Craig nails it:
Craig Bagdon: Since I have staked out the extreme position on this (all tickets should be non-transferable)… I will push it even further. Having a confused public on the issue of transferability leads to and abets credit card fraud and theft. It is not an uncommon situation to have a stolen credit card (or card info on a white card) used to purchase a large stack of parking receipts which are then “re-sold” to the public. There are several ways that this can be mitigated at the meter level, but this should never happen in the first place. Using John’s example above would you ever purchase a train or airplane ticket from someone wandering down the concourse? No, never. Why should it be any different in the parking industry?
Brandy is on the front lines:
Brandy Stanley: I submit that most of the time the receipt doesn’t have enough time left on it for the second user to stay as long as they need to, so they have to buy another receipt anyway. Why would we regulate this and put an infrastructure of violations and penalties in place that will basically only net anger and further the typical negative impression consumers have of us?
You can read all 20 comments on this topic, the “ethics” of handing your P and D ticket that has time on it to someone entering the lot as you leave, by checking out PT’s discussion board on Linkedin
JVH
3 Responses
Its the same question when you “reset” your single space meters. Now with the sensors when the car leaves, so does the excess time? IS that right? When we were installing the sensors as a test our number 1 questions was “will the meter reset”? We decided not to go down that road and ruin peoples “parking lottery” win when they arrive at a meter with time left over on it.
Not quite the same, Charlie — When you reset the meter, you are doing it after the patron has left. However the question is, what if the patron gives their space to another. It would be like the patron somehow was able to get around the sensor and not have it reset and allowed another person to use the space on their dime. (or dollar, as the case may be)
I disagree that it is different. The bottom line issue is exactly the same. Is it unethical to not allow unused time to be transferred? Whether its intentional or not is irrelevant.
Here is a example that I have used to defend not resetting a meter or forbidding transfers. When I take my niece to the boardwalk and I have to buy “tickets” for her to get on an amusement ride, I am sometimes left with one or 2 that I cannot use because the rides require 3 tickets. Is it unethical for me to hand them to another person? I don’t think so. I am renting time for her to get on a ride, same thing as renting time to park your car.
I am buying time to use a piece of land to park my vehicle or any other vehicle for that matter. I think the practice of meter resets and non-transferable tickets is an old school mentality in our business. It is only there to increase revenue, but we cannot keep increasing revenue at any cost to the customer.