# Who empties payphones? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 16, 2009, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-empties-payphones/486083 "2009-02-16T13:05:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-empties-payphones/486083/1 "2009-02-16T13:05:16Z")
…or parking meters come to that. I’ve never seen anyone emptying these, are they emptied during the night or what? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-empties-payphones/486083/2 "2009-02-16T13:14:52Z")
Locally, the meter maids emptied the parking meters, until a local contractor offered to do it for less. I suspect phone company dudes, or contractors thereof account for the phones…if there are any payphones left. ---
**Author:** ![williamweigand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b3f665/32.png) [@williamweigand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williamweigand)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-empties-payphones/486083/3 "2009-02-16T13:33:56Z")
I work the Midnight to 8AM shift as a guard at a factory. There’s a payphone across the hall from my office that I’ve never seen emptied in the 7 years I’ve worked there. The phone is in view of one of the cameras. I’ll review the video tonight and report back if the phone had been emptied at all in the past 2 weeks. ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-empties-payphones/486083/4 "2009-02-16T13:45:34Z")
I’m glad you asked! I used to empty phones! 🙂 Yes, and legally. It comes down to who owns the phones. The ones I emptied were owned / run by a professional businessman / entrepeneur who leased the phones from (I believe) AT&T. Every week we’d put together a route, and drive around Chicago in his station wagon. We’d hit an address, I’d hop out with a bag and the keys (you need two) to open the coin area of the phone. Dump the coins in the bag, slap a label in so we’d know which phone was putting out which change, check to see the phone was ‘in-order’, then close it up and drive off to the next phone. Easy peasy. I got paid, no pun intended, chump change. But I liked my boss, and it was fun just driving around the city, getting weird looks as I’d pop the phones open. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-empties-payphones/486083/5 "2009-02-16T14:00:14Z")
Well payphones in the UK are owned by BT and in all my 67 years on this ball of mud I’ve yet to see one being emptied, same with parking meters. I don’t mean that BT own the meters o’course ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-empties-payphones/486083/6 "2009-02-16T14:21:43Z")
I’ve seen meters being emptied. The money is never exposed - the change holder is removed from the meter, and placed in the opening of a cart, which then opens a door and dumps the money. The meter tender hauls the cart from meter to meter. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-empties-payphones/486083/7 "2009-02-16T14:31:07Z")
They still have pay phones?? I don’t think I’ve used one for 20 years, and I make a lot of calls. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-empties-payphones/486083/8 "2009-02-16T14:56:52Z")
A guy I work with told me he used to empty them out with baseball bats when he was a punk in his twenties years ago. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-empties-payphones/486083/9 "2009-02-16T15:27:46Z")
> [@chowder](#): > > Well payphones in the UK are owned by BT and in all my 67 years on this ball of mud I’ve yet to see one being emptied, same with parking meters. > > I don’t mean that BT own the meters o’course BT are going over to card phones, which removes the need for coin collection. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-empties-payphones/486083/10 "2009-02-16T15:32:38Z")
> [@ParentalAdvisory](#): > > A guy I work with told me he used to empty them out with baseball bats when he was a punk in his twenties years ago. 😛 Was his name _Cool Hand Luke?_ ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-empties-payphones/486083/11 "2009-02-16T15:52:13Z")
> [@chowder](#): > > Was his name _Cool Hand Luke?_ Funny you should mention it, he said he also terrorized parking meters too. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-empties-payphones/486083/12 "2009-02-16T15:59:16Z")
I’ve seen parking meters being empties. The meter maid comes along with a sort of rolling safe with a funnel at the top. She opens the meter and the coins fall into the funnel, then she moves to the next. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-empties-payphones/486083/13 "2009-02-16T16:10:52Z")
> [@ParentalAdvisory](#): > > Funny you should mention it, he said he also terrorized parking meters too. All well and good but could he eat 50 hard boiled eggs in one sitting? ---
**Author:** ![Spezza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Spezza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spezza)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-empties-payphones/486083/14 "2009-02-16T16:49:45Z")
> [@glee](#): > > BT are going over to card phones, which removes the need for coin collection. In Greece all the pay-phones are already card phones. Which, I’m sure, is great for the profits of phone companies. However, for the non-native who needs to make a single phone call it really isn’t that great. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-empties-payphones/486083/15 "2009-02-16T17:03:33Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > They still have pay phones?? I don’t think I’ve used one for 20 years, and I make a lot of calls. My county has a lot of Amish residents, so we not only have pay phones all around, they’re in honest-to-goodness phone booths! There’s such a booth less than a quarter mile from my house! ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-empties-payphones/486083/16 "2009-02-16T17:29:49Z")
I think that payphones will eventually vanish given that most people now have mobiles. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-empties-payphones/486083/17 "2009-02-16T17:31:31Z")
**ArrMatey** , did you ever worry about getting robbed or mugged? Did you work alone or with a partner to prevent such incidents? How much money was there usually in each coin box? ---
**Author:** ![tetranz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@tetranz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tetranz)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-empties-payphones/486083/18 "2009-02-16T17:46:09Z")
I don’t know about now but when I left New Zealand in 2000, there were very few, if any, coin phones left. The more usual way of paying is with a prepaid swipe card that you buy at a local store. One big advantage of cards is that nobody needs to waste energy travelling around collecting coins. ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-empties-payphones/486083/19 "2009-02-16T17:57:22Z")
> [@dwc1970](#): > > **ArrMatey** , did you ever worry about getting robbed or mugged? Did you work alone or with a partner to prevent such incidents? How much money was there usually in each coin box? I worked with the boss, who did the driving. I’m a pretty big guy, he was a pretty big guy. We drove the routes that his less-intimidating-looking employee didn’t want to drive. I dunno… Only trouble we ever got was due to bar owners who thought their cut should be bigger _shrug_. I was never more than like 15 feet from the car (except in one bowling alley), so I never really considered it a problem; someone would have to be lying-in-wait for me, and as we didn’t have any real ‘fixed’ schedule, it’d have been a lot of work for a bunch of change. As for how much… Depends heavilly on the phone and the neighborhood. There were bars that had maybe a buck in them a week, and places that had maybe fifty, seventy bucks in a phone. Generally the two biggest draws were: Low-income neighborhoods (no idea why, it just was), and the bowling alley (again, no idea why, but we had six phones there, and they were always jam-packed). ---
**Author:** ![HongKongFooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c4cdca/32.png) [@HongKongFooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HongKongFooey)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-empties-payphones/486083/20 "2009-02-16T18:51:46Z")
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