Well, maybe they deserve a little prod…
Check out this article send in by my correspondent in the windy city.
Seems there was a dead pigeon in a stairwell and it remained there for a week. It is a bit unclear from the article as to how the reporting went…But it appears that users of the parking structure were more interested in sending in pictures to the local blog than reporting the problem to the management of the garage.
It is obvious, if even part of the article is true, that the manager of this garage wasn’t doing his job. It would seem to me that part of the manager’s job should be to walk every inch of his facility on a regular basis, and that someone should walk it every day. That means up and down the stairs, and walk the ramps and bays of the facility. He, or she, then can know what is going on and take action.
The result is that an operator’s reputation is dragged through the mud, whether deserved or not, and the parking industry in general gets it in the neck.
My guess is that Standard Parking got these contracts by being low bidder…If that is the case, did the spec require certain specific actions to be taken. If not, the operator can only do so much when they are the low bidder.
This is not in any way to excuse either the Transit Agency, the Airport or Standard — its just what happens when companies are required to operate on the lowest possible budget.
If parking locations charged what it cost to park, the resulting deluge of money would easily pay the price it takes to properly care for the location in question.
JVH
2 Responses
Being a former Standard Parking employee of eight years, it is disappointing to read the Tribune article about Standard’s lack of attention to detail and customer service in their own Chicago backyard, which at one time, they prided themself on. However, living through the merger with APCOA, at the time it was very apparent that the focus of providing the best service was going to go by the wayside and all that really mattered were dollars. They lost a lot of talent who were either forced out or decided to leave on their own accord. Parking is a people business and without the right people your business will eventually suffer. Sooner or later, the lack of talent and focus on core values will bite them in the ass because their calling card of providing great service and amenities will no longer be true. Just my thoughts…..
This is a problem that many parking operators face. The building/lot owners/management want great customer service however they are either naive or unwilling to part with the almighty dollar that is required to provide that level of service. In other words, you get what you pay for. To echo JVH raise the price of parking and it becomes a win-win situation.