Requiem for the Disappearing Pay Phone

StarEmperor writes "This Washington Post article describes the steady disappearance of pay phones as cell phones become more commonplace. Many pay phones, which used to generate hundreds of dollars per month in revenue, are now used so infrequently that they cost money to operate. I wonder what kind of environmental hazard is posed by junking thousands of pay phones?"

Comments

What will happen to 2600 mag?

[Lieutenant_Dan]

Without pay phones pictures the back cover of 2600 will seem sooooo boring.

Re:What will happen to 2600 mag?

[i_want_you_to_throw_]

Nothing will happen to it since almost all the pics are payphones from other countries.

pay phones might get more use if

[benfoldsfan]

they cost less. $.50 cents for one phone call is ridiculous

Re:pay phones might get more use if

[neema]

This should be modded up.

That was such a stupid step to take, unless they were looking for everyone to add just one more thing to the list of the benefits of having a cell phone. Payphones always have had two advantages in my mind:

1: They are wired, hence, no fuzz.
2: Just one shiny thing and you could get a call through.

Now that it's 50 cents, I find myself approaching a payphone and finding that I don't have the right amount of change on me. Who cares that it's unlimited? The three minute limit was just fine by me. I'm not exactly making leisure calls at a pay phone. The trade off is ridiculous and is bound to doom the payphones.

Re:pay phones might get more use if

[hitzroth]

Quote: the last two paragraphs of the article:

For some, the pay phone has become untouchably déclassé.

A woman at the Old Ebbitt Grill was asking strangers if she could borrow their cell phones one recent evening. She systematically worked her way through half the people seated at the bar, none of whom had cell phones to lend. Finally, she reached Hayden, who was sipping a beer. He suggested she use the pay phone he maintained in the restaurant. She haughtily replied: "I wouldn't be caught dead using a pay phone."

Somehow, I don't see the cost as being the primary issue. If you need to make a call, $0.50 isn't that big of a deal. Hell, it's about half a candy-bar around here.

It sounds like it's becoming a social stigmata to use the urine soaked payphones. As in: "I don't want to look like I'm not good enough/rich enough to have a cell phone."

Re:pay phones might get more use if

[stickyc]

One thing to add - I'm not sure if this still applies (I was told this in the mid 90's), but in California, Pay Phones have 'priority' over other phones in case of emergency. This means that if there's some major catastrophy (IE - earthquake for us CA folk), the phone in your house may not get a connection, but the pay phone usually will.

This is, of course, dependent on the connection. If you buy one from EBay and stick it in your house, you'll get the same busy signal as the rest of us while the china falls from the cupboards.
Just something to note when the stuff hits the fan.

The environmental hazard of removing payphones is:

[rickthewizkid]

... all the spilled oil, gas, antifreeze and other automotive gook from the accidents caused by people using their cell phones while driving...

-RickTheWizKid
..."Just hang up and DRIVE!"

Obscure Future Rama Joke

[Znonymous Coward]

Maybe they could replace them with Suicide Booths :)

Re:Obscure Future Rama Joke

[macx666]

Maybe they could replace them with Suicide Booths :)

Good idea! And they can charge 50 cents for unlimited use too! Oh, wait...

You wonder about the wrong thing...

[Marton]

... payphones are great to have in an emergency - and there are tens of millions of people in the US w/o a cellphone.

The real question is: are they going to keep operating those phones that lose them money? Should payphones be thought of as something essential like public transportation, and possibly subsidized by the govt?

Re:You wonder about the wrong thing...

[newt]

Should payphones be thought of as something essential like public transportation, and possibly subsidized by the govt?

They are in most countries (either directly as a public service, or indirectly as a consequence of the fact that the Government usually owns the phone company).

It's only in the US that payphones depend on the corporate whim of a for-profit company.

- mark

Re:You wonder about the wrong thing...

[Dan Crash]

Oh, please.

Next you'll be telling me that poor people having telephones at all is a criminal mismanagement of funds. I can't imagine why poor people would waste their cash on something as frivolous as a mobile phone. Certainly not to check their messages during the day and try to get a more lucrative job. How absurd! And God forbid a mother should want her children to be able to reach her when they need her, even if she's on the bus.

Cell phones were once exclusively for the very rich. Now they're not. Deal with it.

Re:You wonder about the wrong thing...

[tswinzig]

They are in most countries (either directly as a public service, or indirectly as a consequence of the fact that the Government usually owns the phone company).

It's only in the US that payphones depend on the corporate whim of a for-profit company.

You make it sound like its a bad thing.

Why should my tax money go to help someone loser make a free phone call?

I don't have a problem with the government installing emergency phone booths that are wired to 911 for things like that, but I'll pass on footing the bill for someone else's calls... they get enough of my money as it is!

Re:You wonder about the wrong thing...

[Corgha]

Why should my tax money go to help someone loser make a free phone call?

Uhh.... who said anything about free calls? They're called pay phones for a reason, you know.

If you're OK with installing and maintaining phones that can call 911 for free, why not also let people put money in them to call other numbers while the phones would otherwise just be sitting around, doing nothing? They'd be hooked up to the phone network anyway, since a dedicated line to the 911 call center would be needlessly expensive.

Sure, maybe those pay calls would be in some sense "subsidized phone calls", but much less so that a car ride just about anywhere is a "subsidized car ride." Somehow I doubt that the cost of subsidizing pay phones would ever come close to that of the massive pork barrel that is the federal-aid highway system (or that we'd ever invade Kazakhstan to secure our chromium supply for those cool little keypad buttons).

That, of course, is the original poster's point -- that perhaps pay phones should be considered a part of the public infrastructure.

Re:where can I get one?

[rickthewizkid]

They are available online, ebay, etc. The only trouble is, they have been "adjusted" to not require coins. If you were to want to make it a real pay phone, you would need the totalizer circuitry (not something the phone cos want to have in the wild ... look up the term "red box") and a ACTS phone line - convincing the telco to do that for you would be difficult....

Just my 90-cents-for-the-first-three-minutes-worth...
Ric kTheWizKid

This reminds me...

[Jon Abbott]

When I recently opened the Back to the Future DVD trilogy and watched the second movie, there was one scene where Marty Jr. was using some kind of futuristic-looking pay phone. I laughed to myself and said, "I guess they didn't see the end of that one coming!"

Payphone Disposal

[newt_sd]

How come this always gets brought up on slashdot?
How is junking old phones any different then any other waste? Are there uranium pay phones out there? Admit it the u.s. wastes tons pay phone is a tiny tiny part of a very larger picture

Re:Payphone Disposal

[hitzroth]

But.. but.. but.. telcoms equipment is sacred! Disposal must be accompanied by the appropriate rituals! /me prays to Tesla's ghost to carry the electrons and route the lost calls to their proper parties.

Environment

[Z0mb1eman]

>I wonder what kind of environmental hazard is posed by junking thousands of pay phones

Probably not worse than the millions of home phones that break down or are replaced by newer models. And DEFINITELY not worse than the millions of cell phones - and proprietary batteries - that are starting to be thrown out (what was the statistic I read? Kids in Japan who keep up with "fashion" replace their cell phone every 3 months, and in North America every 18 months? I know, I know, no link, no proof, etc... whatever.)

Re:Outside line?

[outsider007]

Pay phones still have some use... doesn't anyone watch The Sopranos?

is it where they change into their gangster clothes?

Re:The environmental hazard of removing payphones

[kevcol]

I only agree if the cell user is not using a headset and using a phone with special hands free dialing features. Otherwise, we might as well ban conversation between 2 or more occupants of a car.

Don't trash; upgrade!

[adamp3]

They should convert them into WiFi hotspots.

I wonder

[Alethes]

How will we make anonymous calls without a payphone?

This is what _really_ drives mass adoption...

[foonf]

I don't really use the telephone a whole lot. I've never seen a need for a mobile phone, and part of the argument against one went kind of like this: Well, if I'm stuck somewhere and I really need to get in touch with someone, I can always use a pay phone. And if its not important enough to spend 35 cents I really don't need to make the call anyway. I guess not eh? At some point in the future I might have to spend $(minimum cell phone cost) every month just to get the same service I would have formerly gotten from the once-ubiquitous (and free if I don't actually have to use them) public pay phones.

The same thing happened to rail transit in most American cities about 40-50 years ago as road systems improved and more people bought automobiles.

Only Terrorists Use Public Telephones

[jpt.d]

How can the government ensure your security if you use public pay phones?

Use your cell phone, or get one! That way your phone records are just a computer away from the people protecting your safety.

Do not assist the Terrorists!

Pay phones are nowhere near as annoying

[MillionthMonkey]

Reasons why payphones are better than cellphones:

• Payphones don't ring in movie theaters
• People don't drift into your lane and cut you off because they're yakking into a payphone
• Brain cancer isn't even a remote possibility with payphones
• Sometimes you find a dime in a payphone's change slot
• With a payphone you can call people collect for free
• Payphones aren't obsoleted in a year just because they can't take stupid pictures or haven't shrunk in size by a factor of 3
• Payphones are the safest option if you're up to no good
• Receiving calls at payphones is convenient (or used to be before the drug dealers screwed it up for everybody)
• No long term commitment or credit check with a payphone
• Payphones don't ever have to come with you on vacations
• When the payphone doesn't work, you go to another payphone instead of navigating an automated touch tone maze
• No static with a payphone

I could go on and on... it will be sad to see the payphone go. I swear I could strangle the jackass who actually took a call in the theater during the Two Towers last week.

Re:Pay phones are nowhere near as annoying

[Greyfox]

I swear I could strangle the jackass who actually took a call in the theater during the Two Towers last week.

Why didn't you? Seriously, you paid 8 or 9 bucks to enjoy the movie and you shouldn't put up with some inconsiderate fucktard yacking on his cell phone. Demand, loudly and belligerently, that they hang up (feel free to use the word "fucktard." I like it.) and if that doesn't work, pick a fight with 'em. At the very least you'll get your money's worth of enjoyment out of beating them severely (Or being beaten severely, don't back down even if they're bigger than you. Once you go down that road there's no turning back.)

Most people don't want to get in a fight so I doubt it'd ever come to blows anyway, and the audience will think you're a hero no matter the outcome. It's up to us all to stamp out the scourge of cell phones users in the movie theater.

And yes, I walk that walk, though since I pay my tribute to the MPAA as rarely as possible I've only ever had to demand that someone turn their phone off once (It was G or PG so I said "jackass" and not "fucktard" -- see, I'm considerate!) and didn't even have to threaten physical violence. He hung up, politely watched the movie and cleared out of the theater almost before the credits hit the screen. I hope the experience was traumatic enough for him that he will be more polite in the future.

mailboxes are disappearing too

[phr1]

San Jose Mercury story: hundreds of mailboxes removed from San Francisco bay area, due to low usage, garbage thrown in mailboxes, fear of more anthrax attacks, etc. etc. I can't help worrying about all anonymous means of communication shutting down.

How about trashing cellphones?

[MacAndrew]

I wonder what kind of environmental hazard is posed by junking thousands of pay phones?

How about junking hundreds of thousands or millions of cellphones. Plus the batteries each unit may go through in a lifetime. There's no way those things last as long as a nice clunky pay phone. I know we have a couple of dead ones around here somewhere, and a lot of people upgrade simply for fashion or features.

Yes, people are looking into recycling the phones. It's difficult because the materials are so heterogeneous, and though a few like tantalum are quite valuable, the labor to break up the phones can outweigh that. A nicer idea -- hand-me-downs to less wealthy developing countries, for sale or parts. Cellular phones have a disproportionate value in countries that never got the telephone line infrastructure in the first place.

I Wonder Why Pay Phones Don't Make Any Money.

[Effugas]

Pay phones would make more money if they, like, accepted lots of it, in large denominations, when being begged to.

Oh, do I have a rant for y'all.

===

Gather 'round the pixels, folks, and let a still green traveller relate a story from the olden days...

End of September, actually. Toorcon -- I flew out to San Diego to join Hikari's bad ass hackfest. Was so excited that I'd actually gotten my degree three days previous (not -- but that's another story entirely) that I didn't even think to check *where* in San Diego I was going.

Lesson #1: For f*ck's sake, know where you're going after the airport.

Figured I'd just check the net when I got there. *laughs*

Lesson #2: For f*ck's sake, KNOW you'll never get a net connection when you really, really need one. (Reference: "The Inverse Square Law vs. The Presence of Microsoft Powerpoint: May The Enemy Never Discover The Network Cloaking Power of Talking To People When Powerpoint Is On")

So. Rumor has it San Diego's Airport got a new water fountain once...it's talked about in hushed whispers, the emergency budget excess of 1983 brought a quenched thirst upon every traveler since. According to legend, other plumbing amenities relating to the invention of running water shall someday visit themselves upon this fine structure.

No friendly arrows, no Internet Cafe's -- and though the Starbucks served coffee, it came in Disass only. There wasn't even a poorly secured baggage handling network waiting to provide me with my next stop (not that I'd ever poke around an airport network; for God sakes lad, they have guns! And Latex Gloves! I plead Joey's Soverignty!)

So what could I do? Went to call my apartment.

On a Pay Phone.

Lesson #3: For f*ck's sake, buy a cell phone. Seven Eleven has them. They're FREE(after many rebates you'll never recieve). There's a REASON they're so profitable -- because PAY PHONES NOW SUCK.

Proof:

You want proof? My previous ranting is insufficient to show that I indeed know large scale suckitude when I recognize it in my cold, not quite dead flesh?

Got some overpriced food. Requested change in quarters -- I was off to the telephone to get fully ripped off, but there's a LOT of hotels in SD and I didn't much prefer to check each one.

"Bzzzzzz. I'm sorry, this phone doesn't accept coins for long distance calls."

Lesson #4: Remember how you heard that pay phones weren't making money? They mispelled "taking".

After bitching and moaning, I remembered I could charge my card to my credit card. Yes! Maybe my legal tender, unconstitutional to refuse (but we'll ignore that) couldn't get me moving, but surely the mighty power of Visa -- it's everywhere I want to be, and I want to be in a nice bed, and in that bed...er, anyway.

"Thank you for calling 1-800-CALL-ATT. For a credit card call, press this number or we'll sic Carrot Top on you."

"Thank you for selecting a credit card call. If you have a Mastercard, press 1. If you have an American Express, press 2. If you have a Discover Card, press 3. If you have a Visa, get a very strange look on your face."

"Thank you for getting a very strange look on your face. An operator will be with you shortly to further refuse payment for services."

You have to understand. I just graduated, I've got a LONG trip ahead of me -- this is right before the Singapore trip -- of all the problems I imagined possible, not having enough to pay for a single phone call was rather disconcerting.

I briefly considered my options for having myself placed under arrest. I hear those guys get a phone call. But then I realized their call is on a pay phone too. Oops.

Ended up calling my mother's company on their 800 number, tail between my legs, begging for info off a single web page. You'd THINK it ends here...

'cept the person I reach, despite the net connection on her desk, doesn't particularly know what to do with it. So she calls her husband. To access the net. For me.

Ever browsed the web through a listener that doesn't know what she's hearing but has to translate it into something she's saying? You Will, and the company that will bring it to you...

Anyway, no reason to rant further -- it was one heck of a trip, an absolute blast -- but indeed, no matter what country I ended up in, the pay phones were as spastic as an epiliptic monkey with a broken pacemaker.

I did like the 90 second pay phones, that took 75 seconds to establish a call. talkfastdoesn'tevenbegintocoverit

Needless to say, I am now vastly more knowledgable about that which is GSM.

--Dan

So much BS, so little time.

[Crag]

• People were irritating in theaters before they had cell phones. There have been people talking, having big hats, having big hair, being fat, having crying children, having body odor and everything else ever since we've gathered in groups to enjoy things together.
• People have been bad drivers since long before cell phones existed. Don't blame the phone for the driver's irresponsibility. People shave, put on lipstick, argue with their children, get drunk, you name it. Cell phones are not the problem.
• There is no conclusive link between cellphones and brain cancer. The wall-powered microwave ovens people use everywhere have far greater capacity to do real damage to people than the battery-powered 7-days-without-a-charge cell phones. We actually know what microwaves do to flesh. We do it to food and water all the time. There hasn't been a problem with microwave ovens, much less cellphones.
• Sometimes one finds change in the couch. One rarely finds change in one's significant other. The comparison is meaningless.
• Emergency calls on a cell phone are always free. If it's not an emergency, why are you calling collect? Are you just cheap? Or are you making an emergency out of something that could really wait?
• Cell phones aren't actually obsolete in a year just because etc. Some people are sheep who will buy anything with a bigger number or cuter design. I've had my phone for two years, and I would have had my previous phone for five if I hadn't given it to a friend as a present. Computers are 'obsolete in a year' just as much as cell phones, but I bet you would rather have a two-year old computer than your very own payphone. Again the comparison is meaningless.
• Yes, payphones ARE the safest option if you're up to no good. So what?
• What's convienient about getting calls at payphones? Standing around waiting? The lack of privacy?
• There are cell phones which can be had with no long-term commitment or credit check. They're not cheap, but they exist.
• Cell phones don't have to come on vacations either. If you think they do, you need better friends. I like having a cell phone wherever I go for convienience, but it's a choice I make, not an obligation.
• Yes, when the payphone doesn't work, you walk/bus/hitchike/taxi to the next one. YAY.
• My cellphone has excellent reception. It's better than a lot of people's home land lines. If you've had bad experiences, it's probably because you or your friends are cheap, as mentioned above.

I could go on and on too. I swear I could strangle the jackasses who confuse the tools people use with the stupid things they do with the tools. I could also strangle the jackasses who have cellphone envy and try to mask it as some kind of superiority.

I work hard to make sure I have the resources to live the kind of life I want to live. I want the ability to stay in touch with people I go shopping with so we don't have to agree to meet at the food court. If my girlfriend is in a car accident again, I want her to be able to reach me as soon as possible. If there's an earthquake and I'm trapped in a building, I want to be able to call for help and tell them I'm alive but bleeding and running out of air. If I'm on an airplane and hostages take over with box cutters, I want to say goodbye to my girlfriend before the plane runs into a building.

I'm tired of anti-cellphone BS. There are no legitimate complaints against the phones themselves, and the complaints about the users have nothing to do with the phones.

Grow up, people.

Re:So much BS, so little time.

[iiioxx]

People were irritating in theaters before they had cell phones. There have been people talking, having big hats, having big hair, being fat, having crying children, having body odor and everything else ever since we've gathered in groups to enjoy things together.

I agree. It's not that the cellphones themselves are bad, they are just one more tool for people who tend to be rude and inconsiderate (the same type of people who talk, wear big hats, and don't bathe). Blaming the technology for the way it is used is total bullshit.

I often carry my cell phone in movies and restaurants, but I put the ringer on vibrate. If it rings, you have to be right next to me to even hear it buzz. I check the caller ID, and if it's someone I absolutely need to speak with I answer it, and quietly tell them to hold while I step out of the theatre. If not, I let it go to voicemail and check it after the show.

Are there a lot of phones that don't have vibrate? Or just a lot of people who don't care about irritating the people around them? I think it's less an issue of invasive technology, and more an issue of a culture of self-obsession.

Case in point:

I was in a theatre this past weekend. Outside the auditorium there was a bigass sign that said "Cellphone Free Zone". During the trailers, there was an announcement to turn off your cellphone. But sure enough, halfway through the movie, a cellphone rang in the row behind me, and the woman not only answered it, but sat there and carried on a conversation. No doubt, the woman felt she was above any petty social convention, and she was too important for the "rules" to apply to her.

At this point, I lost my patience and decided to teach her a lesson about social convention. I stood up, turned around, and announced loudly, "turn off your phone or I will whip out my dick and piss on you!" I think she thought I was kidding until I reached for my fly. Then she told the caller "gotta go" and just hung up. I said, "thank you for your cooperation," sat back down, and tried hard not to ruin the moment by laughing my ass off...

Re:The environmental hazard of removing payphones

[Yo Grark]

I'd agree with this EXCEPT that a person talking to the driver knows when the driver has to concentrate on something coming up and instinctively SHUTS UP.

Concentrating on Talking while driving actually distracts people from driving well. Bad drivers can often be seen doing all the talking while driving. Basic natural instinct, you cannot devote concentration power to upcoming events (getting cut off and allowing the extra space) and hold a full blown 2 way all out conversation.

Drivers do their best thinking/working shit out because the mind is alive with activity while driving, just don't ask them to concentrate on a conversation with someone else.

Think about it the next time you're driving :)

Yo Grark
Canadian Bred with American Buttering.