this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2025
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cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/38101225

Imagine this: you walk into a public restroom in China, but instead of just grabbing toilet paper… you have to scan a QR code and watch an ad first 😅. Only then will the machine dispense a tiny sheet of tissue. Don’t feel like watching? You can also pay 0.5 RMB (about $0.07) for a bit more paper 💸. This system is designed to cut down waste — some people would abuse free paper before. Now, it’s all about “watch an ad or pay a coin.” Would you sit through an ad for free toilet paper, or just drop the 0.5 yuan? 👀 . . .

Source: China Insider on Instagram.

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[–] kami@lemmy.dbzer0.com 53 points 2 months ago

Boring dystopia

[–] ironhydroxide@sh.itjust.works 45 points 2 months ago

Or scrape my ass across their damned dispenser.

Fuck that noise.

[–] kikutwo@lemmy.world 36 points 2 months ago (9 children)

How is this any different than Germany where oftentimes the entrance itself is behind a paywall?

[–] es_eskaliert@feddit.org 37 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Dropping in a coin vs what seems to be downloading some sort of an app or at least opening some shady websites on your fucking phone over your fucking mobile data is where I see it. Even if you used the payment option, you'd have to disclose your online payment information to the provider. Privacy nightmare.

[–] es_eskaliert@feddit.org 8 points 2 months ago

Or simply imagine you just took your most violent shit of the century and then have an ad for hot mexican food or something.

[–] ptmb@piefed.zip 21 points 2 months ago (3 children)

The entrance being behind a paywall is bad, but if you're not aware of it before using the toilet this holds you hostage unable to get clean until you pay up, with either your money or your attention. I'd say this is a more evil design, even though both are evil.

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[–] Fermion@mander.xyz 18 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Germany doesn't get everything right.

[–] guy_threepwood@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago

Berlin Hbf. They have a single set of toilets about half the size of what you’d get in a shopping center which cost €2 with turnstyle access for a station the size of a cathedral with something like 20 platforms. 🙈

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[–] NotKyloRen@lemmy.zip 11 points 2 months ago

In Germany you're paying to access the bathroom, not the "privilege" of wiping your ass

[–] circledot@feddit.org 5 points 2 months ago

It sets precedent. You could extend that on anything. Doesn't make the German pay or piss yourself thing any better though.

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[–] hddsx@lemmy.ca 27 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Bring your own toilet paper?

Also China public bathrooms smell like absolute crap I have no idea why. I had to pee in China and walked into a public bathroom on the side of the road. I almost puked

[–] perishthethought@piefed.social 19 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Many are just 'squatty potties' - is a hole in the floor and a tank below.

And yah, tourists are told to bring TP already since some bathrooms don't have any.

😶

[–] hddsx@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

What do you mean by a tank below? For flushing or…?

All the squatty potties I encountered in Asia were plumbed the way a toilet in the US would be plumbed so the poop gets flushed elsewhere.

I hope the ones in China weren’t basically permanent porta potties….

[–] perishthethought@piefed.social 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It really varies. I just did a big tour of China in June and we saw many fancy, futuristic toilets in malls and hotels. We saw somewhat stinky but otherwise clean public toilets at parks and such. And we came across a couple of holes in the floor with a septic tank below ground, exposed to the air - and no TP provided. Those are rare now, from what I saw. (Septic tank was the word I couldn't think of before) I'm no plumber though so I may be getting that word wrong still.

[–] atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 months ago

Septic tanks are a bit more specific, you appear to be referring to a pit latrine which most commonly will have a cesspit.

[–] WanderingThoughts@europe.pub 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

People kept stealing the toilet paper rolls. Poor elderly are notorious for this from what I heard

[–] perishthethought@piefed.social 6 points 2 months ago

Ha! :) I never heard that before but that does make sense. I remember my American grandma hoarded supplies like this her whole life, long after the lean depression-era years she lived through. Every single pencil was used down to the nub. We got a serious talking-to if we tossed a milk bottle with more than a drop left in it.

[–] CubitOom@infosec.pub 19 points 2 months ago

Yeah, most people in china already bring their own. The only time I've ever seen it offered for free was in a crazy high end shopping mall.

[–] viking@infosec.pub 26 points 2 months ago (1 children)

As someone who lived in China for 7 years, the alternative is that the next best person who enters the bathroom takes all available paper home.

In my entire time there, I can count the number of times where paper was available on a single hand, with spare fingers.

Naturally, everybody carries a box of tissues at all times.

[–] T00l_shed@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I've been told that China is so prosperous, why would there be no toilet paper‽

[–] viking@infosec.pub 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

China is prosperous, don't let anybody fool you. But people are deeply, inherently selfish and love money more than everything (yay, communism!), so if they can save 30 cents by taking a roll of toilet paper home, they will.

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[–] morphballganon@mtgzone.com 19 points 2 months ago (5 children)

If their goal is to convince people to not wipe at all, this method will have some non-zero percent of success.

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[–] SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 16 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Lmao if someone tried this shit in the US all the dispensors would be kicked off the walls by the end of the day.

[–] Texas_Hangover@lemmy.radio 9 points 2 months ago

Either that, or I will find something else to wipe my ass on. It's lose-lose for everybody really.

[–] FreedomAdvocate 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

China is a whole other world than western countries. Having access to toilet paper, even paid access, in a public restroom is not common.

[–] ryan_@lemmy.world 14 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] Soup@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yo first line of that says that many public restrooms don’t have have TP at all and you need to bring your own. What the fuck even is that system to begin with?!

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[–] mikedd@lemmy.world 12 points 2 months ago (2 children)
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[–] Quilotoa@lemmy.ca 11 points 2 months ago

Many countries have pay per use public restrooms. Sometimes there's someone sitting outside handing out toilet paper after you pay. Sometimes it a coin insert turnstile. Us oldsters call them Johnny Cash.

[–] Alloi@lemmy.world 10 points 2 months ago (8 children)

how "capitalistic" of the "communists" lol.

[–] ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

He who does not work, shall not wipe.

- Владимир Ленин

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[–] ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 2 months ago

Oh ok flushes baby wipes.

[–] Fedditor385@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Just shit right under it on the floor to show your disagreement.

[–] Pro@programming.dev 12 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Dear Citizen, you just lost 1000 points, for shitting on the floor.

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[–] oyo@lemmy.zip 9 points 2 months ago

Waiting for .ml to tell me how this was all part of Mao's plan.

[–] Evil_Shrubbery@thelemmy.club 8 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Basically almost a literal shitpost.

I don't like the ewaste tho.

[–] y0kai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 2 months ago

Most public Chinese bathrooms I visited didn't have toilet paper at all, or there was a communal roll outside the "stall", if there was a stall. It is expected that you bring your own.

[–] pr06lefs@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 months ago

Bring a crowbar. Free the TP!

[–] credo@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

Hey, could you watch some ads for me? Mines out.

[–] bizzle@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

We live in a cyberpunk dystopia right now

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