Forums » Smalltalk » Weird rant: Why are urinals a thing?

This question popped into my mind after I noticed someone (probably a male visitor) peed in one of the inoperable urinals in my residence hall bathroom. This is a girl's hall but the urinals are left over from previous years and they don't flush. Not sure why they haven't been removed.

Regardless, in my disgust, I found myself asking: why do so many companies waste their money on urinals? Every men's bathroom I've ever seen has both regular stalls and urinals. Why? The toilets work just fine and there's plenty of them! I don't see anyone installing urinals into their home because "the men need it". My boyfriend seems to operate just fine without one. So... Why?

I can't see it as anything but an utter and complete waste of money. Considering how much the men in my life have complained about how awkward it is to pee at a urinal when some dude is obviously staring at you, I don't get it! Why would you still use them? Why? Just why? Is it an ego or "masculinity" thing? If so, what a ridiculous concept to root your masculinity in. "I need to pee in a weird wall mounted toilet where everyone can see me in order to feel like a man". Ridiculous!

Sorry, I got a bit heated there.

Anyway, in my opinion, that money would be better spent on stall trashcans for hygiene products or the baby changing stations that men's bathrooms frequently lack. So, why do you think they're still so common? What other common things do you think are completely useless and/or a waste of money?

Simple, they are smaller and more compact. And it frees up stalls, usually, there are at least 3 stalls, but more than 7 urinals. This is useful in that if you don't have to go poop but you do have to go pee you can use a urinal saving a stall for someone who does have to go poop

2 urinals equal roughly 1 and a half stall
of wall space of course

https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/1kfjkp/why_do_mens_bathrooms_have_urinals_homes_dont_why/

The general consensus is that it's a space saver, uses less water, and multiple people can use it at once need be. Some people do have urinals in their homes because they find urinals easier to aim for and more hygenic for them personally. There are actually products that allow female bodied people to use urinals as well, but this is less common due to urinals not being in 'womens' bathrooms. Though realistically urinals should be in every bathroom as an option since not everyone who is male bodied uses the 'mens' bathroom. There are trans women who would likely be appreciative of urinals too.

As someone who lives with a man and used to live with a young boy too, I wish we had a urinal in our bathroom. I will spare the gross details as to why.

The topic is very tempting to click on for sure. I've wondered the same thing. But yeah, it makes more sense now.

I heard someone from Ireland wondering why there are bathroom stalls with big spaces in the bottom in the US, because it's not that way in Ireland, apparently.

It's interesting how privacy expectations vary from group to group.

All I can say about the aiming thing is... Yikes.

Makes me wonder why they haven't come up with something more efficient for everyone. I still find urinals extremely odd, mainly because of the culture around them, but overall it seems to me like we haven't really figured out public bathrooms yet. I can understand the need for saving space and water but why does everything have to be so divided? It drives me crazy that people can't be bothered to slap a changing station into every bathroom when they seem like the cheapest component of all.

From a purely business point of view here is what I think.

Urinals are smaller and more can be installed vs toilets use less water etc as others have stated. In addition it's faster to use a urinal than a toilet, mind you maybe by mere seconds, but in today's society where even an additional 2 minutes waiting for a burger at a fast food place can drive some into a fit of rage, those seconds count to people. I have seen several times where the ladies room had a line, and I'm not peeping in there to find it, the line is obviously flowing out the door and hard to miss. I never have seen a public men's room like this and I think urinals play a big role in that. With more areas to offload your waste and a quicker way to do it, getting in and out of the mens room is faster and easier than the women's. Of course I have never used a public women's room so this is all based on the experience of using toilets and urinals both so I dont really think theres a big difference? I could be wrong I guess but I just dont see anything.

If the bathroom is locked down, a customer is more likely to move on to the next facility to use the bathroom, and take their business with them to that next location. Based on my theory of urinals hastening mens room visit times theres another reason public stores etc could want to keep using them.

I will have to disagree with one thing stated in my experience with urinals, however. I do not find them more hygienic by any means. I could go into details but I will spare you hehe

Edit: with 31 years of aiming experience I have reached a point where I have no difficulty hitting the toilet, particularly if the seat is up. I feel lack of proper aiming is likely just laziness unless there is a disadvantage ability effecting it, but maybe I am wrong here too.

The baby changing thing has to do with expecting women to be the ones taking care of the baby; but some places are getting better about it. All places should be better about it by 2019, but alas....

They are easier to clean is one pro. Women usually complain when there is pee on the toilet seat anyway. Its like asking why boxers have penis holes. Men also shit a lot more than women, so the stalls when men ARE in there, he's probably dropping a fat ass log and that can take some time. I don't wanna stand there while my junk wells up with pee. Its quicker to just use the urinal, wash my hands, and leave. I can get where the post is coming from but i don't think its a waste of money. It also has NOTHING to do with masculinity. Men naturally have more anxiety than females statistically anyway.

Janitor here.

Having wondered the same, my conclusion was that it was quicker, that it can take up less space (but every men's bathroom I've been in has also been noticeably larger that the matching women's room anyway), can use less water (though it isn't always used well), and commonly allow a lazier aim than a toilet.

But again, I am a janitor, and I've cleaned a lot of urinals and toilets alike.

I've cleaned urinals that were really small, and had a very restrictive space to aim at. I've cleaned urinals that flush stupid, so the water is still yellow after 2+ flushes. I've cleaned urinals that I eventually realized weren't always being peed all over, it's just that flushing made them splash all over the rim and floor, and on the divider which is even more irritating to clean if it's bare metal (the metal cleaner commonly used is oil-based, but has to bestripped off when there are actual drips and streaks, and by the urinals, there always is). The men's room I'm mostly in now, often the men don't even go to the urinal, they just go to the toilet and lift the seat anyway.

And nah, urinals are not easier to clean than toilets. They look like they should be, but they require just as much bending/crouching, they are typically grosser, there is a greater chance of finding things like gum, lugies, or tobacco stuck in a urinal than there is to find unflushable poop in a toilet, I'm a lot more likely to get splashed in the face when scrubbing a urinal than a toilet, and the wall thing I already mentioned.

I understand that as someone without a penis, my input doesn't really have much meaning. I have no idea how usability compares. Based on what I've seen though, I'd say to just get rid of urinals entirely. Their usefulness beyond pure speed and numbers seems to vary wildly depending on the design and layout, so it's hard to see even a disability argument being effectively made here; and for speed and numbers, I don't see why those using the men's room can't just deal with it like those using the (again, smaller!) woman's room do.

Edit: Oh. There's also men with penises who actually prefer to sit on a toilet when peeing anyway. I know some, and I guess in some countries it's even the norm. I do understand that that is not always a reasonable thing to do, though.

AHAHAHAHA you think women don't also do that all the time? I get toilets stuck up more than any of my male friends do.

I said a lot more implying women also do. So i digress.

Interesting that you say men have more anxiety and connect that to masculinity. Wouldn't being more anxious make you more likely to care about trivial things like that? Anyway, I always thought girls were more anxious about bathroom stuff. Sometimes I find that when I use the restroom here in my residence hall, a girl will already be in a stall or one will enter and see that I'm there, and they'll just... Refuse to do their business until I leave, which can be a pain cause I have to use that bathroom to wash dishes and that can take awhile. Sometimes someone will be mid-pee and they'll stop as soon as they hear someone enter! I don't know why they're so anxious about it because it's not like I know who's in those stalls. I mean, for goodness sake, we all do it.

Boxers make more sense to me than urinals, though all the posts here have taught me that urinals aren't as weird as I thought. It's shocking but also rather amusing how much people have to say about bathrooms.

Bathrooms are always unnecessarily anxiety inducing. Being trans, ive used both restrooms and both give me a great deal of anxiety. The mall close to me has these "Family Restrooms" whic are of course for people with children. I wouldn't wanna poop with my mom tbh LOL but they are good for trans people and people with anxiety. I mostly won't use restrooms unless its a single room anyway. Using the restroom around other humans is just as weird as the actual idea of a urinal or even those squat toilets women have in Japan. Who would have thought bathrooms cause educated debate lmao

It's the "a lot more more" I disagree with.

Agree to disagree because that wasn't even the original point of the post.

Wow, this thread sure has gone to shit.

Getting back to urinals... they make sense at stadiums and bars and concert halls and such where you want to move the maximum amount of male piss as quickly as possible.

As for home, I tend to sit and pee as much as I stand. That way I don’t have to remember to put the seat down and it’s always ready for my dear partner in life.

A side note on using public unisex toilets... I tend to make sure it is clean and the lid closed when I leave in consideration of the next person.

Yep. This thread is still entertaining.