Jaunted

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Better Hold It Travel: Seattle Unloads Public Toilets

As teenagers, we were threatened with the conversion of the house phone to a pay phone complete with booth if we spent one more danged minute catching up on the latest high school gossip. Now you can do the same to your toilets if you win one of five eBay auctions for public toilets as Seattle yanks its facilities.

In 2004, the city installed five Hering-Bau WCmatic machines, offering unisex johns for free to tourists and locals--and the homeless, prostitutes and vandals. The New York Times even got a source to admit to smoking crack inside one.

After pouring $5 million into the project over four years, City Hall is hoping to make back some of its money in the auctions, which end August 1. The eBay ads suggest that a pre-owned automatic toilet can save you a lot of money, since they normally retail for $500,000.

They'd make a great base for an urban prank--anyone spare us some change?

Related Stories:
· Seattle's Automated Toilets Go Way of the Box and Chain [NYT]
· Why Public Toilets Should Pay You [Slate]
· Toilets coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: fireeyedboy]