Monday, November 9th, 2009...5:26 PM

Where Have The Pay Phones Gone?

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I was waiting to hop the train to New York this morning and overheard an interesing conversation.  A young man, -3lets say around twelve, was asking this adult he was with what this funny looking medal  thing was.  The adult went onto say it is where the pay phone used to be.  Of course the young man quickly retorted what is a pay phone?  The adult explained it is a phone where people could put in coins and call anyone they wanted.  Of course the young man said that is why we use cell phones.  Exactly the adult said but we did not always have cell phones.  The young man thought that was pretty funny.

This started my mind racing as well.  It was not that long ago when I had my first cell phone which looked more like a VCR in a portable case…it was circa 1989 or so.  I dont think that is a long time ago anyway.  We surely had a lot of pay phones then because I would use them to avoid paying the outrageous cellular fees for a call when traveling from here to there for work.

I have been a junkie for new phones, organizers and text pagers since.  It was a pleasure to sit on the train this morning banging out emails and text messages, talking on the phone, listening to music and using some cool apps like Pandora, The New York Times and Open Table on the train.  I even took the picture of the crazy looking pay phone stand and uploaded it to this blog.  I did all of this all on my trusty little iPhone.  It has come a very long way in ten years.

Out of the mouths of babes….I guess that young man was right this morning…”why do we need pay phones…”

14 Comments

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14 Comments

  • Rick Howard
    November 9th, 2009 at 5:37 PM

    Hi Jeff,

    Last week I saw a pay phone located in the Town of Wayland at the Town’s Admin. Building. Not sure if it worked, but it was there.

  • Liz Scully
    November 9th, 2009 at 7:12 PM

    I actually was in NYC just recently, and had read some stat that there were something like only 30 pay phones left in the city. Actually, maybe it was 3 phone booths or something like that. I can’t remember exactly…But, I saw a row of 3 right outside where I was having my hair cut – 19th and 5th – and I was loitering for a while, and saw not one person use one. I kind of miss the anonymity of a pay phone though – everything you do is tracked now – not that I am doing anything that I’d care that anyone would see – but there’s something to be said about just making a call from a random number. Not that anyone would pick it up anymore if they didn’t know the number. Now THAT is a whole ‘nother topic – how did we live before caller ID? We were bolder then. Much bolder.

    I still think we need pay phones. Especially if your cell runs out of juice, or service is spotty (have you READ Balazy’s post’s about AT & T in NYC? Frightening)…Just in case..Hey, you never know….

  • Edan P
    November 10th, 2009 at 3:42 PM

    Hey Jeff,

    Funny, I was in NY last week and had a need for a pay phone. My iphone battery was going dead (shocker) and I needed a phone to get a message to my wife back in LA. I ended talking a restaurant into letting me use their phone because a pay phone was nowhere to be found.

    Here is a directory of pay phones!

    http://www.payphone-directory.org/

    In good health :-0 !!

  • Liz Scully
    November 11th, 2009 at 10:33 AM

    Here’s an interesting website that says that there are only 4 phone booths left in NYC apparently! Poor Superman! What’s a superhero to do?

    http://www.payphone-project.com/gallery/Last_Phone_Booths_of_Manhattan

  • dealsbennett
    November 11th, 2009 at 10:43 AM

    Thanks for the comment Rick. Probably the only pay phone left in Wayland.

  • dealsbennett
    November 11th, 2009 at 10:45 AM

    Thanks Liz for the comment. It is hard to imagine all of the pay phones that existed and are now gone. Changing business. Changing psyche on people picking up the phone to answer if they dont know the caller. We do need some type of public phones…but it looks like they are declining rapidly.

  • dealsbennett
    November 11th, 2009 at 10:47 AM

    Thanks for the comment Edan. I am an iPhone user. i love it. I wished the battery was better. So when I travel I am always managing battery power. When I was in NY the other day I hit the battery reserve by afternoon. No payphones. Had to borrow the power @ a restaurant while I had a quick lunch. Amazing about the lack of phones. Thanks for the link on the payphone directory.

  • dealsbennett
    November 11th, 2009 at 10:48 AM

    Wow – thanks Liz – that is a great resource. Now that Superman lives in the White House (:-)))…I think that there is less need for the phone boot – Air Force One is a great mode of transportation and changing spot when he is in pinch.

  • Richard Meyer
    November 11th, 2009 at 11:15 AM

    In the 70’s til 1990, I use to use paid phones 1 to 2 hours a day. And, I always had a roll of quarters in my car so I never had to seek out change.

    I also had a mobile* phone in my car but I was very careful about using it because of the expensive airtime.

    *where you spoke to mobile operator to place your call. Eventually, you could dial it yourself.

    Then, moved onto the bag phone and brick phone.

    Because I used so many different paid phones in one day, I’m positive I caught many colds.

    Jeff, you are correct. The smart phones have drastically changed our lives.

    Imagine where we will be in 20 yrs?

  • dealsbennett
    November 11th, 2009 at 11:28 AM

    Thanks Richard. It is amazing the progress of this telephony technology. And lack of pay phones. Shifting landscape indeed.

  • Claire Wadlington
    November 12th, 2009 at 6:10 AM

    When my son first went to middle school the principal recommended that all kids have cell phones since after school activities end at different times, etc. I asked if they had any pay phones, and the answer was no, but they did say kids could come to the office and use the office phone. Another cultural shift is all the kids getting cell phones at a certain age so they can call someone if they are left at a soccer practice or if whoever they think is picking them up fails to turn up….

  • dealsbennett
    November 12th, 2009 at 1:50 PM

    Thanks for the comment Claire. Incredible on the lack of public pay phones in the school…which is a public place! Cell phone access is indeed changing things for instant access to people

  • Liz Scully
    February 14th, 2010 at 11:40 AM

    here’s another interesting story that a New Yorker friend of mine just posted….Check it out!

    http://gothamist.com/2010/02/13/an_elegy_for_the_pay_phone.php

  • Marielle Sperdute
    March 3rd, 2010 at 2:29 AM

    Good posting, thanks a lot!

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