Something else I've noticed, garbage cans are disappearing.

I had some trash in my car I needed to get rid of: McDonalds? None outside, Tacobell? none outside, CVS? none outside OR inside, The entire rest of that shopping center? nope.

Luckily gas stations still have them but its sad to see these community service type things disappear.

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devin 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

This reminds me of a story I heard (read?) a long time ago. At Disney World they had a rule about a garbage can being within a 10 foot distance of basically anywhere in the park. The logic was that when a garbage can is nearby, there is additional social pressure not to litter, and the result was that they were able to save money on park cleanup because people used the cans.

When I see lone overflowing garbage cans in big cities I think about this.

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etc-hosts 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I haul my garbage home in my backpack like a good little global citizen but the lack of trash cans in San Francisco is crazy

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SAN-FRANCISCO-Trash-c...

	▲	why_at an hour ago \| parent [-]
		I feel like there are plenty personally. I usually don't have to walk more than a block or two to find one. That article is from 20 years ago by the way

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hlynurd 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

You would think it's in the interest of whoever is responsible for keeping those areas clean to offer garbage cans.

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xahrepap 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I live by a park. These places don't care for the same reason the park doesn't care: the wind blows it all in my yard, not their problem anymore.

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ssl-3 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

It would be, if the responsible parties were making rational decisions.

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jerlam 5 hours ago | parent [-]

It is unlikely the low-ranked employees responsible for cleaning up garbage are making decisions on whether to construct or retain garbage cans.

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ssl-3 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Agreed. It was never my intent to suggest that they would be doing so.

So move up the management ladder, if you will, until a party that is responsible for making this kind of decision is reached. That's the class of party of which I was speaking, and where I suggested that irrational decisions are being made.

Someone -- at some point -- did make a decision to eliminate outdoor trash cans at these establishments. They used to be present and no longer are, and they didn't disappear on their own.

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jerlam 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I'm not sure that anyone in the management ladder is affected. People don't generally choose a fast food restaurant or convenience store based on the cleanliness of their parking lots, so sales isn't going to be affected. Nor is staff, already cut to minimal levels, going to be given additional hours to keep the parking lots clean.

There even might be a disincentive to have garbage cans if they can't be maintained. People who don't litter will either take the extra step of going indoors, or they might leave it in their own car to throw out later. Whereas people who do litter will do so regardless of when there are trash cans. By removing outdoor trash cans, you've "saved" the staff the time to monitor and clear out those trash cans.

	▲	bluGill an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		People do chose fast food by the neighborhood. When I was at McDonald's - 30 years ago so this may have changed - corporate policy was you would clean your parking lot and everyone for one block. We were encouraged to paint any abandoned building in the one block range at our expense just to ensure the area looked nice.
	▲	ssl-3 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		If that's really your take on this then I have no option but to accept it. Let's move forward. What incentivized them to provide the trash cans to begin with, might you suppose? They aren't cheap to buy, or to maintain, or to keep emptied daily (or as they fill up, or whatever). But yet: They were things that existed, and their existence was definitely deliberate. What motivates companies that still provide outdoor trash cans to continue to do so?

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xienze 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> So move up the management ladder, if you will, until a party that is responsible for making this kind of decision is reached. That's the class of party of which I was speaking, and where I suggested that irrational decisions are being made.

No matter what, big or small, it's always a Republican's fault, huh.

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ButlerianJihad 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

One of the primary goals of the pandemic and lockdowns was to eliminate cost centers for every business.

If you notice how courtesy services disappeared, and many facilities were closed, because of a lack of staff or funds to clean them and maintain them.

It has actually been difficult to get into a restroom at certain restaurants, even now; sometimes I will find a handwritten sign there like “Employees Only” which is against health codes.

I rode a scooter to a “Drive-In” burger restaurant last month. Not a drive-thru, mind you, but a place where folks pulled up in cars and carhops served them, and they ate while parked. And this place had picnic tables, so I ordered a burger combo and tried to wash my hands.

There was no restroom available, and I contacted the order-taker guy and asked to confirm, and then I asked to cancel my order. He said “Your order is ready!” and I said hell naw, if you don’t have a restroom then you’re not serving anyone, so I got my refund...

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what 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> I had some trash in my car I needed to get rid of

Bring it home and use your own trash can? I don’t really understand why you need to immediately get rid of it.

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curtisblaine 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

In city centers it's usually counter-terrorism: it's easy to throw a timed bomb in a metal garbage can and flee the scene, so they got rid of them (London did because of IRA, and of course now they have Islamic terrorism). Outside of city centers it's about (lack of) recycling: it's easier to check if you're recycling correctly in your home bin than public bins.

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lesuorac 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Why would you throw a bomb into a garbage can? Who loiters next to one?

100% just drop it behind you as you exit the tram. Way better metal container for blasting.

"Counter-terrorism" just means nobody thought about it more than 2 seconds or else they'd have a more specific reason.

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curtisblaine 3 hours ago | parent [-]

It was pretty common with the IRA, apparently. They hid bombs in metal garbage cans and used the shrapnel as a damage multiplier. I think they did that at a commercial center and killed several people. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-23695239

	▲	lesuorac 10 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		> More than 2,000 bins were cleared from the Square Mile after a truck bomb killed one person and injured 44 While I'm not intimate with the difference between British English and American English, I'm pretty confident "Truck Bomb" does not mean a bomb inside a rubbish bin. But yes, vehicles are a great vector for terrorism and I'm honestly surprised at how few instances there are of people just running other over. But it's also one of the reasons in the US basically every government building has large concrete planters around them (can't ram a truck through it).

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quickthrowman 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Explosion resistant trash receptacles do exist but they’re pricey so it makes sense London didn’t replace theirs. The most common place to see them is in airports.

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tamimio 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Blame the raccoons!