Reasonable Pricing of Mobile Toilets in Beihai
Whether the pricing of some mobile toilets in Beihai is reasonable cannot be generalized and needs to be discussed on a case-by-case basis.
Near Guanling Xisha Coast in Beihai City, a hotel operator charges 3 yuan per person for toilet use. From a legal perspective, if the toilet is indeed an internal facility of the hotel, the charging behavior itself is legal. In terms of reasonableness, multiple conditions need to be met. First, there should be clear pricing. The charging standards and free groups should be prominently displayed at the entrance. Currently, some groups can use the toilet for free at this hotel, such as guests of Guanling Shanzhuang, customers who make purchases at any store by the sea, military personnel, veterans, people over 65 years old, and children under 1.2 meters. This meets the requirement. Second, the price should be fair. Charges should be based on actual costs, such as cleaning and energy consumption. If the 3-yuan price is significantly higher than the cost or the local consumption level, it is unreasonable. Although the specific cost value has not been clarified at present, lawyers point out that this is a key factor in judging reasonableness. Third, consumers' right to know should be protected. The hotel should provide alternative options and clearly guide people to nearby free public toilets to avoid forced consumption, and the toilet should be non-monopolistic. If there are no other public toilets nearby, the hotel may take advantage of its monopoly position to make profits, which is suspected of being a disguised form of forced consumption.
In the Beihai Zixia Bay Tourist Area, the charging public toilets are self-financed, built, and operated to alleviate the queuing pressure of free public toilets. Since they are not connected to the municipal sewage pipeline, they use closed septic tanks and need to hire professional fecal suction trucks every two days for cleaning, along with labor, water, and electricity costs. They only charge necessary cost fees. Staff from the local market supervision department said that scanning a code to pay for using the service is a market behavior, and as long as there is clear pricing, it is acceptable. From this perspective, the charging public toilets in this tourist area have a certain degree of reasonableness when they have clear pricing and charge based on costs.
Netizens in Beihai Yin Beach exposed that it was unreasonable to charge for changing clothes in the toilet, and the scenic area responded that one has to pay if they want to change clothes. Different netizens have different opinions. Some believe that each venue has different operation modes and profit-making strategies, which may explain the charging regulations. Others suggest providing a free place for tourists who do not take a shower and wash at home to change clothes, thinking that forced charging is not very humane. At present, due to the lack of clear cost basis and unified judgment standards for whether this charging is reasonable, it is difficult to make a simple judgment.
