when's the last time you used a "payphone"?

[JOERM]

I asked my wife this question today and she said it was 18years ago trying find directions to my home, for our first date. That all worked out good. But i really cannot remember tbe last time i made a call on a pay phone. Most phone booths have the phones removed. Now that i think of it i was at seatac airport and made a call home from a bootb. Cells have made booths obs. But yet i steil see phone bootbs here and there.

 

[Cdog]

I'm gonna have to admit that I'm drawing a blank?

Have you looked at your bill lately? They're all "pay phones."I figure someone will ask, "what's a phone booth?"

I remember being in St Lucia back in 99' and being surprised at the old "Get Smart" classic style phone booths everywhere.

 

[Gray Rider]

A local diner has two tables of "regulars" every morning; One for the retired cops and another for the working phone company repair guys, one of whom was a couple years ahead of me in school and who just completed his 40th year with the company.
Recently two of the younger phone guys (but by no means, rookies) had to take a payphone out of a local factory. They had no clue how to get it off the wall and were going to break out the sawzall when they thought to call the 40-year man to show them how it was done; a couple of screws behind the coin box if you're curious.
I can't think of a better example of how rare payphones are than this.

 

[brucev]

I remember using a payphone at college... complete with the old wooden booth and door. Cool. But, that was back in 1976-1979. I've used the plain outside phones w/ the little cover as late as about 2004. But once I got a little cell-phone that I could put in my pocket, I never had need for a payphone, etc.

 

[Malpasowildlifer]

wow, I dunno. Probably the late 90's.

 

[Old TexMex]

Six years ago, in a third world country! (that was Costa Rica- even in Nicaragua my cell phone worked.)prior to that, I can't remember....

 

[Old TexMex]

Pay phone story: A buddy of mine has a auto repair/ restoration shop- works on older classics-
and he has a pay phone, painted metallic gold on the wall. It's about six inches off the floor. When someone comes in and asks the impossible,(intake maniforld for a '57 Studebaker Commander) he directs them to that payphone
"It's a direct line to God." he tells them. "you gotta get down on your knees to make the call..."

If they look doubtful, Mike says "hey, it works for me."

 

[Stephanie B]

Two years ago. My cell phone, for some reason, wouldn't or couldn't link up to a cell tower at a couple different airports (Providence & Midway).

 

[Mickey D]

"Drop me a dime."

I said that to my 24 year old son the other day, referring to giving me a call. He gave me a blank stare.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

I Remember the old phrase "Drop a nickel on him" meaning call whomever (cops, parents, girlfriend) and report what he is doing. Of course in Louisiana while everyone else in the union was at a dime we were still a nickle for our pay phones. I remember when first starting our practicing law you had your trial briefcase when you went to Court-legal pads, pens a few sundry office supplies, but the most important was that little prescription pill bottle with a bunch of quarters in it (by then it had gone to .25 for the phone) for the pay phones in the hall. Each floor had a bank of them. Unfortunately the cell phone did to he pay phone what the calculator did to the slide ruler. Can't say that I miss them.
Bot good news is that the pay phone, albeit using collect calls and credit cards, is alive and well at your local jail/prison, owned by the sheriff's brother in law or campaign supporter (surprise surprise ) Don't know why they need it though-at least at our jails the inmates smuggle in more cell phones than the senior class at the local high school

 

[Stu1205]

Now that you mention it, I realize why I haven't seen Superman
recently. He has no place to change.

Stu

 

[charlie sherrill]

Most pay phones weren't owned by the phone company. They were owned by individuals. I know several people who made a living with them. When the phones weren't profitable anymore they starting disappearing. The last ones to go around here were the two that were in the parking lot of a gas station over on Highway 49. They've only been gone a couple of years. They were frequently used by the "underfunded" locals to call 911. More than once we've had ambulances or helicopters come to that gas station to pick up someone who had been beaten, shot, stabbed, or just suffered a heart attack. Now everybody has a cell phone. Some folks will buy their minutes before they'll feed their kids. When they first came out payphones were considered a technological advancement. Then they were replaced by one.

 

[Brian41]

I was at a gun show 15 years ago when I got a page as I was on call. I got to my Jeep and found my cell phone battery was dead. I stopped at a drive up pay phone and tried to make my call but it didn't work. I wound up driving to the store they called me about and called from there.
A few years before that I used one outside a party store in the hood. I was a little nervous standing there calling my wife but my brother-in-law had my back.
The stores I work for still have pay phones in their lobby but one of the few places I see them anymore.

 

[s1mp13m4n]

I last used a pay phone in the late 90s. I have owned a cell phone from 1998 til today.

 

[yaktamer]

I hadn't even thought about payphones in years. Then, a couple months ago my kids saw one in a convenience store parking lot and asked me what it was.

 

[Old TexMex]

When I first moved to Australia in '84, it was not uncommon for regular people to not have a telephone in their home(though that was changing of course) and everyone had just walked down to the corner shop if you wanted to use the "dog and bone". Then suddenly the cell phone arrived, and now, nobody in Australia has a telephone "in their house"again.

 

[mg357]

Christmas vacation 2003 when I was in college.

 

[GaryS]

So long that I can't remember. However, when a dispatcher would ask me to call on the phone so they could whine at me about something, I'd just tell them that I'd do that as soon as I could find a payphone.

Eventually, they stopped asking.

 

[Stu1205]

Polishing Services Available!! Great Prices!! Great Work!! 1 Week Turn Around Time!!

You can polish my pay phone?

 

[bgrone]

cell phone

I Remember the old phrase "Drop a nickel on him" meaning call whomever (cops, parents, girlfriend) and report what he is doing. Of course in Louisiana while everyone else in the union was at a dime we were still a nickle for our pay phones. I remember when first starting our practicing law you had your trial briefcase when you went to Court-legal pads, pens a few sundry office supplies, but the most important was that little prescription pill bottle with a bunch of quarters in it (by then it had gone to .25 for the phone) for the pay phones in the hall. Each floor had a bank of them. Unfortunately the cell phone did to he pay phone what the calculator did to the slide ruler. Can't say that I miss them.
Bot good news is that the pay phone, albeit using collect calls and credit cards, is alive and well at your local jail/prison, owned by the sheriff's brother in law or campaign supporter (surprise surprise ) Don't know why they need it though-at least at our jails the inmates smuggle in more cell phones than the senior class at the local high school

the payphone in the jail was the original "cell" phone

 

[labworm]

The payphone was actually the pioneer of talking fast and getting to the point.

 

[Arik]

2008 Schipol international airport Amsterdam, Netherlands. Landed, needed to get in touch with my ride but my cell didnt work there (obviously). They have fancy pay phones that took credit cards, of course. Made the call!

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

 

[Kinman]

I have gotten by so far just fine without a cell phone, on the job I had before I retired we had radios in the trucks and on our person but no cell phones were issued. When someone needed to contact me they would call my foreman who would then call me on the radio, I would then run a pay phone and call whoever it was. I knew where they all were in town and could get to a pay phone within an easy 5 minutes. I used a payphone late last year to contact my daughter in law that wasn't home where she was supposed to be after about an hour wait.
I was on a deer hunt a couple years ago and told my wife I would call her just as I left civilization at the last gas station, I pulled into the station and filled everything up, went in paid the bill then went around the corner of the building where the phone booths were, they were all empty. I went back into the store and asked what had happened to the phones, the gal told me "The phone company came in and pulled them." I asked her were the nearest pay phone was and she said "Probably where you last came from, those were the last pay phones in the area." She was kind enough to let me use the store phone...*******ed cell phones

 

[Old 44 Guy]

I worked for Pacific Telephone for 38 years in Calif. Retired there in 1988. I installed & repaired hundreds if not thousands of pay phones. I last tried to use one in Redding, Ca. about 10 years ago. It was privately owned & would not work. Cell phones put them out of business.

 

[V1 Rotate]

I can remember the event but I can't pinpoint the date. In the 90's as a new junior regional airline pilot, I had what we call "reserve duty" obligations, in other words, on certain days if I got a call I would have to be at the airport within 2 hours ready to fly. This was before cheap cellphones, and the ones out there were about the size of a shoebox, so everybody carried a pager. It was an early spring wonderful day in the Cleveland area and I was running errands just glad to be out in nice clear 50 degree weather. The pager went off, and I dived into a semi-country gas station with a phone booth out by the corner and returned the call. Pretty bummed about going to work that day, and I'm always happy to go fly usually. Guess it was about spring 1997. Got my first cellphone shortly thereafter (my wife had one provided by her employer, so I was familiar with what was out there).
This was about the time that most frequent flyers and airline crew stopped carrying suitcases and got suitcases with wheels on them!
Bill S

 

[J. R. WEEMS]

???? I think they were a nickel??

 

[Brian41]

My flight to Italy in 1973 got all messed up. Matter of fact it got worse the next day as Flight 110 I was scheduled to be on got bombed in Rome airport.
Anyway I got some dollars changed to Lira in Rome and made my way on a train to Aviano where I got dropped off at a almost abandoned rail station. To my delight I found a pay phone with some instructions in English on how to call the air base. My lira coins didn't fit in the slot though and some kind Italian gentleman exchanged my coins for phone tockens and who would have thought? My call got through and a driver showed to transport me to Aviano AB. I always kept some Italian phone tockens in my pocket after that.

 

[Onomea]

Must have been an airport somewhere in the 1990s.

One pay phone call I recall was from a phone on Broadway, Upper West Side, NYC, in 1981. I used over $20 in quarters for a short call to my then girlfriend (and now wife) in Japan. Seems to me I spent more time listening to the kerchunk of quarters dropping than I did to her...

Nowadays I find Skype just amazing.

Or how about letters? When is the last time you sent a letter just to communicate with family or friends, rather than email? Or received one? And no fair counting thank-you notes or birthday/Christmas cards. I think I kept up the letter habit longer than most as my mother, God rest her soul, never did learn to use email or a computer, other than for playing solitaire. So until she passed in 2011 we would exchange the occasional letter in addition to weekly phone calls.

What was nice about letters, when you were far from home or away from someone you cared for, was that you could treasure the letter, taking it out to read, over and over. My mom kept every letter my father sent her from the Pacific in WWiI, and he kept many of hers as well. We still have those.

 

[VAPA]

Each day a fellow would set a small table and two chairs along with a phone connected to a wire ran from a auto repair business across the street from the shop I was working at in Mongolia. You simply paid him to use his phone, luckily my cell phone worked.

 

[kozmic]

There's a "men only, members only" club near my home town where you check your cell phone and keys at the bar (CC is fine, BTW). The bar keep will give them back to you when you leave (keys only if you're able to drive). It is pretty laid back. Great selection of beer and spirits. They converted the ladies room into a walk-in humidor. Awesome finger food.

The only games are shuffle board, a putting green and a couple old cork dart boards. Always sports on the tv's but the volume is down low. Usually a low-dollar, friendly poker game in the corner. Never any hassles or arguments. Peaceful!

The only phone allowed is a pay phone. Out going calls (except for a cab or a ride) are frowned upon. There's a note on the wall above the phone that says "Tell his wife he's not here" to deal with incoming calls. Been that way for years.

I used it to call a buddy for a lift back to his place when I was in town for a reunion back in the summer of '97 and got a bit...um...sideways.