• makeshiftreaper@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Occasionally I hear people argue it’s so you can catch IV drug users without bursting in. Personally I think it’s that capitalism cares not for your happiness and it’s fractionally cheaper to have shitty doors, and so that’s what people do

    • pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip
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      23 hours ago

      I think it’s because bathrooms are cost, and so they got enshitified early to discourage costumers from using them.

    • Fizz@lemmy.nz
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      1 day ago

      No its not a profit saving thing. It makes no difference cost wise to save a few cms of wood. Its intentionally designed that way. Go to any other capitalist country than America and you won’t see gaps.

      • theparadox@lemmy.world
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        19 hours ago

        It makes no difference cost wise to save a few cms of wood.

        The cost savings is not only in materials. For manufacturing, lower quality materials and larger tolerances. Time to install and repair is lower because of how open the design is. Time to clean is lower because you can just soak the floor and mop without worrying about each stalls’ corners.

        Brutal efficiency at the cost of comfort and privacy is what capitalism is all about. The US is just used to it and somehow also incredibly puritanical.

        That said, efficiency isn’t a bad thing. There are some countries with some bathrooms that don’t have stalls - legit indoor public bathrooms where you just squat over a hole or urinals that are just one long wide trough. It’s about what you are used to.

        • Fizz@lemmy.nz
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          10 hours ago

          Nah I refuse to accept its for efficiency or cost savings. Thats so negligible no one would bring it up. Especially at the scale these are being constructed.

          Ive seen a ton of arguments like “oh its to save costs installing if the floor is uneven” or “it gives leeway for different cuts” or “its for cleaning” but these are things can can easily be designed around without having a gap that leaves the user exposed. Either Americans are to stupid to design around this constraint (they aren’t) or theyre intentionally leaving it in for some reasons and there is plenty of speculation on the reasons.

          • makeshiftreaper@lemmy.world
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            9 hours ago

            You’re correct, those things are avoidable and can be designed around. However hiring the people who know how to do that also costs money and it’s cheaper to hire shitty engineers who do things safely instead of well. We’re not stupid, we’re exploitative

            • Fizz@lemmy.nz
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              5 hours ago

              If you’re gonna build hundreds of thousands of bathrooms you can afford a decent engineer to make a door. Look at any other country, even the poor ones.

      • Soup@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        Uh, I know it’s because we’re unfortunately too close to the States but in Canada we have the same problem. It’s getting a little better, and we aren’t such babies about gender neutral bathrooms either, but we have our fair share of stall gaps.

      • makeshiftreaper@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        I don’t know about you but the vast majority of bathroom stalls I see do not use wood. They are almost all metal, and keeping metal from rubbing on metal in a high humidity environment seems like a cost saving measure to me

        • squaresinger@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          Toilets shouldn’t be high humidity environments (that’s what ventilation is there for) and gap-less doors don’t need to rub at all.

          That’s what this European high tech that seems to be virtually unknown in the US is for: door rebates.

        • Fizz@lemmy.nz
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          1 day ago

          Its usually wood with metal edges. They dont rub because the hinge has a few mm of clearance. Even if they were to scape the metal should last plenty long and be treated for the environment its in.

          Most places I see use a door frame and floor to ceiling walls but in stuff like schools.you still have the shitty stalls but the gaps are 1/10th the size they are im the us. Not enough to look through.

    • MNByChoice@midwest.social
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      1 day ago

      I have doubts about the IV drug users. It would imply that bathroom stalls used to give privacy before IV drugs were a thing, and after indoor plumbing.

      I suspect the posted “cheapness” posted elsewhere, or so managers can check who is “slacking off”. (Also so pervs can spy.)