I live in Poland for school and I noticed some public washrooms, u needa give change to the ladies at the front, very small change. And I had the same thing in Germany and in Slovakia. Why do they have this? Why isnt public washrooms free like it would be in America.
Other - Europe - 8 Answers
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1 :
Most things are not free because someone wants to make money, in this case, the ladies at the front need to make money. It's sorta like leaving them a tip for keeping the washrooms clean and stuff.
2 :
The countries have to pay for their "free" health care somehow.
3 :
dont worry...... in most of europe countrys u have to pay :)) soon if u ll say hello they will charge ya :)
4 :
It seems it has been this way for a very long time, my husband lived in Europe in the 1950's and you always had to pay even back then.( He lived in Hungary, Italy, France and Sweden) We are spoiled in the states. I believe many of these WC's are privatly owned so they must pay their rent somehow.It is more of a business then a public service. At least for now they are free in the most large shopping malls and movie theaters, some of the smaller malls and small movie houses still make you pay.
5 :
Perhaps to encourage people to be responsible - companies have to hire cleaners to clean up mess and that costs so they just try to reimburst those costs by charging the people who are making the mess
6 :
Personally I would rather go to a toilet for which I have to pay 50cents (or less) which is manned, safe, clean and has toilet roll than for one which is only cleaned once a day max and as a result it's a lottery if it is somewhere between reasonably clean and a disgusting pit We travel by car from the Netherlands, through Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia to Bosnia and with very mixed results learned from experience. Slovenia - only stopped at toilets in a cafe where we ate and so it was free Austria - mainly free ones on route but quite franky they were smelly, dark (maybe for good reason) and I would not touch a thing in there including the taps without a wipe. Not pleasent Croatia - love the country but yuck yuck yuck. Even with attentents and payments it was pretty grim. One place was even a hole in the floor and the attendant was sat there taking money for a disgusting, smelly and dirty place. If I had of spoken the language then I probably would have mentoned exactly this! Bosnia - again payment for ones on route, but we stopped at a couple of petrol stations with a cafe and these were clean and we didn't have to pay. Germany - now I would pay a lot more than 50 cents. For petrol stations on route you stop, pay 50cents, get a ticket and if you buy something you can get these 50cents back anyway. The toilets are simply wonderful. Clean, light, bright, someone is always cleaning inside. There is always toilet paper, revolving self-cleaning seats (I never sit but it's nice to see nevertheless) So the motto of the story as with everything is that you cannot generalise a continent of countries. It's not like the US. Every country is different and of course the standards and policies are different In general, paying 50 cents in most of Europe means you get a toilet which is clean and that's more important to me than one which is free and I'm scared to enter :0)
7 :
In many cases that little change you give them is their wages, very much like the porter in the hotels, they get paid almost nothing but they make up the money in tips. Having visited public toilets in the USA I would have been glad to pay a small amount to have somewhere that was clean. I know you come from the states but do not compare different countries, I am from the UK and I think it's barbaric that people can be refused treatment in a hospital because they do not have any money, you may think its normal. Of course there are cultural differencis there would be point in you going to school in Poland if it was the same as your home. You (I assume) are trying to learn about the countries. Not being rude but dont forget the USA is how old? its still a baby in arms compared to the ages of many of the countries of europe. Go a bit off track sorry. take each country as it is, dont compare it, just enjoy the experience. RR
8 :
There are more free ones in UK than elsewhere in Europe but many where you have to pay. Remember that department stores, bars and cafes usually have free and clean ones. We have a saying here that when you need to use the washroom you say 'I need to spend a penny'. When I was a child that was what you paid to use a public washroom, now it is more like 30 pence (new pennies not old ones!).
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