I had an occasion to drive downtown to D.C. this morning. You would think, based on what the Axis media is telling us, that the city looks like occupied territory, with armed soldiers menacing pedestrians. In truth, I saw one group of about seven Guardsmen by the Lincoln Memorial, and they were not armed. (I tooted at them and they waved at me.)
But I digress. Once again, I parked on a street, Connecticut Avenue, and once again used a parking station where you punch in how long you are planning on parking, scan a credit card, and get a receipt that you are supposed to place on your dashboard. And once again, the system didn’t work: I paid, but got no receipt.
So I wrote down the time and the amount I paid on a piece of paper with my name and phone number, explaining that the system had malfunctioned, and put that so it was visible through the windshield
I returned to a ticketless car. I have now used this method three times in D.C., all successfully. This also means that the modern parking system has failed for me more often than not; in fact four times out of six attempts. (Once I just took a chance and didn’t post anything.)
Now, if I were not an ethicist, I would be sorely tempted to use my note method without paying the parking fee at all. I can think of many rationalizations for doing so. The D.C. government is incompetent. That parking system stinks. The city deserves to lose money; it also wastes my time as the system forces me to write out long explanations for a situation that isn’t my fault.
But I am an ethicist, so I won’t do that. I won’t…
Ethics Alarms 
Federalize the parking meters. Send in DOGE or some weekend warriors who know these systems.
No parking meters on stolen lands….
PWS
I would be tempted to make a template on my computer with all that verbiage, print off a few copies and fill in the blanks next time it happens. Probably just have to fill out date, time, and amount.
If his printer is anything like mine, it’s even less likely to work than the parking meters
I had a similar opportunity recently (this topic is just for fun, right, not for serious discussion).
Less than a minute after parking in a 2-hour slot, as we walked away from our car, we saw a meter maid (meter attendant?) chalk a tire. It was a cabaret show, 75 minutes, and we had about 15 minutes till showtime, so, plenty of time, right? Of course, as is common here, the show did not start on time, and when we returned to the car just about 2 hours and 5 minutes later, there was a ticket.
I debated myself: should I keep that ticket envelope for future use, or not?
Regular readers here know I am highly ethical and they will realize I paid the fine and discarded the envelope. They may or may not know that here, the cost of a traffic fine is nearly the same the cost of a parking lot for 2 hours.
Ethics is easy when the cost is insignificant.
Ethics is easy when the cost is insignificant.
Sad but true….
SCOTUS has recently ruled chalking tires unconstitutional under the 4th amendment.
Unusual case where the freedom to not be chalked is enshrined, now that the march of technology has granted meter maids with handheld computers that can be used instead of physically intruding evidence onto private property.
Best scene from McClintock
Although the scene where he pretends to shoot Patrick Wayne to teach his spoiled daughter a lesson is memorable as well. If only the movie didn’t have that ugly domestic abuse scene at the end that is supposed to be funny…I can’t watch it.
There’s nothing like the little old Irish lady in The Quiet Man who says, sweetly, to John Wayne, as he is dragging Maureen O’Hara through the countryside, “Here’s a good stick to beat the lovely lady.”
Yes. That was funny because it was old Ireland. McC is in the US,and Andrew McLaglen, Victor’s son, was no John Ford.
The following quote seems relevant sometimes.
H.L. Mencken — ‘Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.’
It’s another glaring example of the Unabomber having a point.
Is there a point at which you should deliberately exploit a broken system and encourage others to do so, because no one will bother to fix the system until people do? I’m not sure it’s 100% ethical to comply with a broken system, because unless the problems are felt by the people running it, it will NEVER get fixed. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re saving more by not having to collect coins from meters than they lose from cheaters with the new system.
Thanks: this was the issue I hoped to raise with the post.
There is a good chance the receipt isn’t needed at all. In most of these systems, the payment system is tied into a server with the city. The parking enforcement officers have a license plate scanner hooked to the system. The officer is simply driving along and waiting for the system to flag someone who overstayed or didn’t pay. It also is flagging anyone who is BOLO flagged or has expired registration.
If you were to skip paying and left a fraudulent note, the system would flag you. They’d write you a ticket and let the system sort it out.