A shopping center in New Zealand is voiding “fines” it charges to people who abuse parking in its structures. Read about it here.
In a nutshell, the center has “free” parking. It is abused by some folks who park there but don’t shop there. So they tag cars that they assume are driven by these scofflaws and charge them a $45 fee for abuse of the parking privilege. Of course the parking isn’t really “free” but you already know that.
The problem caused by so called free parking and then fining for abuse is resentment. And that’s what happened. People raised hell when they were charged $45 for overstaying the parking limit. The problem was that these folks were upstairs spending big bucks at the mall. And they had the receipts to prove it. The management naturally folded but there was resentment all around.
Now let’s see. If everyone paid to park, what would happen?
If the rates were free for the first two hours and $2 for the third hour $5 for the fourth hour and so on, it would take care of those scofflaws who were parking all day. The stores could validate customers who were in the process of buying the Rolex and everyone would be happy.
The concept of “free” parking is anathema to good business, good public relations, and frankly to reality. Dammit, parking isn’t free.
JVH
