The thing that's a little odd to me is that in the US it swings wildly depending on region, from "we don't really care if you're a customer" (suburban retail or gas station) to "there is literally no restroom here for the general public even with purchase" (in some big cities).
And yet, here the "pay a small fee for the privilege" model seems to be completely absent. That model is also used in parts of Latin America, and it seems like it could be a useful middle ground between these US extremes.
In a lot of states it’s illegal to charge money for the use of a restroom due to lobbying by the Committee to End Pay Toilets in America in the 1970s. (Of course, the unintended but entirely predictable consequence is that in a lot of places it became very hard to find a restroom of any sort, for the reasons discussed in this thread.)
Yeah, my experience with this was mostly very positive in suburban and rural areas. Even gas stations in LA for example will often not have restrooms at all. Makes it hard to drive through with little kids who don't have great potty break planning skills yet.
And yet, here the "pay a small fee for the privilege" model seems to be completely absent. That model is also used in parts of Latin America, and it seems like it could be a useful middle ground between these US extremes.