Pay phones - when did you last use one?

applecruncher

applecruncher

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Location
Ohio USA
When was the last time you used a pay phone?
How much did it cost?
Where was it located?
Today if you had to find a pay phone, could you?

I'll go first:

About 8 yrs ago. I was expecting a very important call (on my cell phone) and didn't want caller going to voice mail.
Pay phone cost was 50 cents.
Pay phone was in the exit area of a grocery store.
I don't know where there is a pay phone...probably in a hotel lobby. (I haven't seen a phone booth in ages.)
 

I use them all the time when I get a call from a number I want to check out that might be a scammer. Even though it uses a local area code it could be bogus.

They have them in bowling establishments and clinics for people that want to call a cab. They don't want people using their business phones. Cost is 50 cents. The ones outside are gone now. Too much theft and damage.
 
When was the last time you used a pay phone?
Y2K

How much did it cost?
Don't know (Chinese Yuan)

Where was it located?
Mainland China

Today if you had to find a pay phone, could you?
No
Last one I saw was just an open air kiosk like thing with the phone ripped out

phone.jpg

....of which makes it a bit tough to suit up for my night job

super me fin.jpg
 
Last edited:
The last Working payphones I recall, in our area, were removed perhaps 7 or 8 years ago, There was a real fancy one in the main entrance at the Ameristar Casino in Kansas City...I think it was just for show....and it was removed at least 3 years ago.
 
Gary O' said:
When was the last time you used a pay phone?
Y2K

How much did it cost?
Don't know (Chinese Yuan)

Where was it located?
Mainland China

Today if you had to find a pay phone, could you?
No
Last one I saw was just an open air kiosk like thing with the phone ripped out

View attachment 85091

....of which makes it a bit tough to suit up for my night job

View attachment 85075
Click to expand...

Gary....you may have to use those port-a-johns from now on.
 
It was about 1968. I was in the US Navy, in Great Lakes, Il. I called "Information" to get the phone number for a party we were going. I was pretty drunk. The operator rattled off the number so fast, I couldn't follow it. I asked her to dial it for me. She asked if I were disabled, so I said, "Yes". Then she asked what my disability was. I thought and answered, "I'm deaf". She hung up. I haven't the faintest idea why in the hell I remember that incident. I kept a dime in my wallet to use for an emergency phone call, and I never used it, since "the incident".
 
Pappy said:
Gary....you may have to use those port-a-johns from now on.
Click to expand...
Better knock first!

images
 
I haven't thought about it in decades, but when I was a kid (teenager), every time I left the house, my mom would ask if I had my dime for that emergency phone call home. I've replaced the dime with a cell phone. But every time I leave the house, gotta make sure I have it.
BTW, the operators were a lot nicer when I was kid. They knew when a kid placed a long distance person to person call, it was to say they were safe.
 
applecruncher said:
When was the last time you used a pay phone?
How much did it cost?
Where was it located?
Today if you had to find a pay phone, could you?

I'll go first:

About 8 yrs ago. I was expecting a very important call (on my cell phone) and didn't want caller going to voice mail.
Pay phone cost was 50 cents.
Pay phone was in the exit area of a grocery store.
I don't know where there is a pay phone...probably in a hotel lobby. (I haven't seen a phone booth in ages.)
Click to expand...
Late 70s early 80s? A quarter. Street corner for some...others were outside gas stations.
 
The last time I used one was outside a convenience store about twenty years ago. They disappeared entirely soon thereafter, basically requiring that everyone acquire a cell phone. In the 1960's and early 1970's, I used pay phones for privacy as my parents had but one phone in the house, and my mother would listen intently to every call going in or out...
 
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