Café, airport, hotel: The unofficial guide to public charging etiquette
Walk into any café, library, airport lounge, or hotel lobby these days and you’ll spot the same scene:
A handful of people quietly working…
And a much larger handful playing a covert game of “Who Gets the Outlet?”
Someone’s hovering near a wall socket like it’s a rare bird.
Someone else has turned a two-seat table into Mission Control.
And everyone is silently wondering the same thing:
“Am I being rude… or are they being rude?”
Public spaces never came with a rulebook for charging laptops, topping up phones, or turning a coffee shop table into a temporary office. But maybe it’s time they had one.
Because the truth is, there are patterns. There are expectations. And there are ways to charge your devices without frustrating staff, blocking resources, or becoming the unintentional villain of someone’s workday.
So here’s a clear, hospitality-aware guide to charging politely, working considerately, and keeping shared spaces comfortable for everyone, from your local café to your next layover.
How much does it actually cost a café when you charge?
First up, some good news for your conscience:
Charging a laptop for an hour in the U.S. costs cafés about 1–4 cents in electricity.
Charging a phone for an hour? Less than half a cent.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration + typical device wattage.
So no, you’re not bankrupting your local barista when you top up your MacBook. Owners who complain about “electricity costs” are usually bothered by something else, like…
- Lost table turnover
- Socket hogging
- People camping without buying anything, or without buying enough (keep reading for more on this…)
Many café owners across Reddit say some version of the same thing:
“We don’t mind the electricity. We mind the all-day table occupation.”
And frankly, that’s fair. A table is worth far more than the pennies flowing through your charger.
So…how long can you stay at a café without being that person?
There’s no official rule, but the hospitality world is surprisingly aligned:
The unofficial rules-of-thumb for café charging
Buy something every 90–120 minutes if you’re staying.
Don’t hog the sockets.
This is a universal “ugh, seriously?” moment in cafés that marks you as that person.
Only charge ONE device at a time, to keep sockets free for others to use. (If you need multiple items charged, rotate them.)
And as soon as your device is charged, unplug it so another person can use the socket.
Peak hours = shorter stay. Off-peak = linger freely.
If there’s a queue or the place is filling up and you’ve already been there a while, that’s your queue to wrap it up.
If you’re using power + Wi-Fi at your table, buy FOOD, not just water.
A $4 croissant for heat + Wi-Fi + electricity is still an absolute steal.
Keep cables tidy.
Avoid trip hazards.
No charging octopus setups.
No turning the café floor into Mission Control.
Sit at a table that’s the right size for you.
Solo? Use a one- or two-seater.
With a friend? Small table is enough.
Avoid the group table unless you have a large party, or if it’s the only option available.
Café owners consistently say the big-table campers are more frustrating than laptop workers. Which makes perfect sense; large tables are prime real estate.
What about airport lounges and hotel lobbies?
Different vibe entirely.
Airport lounges expect you to charge.
They want you to charge.
They’ve budgeted for you to charge.
A 3-4 hour stay is totally normal; no need to buy anything extra (you’ve already paid for a plane ticket).
Hotel lobbies and lounges also assume device charging; it’s considered part of your stay as a guest.
However, if you’re just visiting for the day and haven’t paid for a room, follow the café rules above to make it fair for the hotel. 👌
But hotels often have a different problem…
“Dumb USBs”: The sloths of the charging world
Ever plug into a hotel room USB port and your phone barely creeps from 7% to 10%?
That’s because many older USB outlets offer only 2.5-5 watts of trickle power, while modern phones expect 18-20+ watts.
Cue: slow, painful charging sessions where your phone gains 3% during the time it takes you to get ready for dinner. (It’s happened to me too many times.)
The fix: Intelligent Device Recognition (fast charging done properly)
TUF-R® — the modular, replaceable USB charger we make at OE Electrics — uses IDR: Intelligent Device Recognition.
That means it:
Identifies exactly what kind of device you plugged in
Assesses how empty the battery is
Sends the exact right amount of power safely and efficiently
So a near-dead phone might pull fast-charge levels, while a nearly full laptop gets a gentle top-up.
If you see a USB socket glowing green or blue, there’s a good chance it’s a TUF-R® port using IDR tech. Which means you’ll get the fastest, most efficient charge possible. So plug into these wherever possible while you’re out and about! 
And important to know:
Fast charging doesn’t cost more electricity!
Cost comes from watt-hours consumed.
So whether your laptop takes 30 minutes or 3 hours to charge to 100%, it will cost the same amount in electricity charges. So you might as well use a charger with IDR tech to get the quickest juice possible!
Hot take: should we pay by the minute?
An old friend of mine (a self-employed graphic designer) raved about a café in London with a fascinating model:
Free drinks. Charge by the minute for being there.
An intriguing approach, right?
Benefits of this system
Eliminates table hogs
Predictable revenue per seat
Encourages quick sessions → better turnover for café owners
Removes the guilt of staying longer if you DO need to camp out, because you’re literally paying for your time
Costs
Customers may feel stressed about watching their time/ budget
Casual coffee drinkers might avoid it
Creates a more transactional atmosphere, not really the warm community coffee shop vibe many of us look for
Harder to attract spontaneous drop-ins
Is this the way of the future for café working? Hard to say. But it highlights the real theme of all shared spaces:
They work best when everyone contributes fairly: with purchases, with space awareness, and with smart charging habits.
Follow the guidelines shared above and we all win.
Now, if only Americans could just learn to make a proper cuppa tea, we’d have all the café problems solved. 
