I believe many hypermarkets like Tesco and Aeon have taken this into account when they design their outlets. Many shoppers would rather go to one with free or cheap parking so that they can shop to their hearts' content. It is more pleasurable without having to worry about having to pay more if you stayed longer.
It is surprising how parking fees can have such huge impact on people. I have seen people driving expensive cars like Merc and BMW avoiding parking charges by parking illegally, which sometimes could turn out much more expensive when given tickets or when their cars were towed away. Some double-park or inconsiderately park and block other cars which are properly parked.
Personally, while travelling along the old trunk road (from Slim River back to Batu Gajah) instead of North-South Expressway, I thought of stopping for a while at Bidor or Kampar. But the thought of having to look for a shop which sells the local parking coupon and then having to scratch it (have to be careful too, having made mistakes like scratching the wrong year, month or date), made me decide not to stop. Certainly it was not because of the parking fee which is only 40 sen an hour! But I also had wasted unused coupons which were out of date or usable ones but left them in another car.
I used to wonder whether it is actually viable for small towns to print their own coupons and having to pay salaries to attendants and enforcement personnel. Many local people are known not to pay until the enforcement man comes along and most times, they are given chance to use their coupons.
I am glad when I read the following report about how the local shoppers flock to a town in UK when their parking machines were out of order! This is reassuring to me because I am not the only cheapskate where this is concerned, and that the dislike of having to pay parking charges is universal...
Surprise surprise! West Wales town where all the parking meters have been out of action for a month sees shopping boom
All four ticket machines vandalised in Cardigan's main car parks last month
Council struggling to find £22k repair bill and now running without meters
Led to surge in visitors to town centre, with store owners' sales up by 50%
Traders say situation has led to a 'level playing field' where shoppers are far more relaxed
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3163067/Surprise-surprise-North-Wales-town-parking-meters-action-month-sees-shopping-boom.html#ixzz3gD9657tM
We can also understand, in our local Malaysian context, why motorists hate 'jaga keretas' so much. Normally, at popular sites, they would come in during free hours which prevent us from enjoying some free parking. But some are more daring, like those near Lou Wong (famous for ngah choi kai) in Ipoh, where they even operate during official parking hours! They would use their coupon (if and when necessary) and their charges are likely to be more than the official rate. Most people would not dare to upset them because of the fear that they might scratch the car paint or puncture the tyres.
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It is surprising how parking fees can have such huge impact on people. I have seen people driving expensive cars like Merc and BMW avoiding parking charges by parking illegally, which sometimes could turn out much more expensive when given tickets or when their cars were towed away. Some double-park or inconsiderately park and block other cars which are properly parked.
Personally, while travelling along the old trunk road (from Slim River back to Batu Gajah) instead of North-South Expressway, I thought of stopping for a while at Bidor or Kampar. But the thought of having to look for a shop which sells the local parking coupon and then having to scratch it (have to be careful too, having made mistakes like scratching the wrong year, month or date), made me decide not to stop. Certainly it was not because of the parking fee which is only 40 sen an hour! But I also had wasted unused coupons which were out of date or usable ones but left them in another car.
I used to wonder whether it is actually viable for small towns to print their own coupons and having to pay salaries to attendants and enforcement personnel. Many local people are known not to pay until the enforcement man comes along and most times, they are given chance to use their coupons.
I am glad when I read the following report about how the local shoppers flock to a town in UK when their parking machines were out of order! This is reassuring to me because I am not the only cheapskate where this is concerned, and that the dislike of having to pay parking charges is universal...
Surprise surprise! West Wales town where all the parking meters have been out of action for a month sees shopping boom
All four ticket machines vandalised in Cardigan's main car parks last month
Council struggling to find £22k repair bill and now running without meters
Led to surge in visitors to town centre, with store owners' sales up by 50%
Traders say situation has led to a 'level playing field' where shoppers are far more relaxed
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3163067/Surprise-surprise-North-Wales-town-parking-meters-action-month-sees-shopping-boom.html#ixzz3gD9657tM
We can also understand, in our local Malaysian context, why motorists hate 'jaga keretas' so much. Normally, at popular sites, they would come in during free hours which prevent us from enjoying some free parking. But some are more daring, like those near Lou Wong (famous for ngah choi kai) in Ipoh, where they even operate during official parking hours! They would use their coupon (if and when necessary) and their charges are likely to be more than the official rate. Most people would not dare to upset them because of the fear that they might scratch the car paint or puncture the tyres.
2 comments:
Yes free parking does wonder to increased patronage especially supermarkets. It's is not exactly free but factored into your shopping bill as you are required to patronize their outlet in exchange for free parking. As for expensive cars avoiding to pay parking, it reminded me of a similar observation in Petaling Jaya. There was this roadside nasi lemak stall in Petaling Jaya. Each morning one would see scores of expensive cars at this stall. Wow, passerbys assume that the nasi lemak must be out of this world to attract such wealthy customers to sit at some dusty roadside stall. Well as one curious guy found out when he ate there, the customers were just the chauffeurs who made a beeline for this stall after dropping off the boss kids to school. It was a gathering of chauffeurs rather than the car owners. So in parking, the boss might have given the chauffeurs money for parking but they might want to keep the money for themselves, hence, illegal parking. You can see this happening at KLIA arrival entrance.
When I commented about the expensive cars illegally parking, I was thinking of those who were obviously car owners in coffee shops, who double-parked and when honked at, would come out usually without even an apology. Chauffeurs in the car waiting for their bosses is ok. As for illegal parking along road before KLIA entrance, sometimes it makes sense where it is only for a few minutes because they are not allowed to wait too long. I used to wait for phone call at Petronas station, which takes a few minutes to reach.
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