Criminals Steal Credit Card Capable Meters for $10

Share:

Criminals Steal Credit Card Capable Meters for $10

Thieves are stealing parking meter heads in the Canadian city of St. John’s. About 290 meter heads have gone missing, reports BBC.com. Losses include the money in the meter, the cost of a new meter and revenue lost during the time it takes to install the new meter. The thieves aren’t getting much, but the city loses plenty.

But thieves can only expect a low return on their crime – the average meter collects less than $10 per day, with only a small proportion of that in cash, as increasing numbers of drivers are paying by card.

The article reports that the credit card capable meters cost $474 to replace. Daily revenue is around $1,800. I’m curious about a cost-benefit analysis. A credit card capable meter contains less money, but is a more expensive investment. I’m going to estimate a coin only meter costs $300 to replace. We’ll say it takes five days to replace any meter.

A stolen coin only meter would lose $1,800 the first day and $1,800 for five more days, plus $300. The credit card meter loses $10 the first day, $1,800 for five days and costs $474 to replace.

My accounting abilities are not advanced and my understanding of the scenario is somewhat limited, but it’s clear the city loses less money when the credit card capable meters are stolen – depending, of course, on the time of day the theft occurs and when the meter was last emptied. And maybe meter thieves will give up stealing meters if they find out they’re cutting steel posts for a measly $10.

 

Either way, St. John’s officials are evaluating their parking payment provisions.

Councillor Sandy Hickman told CBC “I think enough people at City Hall now realize that we need to look at alternative methods of charging for parking on the side of the streets,” suggesting kiosks where people can pay for parking spaces.

Read the article here.

Picture of John Van Horn

John Van Horn

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Only show results from:

Recent Posts

A Note from a Friend

I received this from John Clancy. Now retired, John worked in the technology side of the industry for decades. I don’t think this needs any

Read More »

Look out the Window

If there is any advice I can give it’s concerning the passing scene. “Look out the window.” Rather than listen to CNN or the New

Read More »

Archives

Send message to



    We use cookies to monitor our website and support our customers. View our Privacy Policy