Back when payphones existed did you regularly use them?

[Kooks and Bay Bay]

I used a payphone a few times when I was staying after school and needed a ride home or when I was at the mall and wanted to ask if I could go to a friend's house and be picked up there.

My friend posts payphones in the wild.
Any time I see one where ever I am I'll take a pic and send it to her.

 

[tony67]

We did use payphones a lot when I was in the Military - cellphones were still a far of fantasy - even when I got one of the first phones it was 72 cents a minute to use it so you really did not use it.

We could have an entire thread on pay phone hacks!

Yup - I recall when I worked in the city and we called my wifes family in Europe and Australia we had a code of some sort that we bough from some guy in pub and we called for free for a good six months. Pretty much everyone in that pub was using that same code to call home. Was a sad day when it stopped working - calls were really expensive back then.

I complain up my cellphone bill - but honestly my landline bill with no free calls other than local (and of course no data) was higher - not even accounting for inflation.

 

[amcnj]

I was more likely to check the coin slot for a dime than to actually use the phone. The only time I used a pay phone with any regularity was when calling home from school.

 

[elgerber]

I went to high school in the 80s. When after school practice ended, you used a dime (yes, I said dime) to call for a ride home. Later it was a quarter.

Yep, story of my school days.

 

[Skippy918]

Yep. In school when I needed a ride home.

 

[firefly_ris]

Not a ton I guess, but yeah if I was at the mall and needed to call my parents or something like that.

 

[mikeuno]

Frequent pay phone user back in the early 70s. Those payphone booths with folding glass doors bring back fond memories! Some were on the stinky side

 

[Debbie Jean]

Yup, all the time growing up. Never passed a pay phone without checking the coin return to see if anyone left any change!

 

[WDWEPCOT]

All the time !! They had one at Epcot I used it every day when I was on vacation to check on things at my house my pets see how things are going talk to my house sitter
If someone was on a plane going somewhere when they arrive they used to pay phone I used them all the time

 

[cabanafrau]

Used them very rarely for specific need only.

 

[Dug720]

Yes - to call home with a calling card when I was in college. At least to start Freshman year. It cost extra to have outside service on your dorm room line - I think it was about midway through first semester my parents figured out it was cheaper to pay that than the service charge for the phone card and pay phone.

 

[BrianL]

You know who really misses phone booths?

 

[NYCgrrl]

Pay phones used to be an important part of urban life. Cellphones changed that and I believe there are only a handful of public phones left in NYC.

 

[jimmymc]

I personally only used one once. I was in Germany in 2014 and didn't have any international plan. Using the phone was the cheaper and easier option.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Often, a kid in the 50's and early 60's. And I recall getting off airplanes in the 70's, heading to rows and rows of payphones to make a call home announcing safe arrival. Some were stand-up style, some had a little seat, for those long calls, others were like little closets with folding doors, for private calls.

I also recall, in the 50's my dad driving my brother and me to the movie theater. Two feature movies, a couple cartoons, coming attractions (not previews and only about 5 minutes long, not 20-25 minutes like today), good for a full afternoon. My dad gave me 50 cents, my brother, 60 cents. The 50 cents for each was 25 cents ticket admission and 25 cents for snacks. We had to decide while in the theater to either spend 15 cents on plain popcorn or 25 cents on buttered. If we got the plain, then be could also get a 10 cent ice cream bar OR a 10 cent cup of pop, but not both. Learning financial budgeting and consequences at under 10 years old. My brother's extra 10 cents was to call dad when ready for pickup. Fun memories of days gone by.

 

[DL1WDW2]

I remeber making sure I had enough coins to satisfy the operator before the call would go thru.

Isn’t there a scene in Bill& Teds Excellent Adventure that “teleported” them every time they entered the old fashion phone booth?

 

[BrianL]

I remeber making sure I had enough coins to satisfy the operator before the call would go thru.

Isn’t there a scene in Bill& Teds Excellent Adventure that “teleported” them every time they entered the old fashion phone booth?

In Bill & Ted, the phone booth was their time machine. It is a major part of the movie.

 

[Moonspinner]

Yes a lot actually

 

[DL1WDW2]

I worked night shift for Southwestern Bell in 1968
A driver would go to the small towns along interstate to pick up the old data tickets with holes punched/ processed in them to indicate origination phone # and number Called with time stamps.
We fed them into the old computers that transcribed them onto those giant tape/ machines all night long and printed the monthly billing statements.
The management team would occasionally conduct experiments to get computers to recognize music …on a slow night .
I love seeing the big old computer data processing machine on Spaceship Earth …and my mother was Morse Code Operator in England during WWII and relayed the radar and landing flight to pilots
Radar the first tech invention that started it all …in my family

And everybody was afraid to use that new invention microwave machine in 1975 and would not go to restaurants that used microwaves!!!

I also remeber our next door neighbor getting the new color TV and inviting us over to watch World of Disney in Color

 

[White Cat]

Yes I did.