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Some of you may recognize this coin-operated curiosity: It’s called a phone booth.
Phone booths used to be everywhere, providing an office for agent Maxwell Smart … and a sanctuary for Tippi Hedren from killer seagulls in “The Birds.”
Now, they’re so rare that Peter Ackerman wrote a children’s book, “The Lonely Phone Booth,” about one of only four remaining outdoor phone booths in all of Manhattan.
“I walked past this phone booth every day with my kid when he was three years old,” Ackerman said. “And at a certain point, he said to me, ‘Why is that phone in a box?’ And I realized that he didn’t know what a phone booth was, which is so bizarre!”
Does the world also no longer need Superman?
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(Score: 2, Insightful) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Wednesday March 29 2017, @03:42PM (1 child)
I think it may be that a cell-phone tower is more profitable than a phone booth.
On average, cell-phone users pay $40 per month. That is like 3 local payphone calls per day (per person) to bring in the same revenue.
(Score: 2) by nobu_the_bard on Wednesday March 29 2017, @07:20PM
It's also an upkeep thing. Easier to main 100 cell towers surrounded by fences or on restricted access rooftops than 10,000 phone booths on street corners. You need a lot less guys particularly.