Pay Phones



What was once normal and not-weird becomes weird with the simple addition of that magical ingredient, "time."

Imagine an era when NYC had "tens of thousands" of payphones!

The other two segments of this video are less strange, but still worth watching.
     Posted By: Paul - Fri Apr 06, 2012
     Category: Communications | Money | Technology | 1940s | 1950s





Comments
I was looking for a pay phone in Miami last year. I might have even found one if I could have found someone that spoke American.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 04/06/12 at 11:48 AM
They, payphones,are few and far between and expensive by comparison. They talked about weighing the coin bags for accuracy and it reminded me of how they count our register drawers. The machine is programmed to count the money by weight, the bills are weighed by denomination and the coins are put on 1 coin holder at a time too. I have been told that these things are very accurate too.
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 04/06/12 at 12:51 PM
Back in the day of the Drachme the coins were weighted by denomination in grams. Put a fist full of coins on a simple butcher's scale and you had the exact amount.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 04/06/12 at 12:54 PM
Holy crap - that's William "Eugenics" Shockley, who donated to the infamous "Nobel Sperm Bank" in the early 1980s.
Posted by Robert on 04/06/12 at 07:37 PM
Good one about all those fereners living right here in our America. They should all be made to go back to their own countries so just us real Americans are left.
Posted by Carlos on 04/07/12 at 08:16 AM
No, Carlos, I'm talking about all those Americans that can't, or won't speak American.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 04/07/12 at 08:49 AM
Oh you mean like the Navajos and such that refuse to become REAL Americans like the rest of us that actually live in the States?
Posted by Carlos on 04/07/12 at 08:56 AM
I've great respect for the indigenous American tribes and if/when I'm on their lands I make every attempt to remain respectful. If I was planning on migrating to their lands I'd, at least, attempt to learn their language.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 04/07/12 at 09:05 AM
How much you wanna bet Carlos and Willy are the same person? Or maybe they are 2 separate trolls, but either way a troll by any other name stinks just as bad.
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 04/07/12 at 11:38 AM
Ah... let them have their fun, Patty. Carlos seems to be, at least, one generation removed from the island nation.

I've been there, mater of fact.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 04/07/12 at 12:04 PM
Marvel at the incredible Forklift! Gape in wonder at the innovative wooden pallet! It's modrin timez I tells ya!

Transistor "will do almost anything a vacuum tube will do." Heh. Now that the cathode ray tube is history, I think we can remove the "almost."

When I want to impress the kids, I tell them about how when I was very young, we already had voice-activated dialing. I'd pick up the receiver, the operator would say, "Number please?" I'd say my friend's three-digit number. Later we got dial phones, but they didn't work as well. Especially when a number had a lot of zeroes in it. The emergency number was the longest-to-dial number. Good planning. Pardon me. Gotta go take some Geritol and sit in the rocking chair.
Posted by A Mindful Webjoker on 04/07/12 at 05:29 PM
Have you tried SERUTAN?
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 04/08/12 at 12:42 AM
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