Is it rude to borrow an unused power outlet without asking?
Sometimes I'm at the doctor's office, at the library, or even at the grocery store and see an unused power outlet. My phone is dying. I feel weird plugging in, but I feel even weirder asking for permission.
Phones charging use such little power I'd really be surprised if anyone cared. It really depends on the place. A library I would have no issue plugging in anything without asking. I can't say I've ever been at the doctors and considered charging my phone though I may ask out of courtesy if I did simply because I like my doctor. Overall I'd say it wouldn't be a big deal either way.
You could probably just skip the whole anxiety issue by buying a portable battery and using that whenever you're low. If your phone is fully charged at the start of the day and you burn through the whole battery and a mid range portable battery you're using your phone quite excessively and may need to figure something more reliable out.
Yeah this is a great tip, you can get some that can fast charge your phone and plug directly into the wall. You can use it as a normal phone charger and then unplug it and bring it with you for 10,000mAh on the go
If it's a public place and you have legitimate business starting there for a while, I don't see any issue with it. Eg. Doctors waiting room and you have an appointment, restaurant and you're dining there, etc.
Some places you're not supposed to plug anything in unless it's tested and tagged. Unlikely to be an issue in a public area, but if you're somewhere that the power getting tripped would be a safety issue then best to ask first.
Will you drink a can of Coke™ lying around a stranger's house without asking? No? Then, ask for permission as a matter of etiquette unless there are signs specifically saying it is ok to use them.
Yep, super easy to ask. "Hey, is it cool if I charge my phone here while I wait?" I've never had anybody tell me "no". Assuming you're not also asking for a cable or something, I don't think most people mind at all.
Edit: I got it backwards, meaning these are what I'd consider acceptable places to charge your phone.
Airport? Yeah but use a no-data charging cable.
Mall? I don't see why anyone would care about that.
Restaurant? If it's under your table or very close by.
Parking lot? Do they have outlets?
Stadium? Where would they be charging it at a stadium, maybe where the bathrooms and concessions are? If it's out of the way I don't think that would bother anyone.
Your friends house? Yeah unless they're running an off-the-grid setup or something.
The office? Yes fuck the man.
Classroom? I assume they can charge it somewhere while in class, I've been out of there for a while though.
Something small like that, you're fine. They wouldn't really care, or even notice the bill.
The problem comes if you either start unplugging devices to plug in your phone, or you plug in such a ridiculously large load that you start tripping breakers, but that comes more with space heater, or car charging territory.
Phones are perfectly fine, and in some places, like the library, that is what they're meant for, to let people charge their phones or laptops while they work.
From a (US) financial perspective, a phone charger takes about 5 watts of electricity. At $0.010/kWh that's $0.0005/hr (or ¢0.05/hr) of charging. This is utterly negligible.
For reference, a worker at the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hr would be paid that much after 0.25 seconds of working. It's not even worth paying an employee to tell you to not plug in, which would probably take at least 15 seconds.
Naturally, some businesses may want to discourage people from loitering, but more often than not, they probably want your business (library, grocery store, coffee shop &c) or understand that reality happens.
It depends on the charger. Fast charging can pull around 20W (1 second of minimum wage worker time, so maybe worth it if they ask very quickly), and PD allows for wattages over 100W, which would cost 1 cent per hour or more, though you'd still leave on your own long before then because your device will be charged.
Imho, it’s a bit like a water fountain. You wouldn’t ask before filling up your bottle. In both cases you as an individual are costing the business pennys.
The only place you mentioned that I personally wouldn’t do it is a store, but that’s mostly because to charge your phone you kinda have to sit by the outlet and I personally see stores as places of movement where hanging out is discouraged. You are supposed to buy something and leave.
But for doctors offices, you’re probably fine, and libraries you 100% all g.
I had a problem like this the other day. I needed to vacuum out my car and there is no good outlet near it where I park at my apartment building. Went to the hand wash to wash my car, then on the outside of the building there was a random outlet on the wall, no idea why it was there. I thought about plugging my vacuum in that I had in my trunk, but I felt too weird about it..
On another note, I've totally used outlets in the hospital waiting area when I've been there for hours. I don't feel weird about that for whatever reason. But we don't pay for Healthcare here so maybe that has something to do with it.
If you don't have to reach or lean over someone, sure. Obviously if you do that would require saying 'excuse me...' or asking them to plug it in for you. An open outlet, anyway, is always fair game. If someone needs to use it after you start... they can say something.
yeah me too, I always just move other people's furniture around and even shoosh the occasional pet away if my phone is in need, no one ever said anything either. they might look funny but that's probably bc my farts smell
Plugging into any outlet that you do not own or have explicit permission to use is stealing electricity. People with Nissan Leafs used to do this to charge their cars.
Now, a phone charger takes so little electricity you could probably pay them a penny and you'd be overpaying, but stealing is stealing.
While I agree with the sentiment that it is technically stealing. No one should worry about charging their phone in public. Atleast in the region of the US I am located, it costs about 1-2 cents per year to charge your phone. So charging your phone for one sitting would be a miniscule amount of money. Just opening the door of the business and letting the conditioned air out would cost them more.
Obviously cars are an entirely different situation since one charge can be several if not tens of dollars.
I agree completely. This is not as big of a deal as some people are making it. Charging a phone takes VASTLY more energy than a charging a car. Whoever complains about the former is being more than a bit ridiculous and really needs to rethink their priorities.
While I agree with the sentiment that it is technically stealing. No one should worry about charging their phone in public
It is stealing. It doesnt matter if they're stealing $0.00001 from someone, they're still stealing from them. If they ask permission, or if the location has an outlet marked for public use, then its no longer stealing. I have seen charge stations in public, and while I personally would never use those due to my question of their security, people can use those too without stealing.
If a person's phone battery often runs low when they are away from home, that's what portable battery banks and car chargers are for. If their phone battery dies in the middle of the day, they can simply stop running a million apps in the background and maybe lower the brightness down from "puts the sun to shame" to something more reasonable. My phone battery lasts all day long, and usually I end the day with 30% battery remaining, and its an LG Wing. Not even a brand new phone and it has two screens.
All the examples you gave sound like it’s not a problem just plugging it in 5 minutes or so. But if it makes you feel uncomfortable or self-conscious, a power bank might be the solution to your problems.