burger King have to put up with any idiot off the street coming in only to use their toilets?

@linus: i agree. plus, about 78.6% of my business comes from my bathroom wall advertisements. the other 21.4% comes from my in-bathroom appearances.

Has noone heard of an electronic lock + buzzer? Jeez.

i meant to Puck instead of linus. i'm dumb.

@mariospants: Really? I bet you don't ever actually go to them, or you only go to retaurants within their first week of opening. Missing mirrors, broken and intentionally clogged sinks and toilets, mangled door locks, stall walls ripped off... If I ran such an establishment, I'd demand ID before I gave the key out to anyone but a parent with a small child, and only return the ID after inspecting the bathroom for damage.

@Dansc29625: At the places I have been that have these, you need to put your token in the door handle device - so you wouldn't get in a situation where someone got *in* the bathroom without a token.

It's a sad reflection on society, but it's necessary.

@Puck: I know the week just started but I vote this as best comment of the week.

It's about time. Here in NYC it's against the law but I say bring back pay toilets.

I don't see how this is going to prevent vandalism, unless someone checks the bathroom after you are done.
And really, they should clean the bathroom more than once a week.

Why on earth are pay toilets illegal in Houston? What a strange thing to outlaw.

@JustThatGuy3: Well, we have had plenty of discussions about businesses refusing the restroom to kids or people with bowel disorders so I have to think THAT'S why they're illegal.

Still, this seems like a decent solution to me.

Interesting concept. Also well executed... The door itself will not open without the token, so no gender discrimination. Which is the reason (along with people getting really angry about them) that pay toilets eventually bit the dust legally, and were often outlawed. Under the old system, only the stall doors were generally pay. Urinals were not behind stalls, so it was essentially free for men to urinate into an appropriate receptacle, but not women. A few legal complaints help shut down the nationwide trend.

Pay public toilets are really common in Europe, although I guess not inside restaurants. I don't really understand how it keeps people from vandalizing though-- it'll only keep people who don't have a quarter from vandalizing.

Maybe the generated revenue goes towards maintenance costs?

Are the tokens FREE free or "with purchase"? Are "with purchase" restrooms legal in Houston?

@Dansc29625: One of the Burger Kings in Norway is very similar, except they give you a slip of paper with a code to punch in. Could be that all the Burger King's in Oslo are like that, but I've only been in one.

Restrooms in certain parts of LA County have always had locks/pay. Del Taco is famous for this since their building layout has the restrooms on the outside.

This is great, I hate the idea of people using Burger King as a rest stop. They have to provide facilities to customers, but who said they have to provide public restrooms. That being said, I don't expect the bathrooms to be any neater just because paying customers use it, I mean, come on.

Nothing new, I've seen restroom tokens around for years.

another way to catch bathroom vandals in the act: install surveillance cameras. :-)

@mariospants: Actually it's very common, they just put a lot of effort into removing it which costs time and money. The sad truth is many people just don't know how to conduct themselves in public and cause damage or a "mess". I think the tokens are a great idea.

There becomes a point where trying to police the restrooms take up too much time. I wonder how legal it would be if it required you to scan your ID card. That way, there would be records of who used the restroom.

The token thing has been common for quite a while, I remember seeing it in several places in Philadelphia, DC, and along the Jersey Shore. I actually am impressed that you can use a quarter and not just a specialty token, so it gives the option of going when you have to go, instead of waiting in or by the line to get one while doing the pee-pee dance. I've also seen the bathroom code on the receipt showing up throughout New York City.

The business owners are in the right here - if people are vandalizing and costing the owner money, I would rather see a small increase in costs for prevention, rather than constant due to repairs.

Oh crap locked out... darn.

I remember back in 2000 the McDonalds in Hollywood (CA) had pay toilets in their restaurants...although the mechanism was broken. Probably too many pissed off employees and customers.

::waits for first report of brown customers being denied entry::

"Pay public toilets are really common in Europe, although I guess not inside restaurants."

Depends on the restaurant. Most fast-food places, subway stations, cinemas, and malls charge about 40 euro-cents for the toilet, regardless of whether you bought anything. Other places, like the ubiquitous middle-eastern restaurants, don't charge, but usually you have to buy something - usually a pop for about €1, and even then, if it's an emergency, they'll probably let you go.

Those 40c add up... it goes towards keeping the stalls vandalism-free, buying new mops/garbage bags, etc. The attendant is on the payroll of the restaurant and gets paid to go in once an hour, clean up, and then sit and do crosswords for the rest of the hour.

They've had these in McDonald's in DC for a few years at least. It helps cut down on people using bathrooms as their primary hygiene facility. Not a pretty sight.

@ThinkerTDM:
Well, imagine you're in the shoes of a would be bad person. You had to go up to the counter and ask for a key/coin - they know what you look like. Obviously, they won't remember but there's a psychological effect on some people that make them think they'll be found out. If I wanted to write some poo poo on the bathroom wall I'd feel much more comfortable just kinda sneaking into the establishment's restroom over having to go up to the counter and have them see what I look like.

Somewhat common in other parts of the world. In my travels I noticed that "pay" toilets are usually cleaner than free ones for reasons which seem obvious.

They get around the requirement to have bathrooms freely available by giving the tokens out free upon request.

I bet the idea of having to pay to use toilets would make a great plot for a dystopian-themed Broadway musical!

@zarex42: Because if they don't people will just improvise. This city built that into the municipal code for all businesses and it really does help plus if every business has to do it you spread the "cost" around to everyone while keeping the areas cleaner and more sanitary which is in the businesses best interest.

I've been in a situation where some asshat locked all the stalls and left. I really had to use the bathroom, so I did what they did before they left: I went under the door, used the facilities and unlocked the door when I was done.

Before someone brings it up, the bathroom floor wasn't nasty or I would've reconsidered the "pee my pants" vs "need to wash my hands and clothes when I get out of here" internal dialogue.

I await the first lawsuit from someone with IBS suing because they had to wait in line to get a token (and ended up shitting themselves as apathetic teen-burger-flippers laugh.

And I admit,,,,, I have IBS & on more than one occasion I have had to see to an urgent & dire need by stopping at a fast food place to quickly use their restroom.

I'd be pretty pissed if I found out I had to wait in line at my local BK to get a token (I dont carry coin change) in order to take an emergency shit.

@dragonvpm:

I think you're forgetting what this city was really built on...

@mariospants: You've obviously never been in downtown LA.

@clnclarinet: You've never seen the "pay-to-pee" ladies of Amsterdam. They sit at the entrance in restaurants with a little basket. You don't *have* to pay them, but they will give you the evil eye. They clean the loos and keep the tips.

In the Netherlands, though, they have to let you use the facilities, even if you aren't a customer (at least, that's what I was told).

I'm ALL FOR a cleaner public restroom facility!

@Channing: That's probably why they're doing it this way. If you have to go to the counter, you will be seen and will wind up on video too. I don't know what this kind of vandalism costs other companies, but in 2006, the company that I work for paid just over a million dollars for restroom repairs for its 320 stores. Two store were shut down permanently because of it.

Borders in downtown Boston has done this for years. It keeps vagrants from using the bathrooms as their personal dressing rooms.

These are all over in Newport Beach, CA - Del Taco, Carls Jr., Jack in the Box. I think it kind of makes sense if you're dealing with that amount of vandalism. It'd suck to have fast food prices go up because the bathroom's getting wrecked.

As long as this doesn't become the norm here in the states... charging customers because corporate feels like it - that just seems wrong.

I was actually at the Borders in Silver Spring, MD over the weekend and they had these locks installed but not operating (and a sign said you didn't need tokens for the restroom).

Considering they were out of toilet paper, nearly out of paper towels, littered with disgusting waste and smelled like a sewer, I'm glad I didn't pay to get in. But if paying to get in would have prevented it from being so disgusting, I would have been willing to donate a quarter.