Well at the fifth floor there’s an asshole that’s renting the whole floor on Airbnb and I’m contributing to that, with all the up and down traffic of tourists. Would you be happy? Before the Airbnb I spent way less than that

The coin was just a token, 100 lire (0.05€ + 50 years of inflation, let’s say 50 cents). It doesn’t cover maintenance but it avoids assholes repurposing a residential apartment as hotels. And it had a key to bypass it (example: wheelchairs and such)

It was like this in the 70s in my building

TBH I would prefer if it was still like this, because now that is free and everyone is using it, I’m paying €200/year for electric and maintenance for an elevator that I take once a month (split bill between all apartments)

Edit: I take it once a month because I live at the second floor and it’s faster to take the stairs, not because I’m renting to someone else