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

[GaryS]

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.

Yes and no. If you drive through some sections of Boston you will see cell phones on the outside of small convenience stores. My daughter noticed that and asked me who uses pay phones these days.

The answer is simple.

Drug dealers.

They can make calls using calling cards and not be traced. The phones are on the outside of the stores so that they can be used even when the stores are closed. Also, they are outside so that the people who own them can deny knowing what they are used for.

Drive through during the night hours and there will be people on those phones. Most of them don't take incoming calls, either.

 

[skennedy]

I use one everyday. I have the one below hanging on the wall by my computer. A friend of mine bought a couple of Western Electric payphones that had been restored a couple years ago and I bought both of them from him. I gave one to my brother for his game room. They work without money, but you can drop in a quarter, dime or nickel and hear it ding.

 

[foxeye]

They started to slowly dissapear in this town quite awhile ago. Before that the phone books started to dissapear so dropping by a phone booth to find a number was pretty much out of the question. I do not even remember when I even saw the last pay phone or phone booth. All the ones that used to be on the outside wall of a convienience store have all been removed as have the phone booths by gas stations etc. Just a thing of the past.

 

[straightshooter1]

I'm old enough to remember when they were a nickel. Then, in the service in the 60s, they were a dime. Then they went to a quarter.

Then God smiled on me and I discovered cell phones. I bought my buddies old one (he paid about 4k for it) for $300 and it was the best one I ever had. Looked like a walkie-talkie, but worked well.

Now I have an Iphone 4S. I didn't think I'd use many of the features, but found I do-the net, email, solitaire, etc.

I don't miss pay phones one bit (most of which took my money and didn't work).

I don't quite understand some posters not having one. You can get a cheap one at Walmart or Sams or the drug store, throw it in the console, and use it only when you REALLY need it.

Great tool.

Bob

 

[quneur]

About 6 months ago. Was at a store trying to use my debit card. The store would not accept it and my phone battery went dead. Used payphone to call the bank who said their system was momentarily down and I had to wait 1/2 hour.

 

[adwjc]

My club just had theirs removed from the clubhouse.

We always kept it for those "emergencies"' that never seemed to happen, just in case.

We had to pay a monthly fee and it didn't make a penny for us.

We just installed a VOIP using the package that provides our cable service, we set it up restricted to local & 911 only.

 

[geoff40]

I see payphones getting used at truck stops a lot still. There are still plenty of truckers who don't carry cell phones, or use them to conduct their business, it is in fact an offense that can cost them their CDL if they are caught on the phone while driving.
A phone booth, on the other hand, thats an endangered species. I know of 2 of them in NH. Neither one will go anywhere any time soon, unless the phone company pulls the plug on them.

 

[boykinlp]

I last used one a couple of years after I said "Hello Sarah, can you get me Juanita at the diner?"

 

[sheepdawg]

The last time my pager went off.

 

[Moonman]

I SAW ONE, yesterday, but I didn't use it.

 

[PatAz]

I honestly have no idea.

 

[Foodfuzz]

Man it's been tough! I've had a terrible time ripping off my suit, tie, glasses, and unfurling my cape and blue underwear since there are no more phone booths. I once tried a public restroom, but the guy in the next stall kept tapping his feet into my stall. I'm not sure what he wanted, but, I flew out of there (no pun intended).

 

[sipowicz]

I miss them...so much more dramatic than a cellphone.

Goodfellas Tommy get killed Scene - YouTube

 

[Engineer1911]

Easy question, after I though about the answer

Christmas Eve 1971 in the OMS barracks at Plattsburgh, AFB, NY. Eric, from California, called Ruthie and talked for 35 minutes. I called my grandparents (they raised me) and talked for about 10 minutes. We were the only 2 guys in the barracks on the third floor. Eric could barely standup and I had only 1 beer. I went home on Christmas leave in 1972, and Christmas 1973 I was in Udorn, Thailand.

The payphone would only make oputgoing calls, and could not accept incoming calls. Outgoing was 25¢ to 45¢ per minute. Incoming calls were charged 4¢ to 10¢ per minute.

The trivia we remember from our "youth' . Now where did I leave my truck keys ?

 

[sw1834]

I actually saw a pay phone today at a rest area in the middle of Wyoming. And it still worked!