New Lidl car park system. Invoices by default?
Discussion
I haven't seen this before. Every car is number plate scanned on the way in. You have to give your reg number at the till to avoid being invoiced. It is fair enough in theory but I can think of many scenarios where people may get caught out. For instance if the car park is full, like it nearly was today, most people loop around head to Tesco 200 yards up the road. I sense trouble ahead!
Edited by technogogo on Sunday 30th August 15:28
technogogo said:
It is fair enough in theory but I can think of many scenarios where people may get caught out. For instance if the car park is full, like it nearly was today, most people loop around head to Tesco 200 yards up the road. I sense trouble ahead!
Don't most places have a 10 minute or so leeway/free/grace period to counter the suggestion you make, (obviously nor 'advertised') on the positive side at least it may free up all those full spaces for their own business & customers rather than others. Forget theory.
In practice it will create spaces for their shoppers by removing all the people we all see every day who park there for their personal convenience and then go off somewhere else.
Our local Iceland have good system where you pay £2 for an hour and you get it refunded at the till by showing teR off part of the ticket. Before they did that, you could never find a space, despite the shop being near empty as their car park was in town.
In practice it will create spaces for their shoppers by removing all the people we all see every day who park there for their personal convenience and then go off somewhere else.
Our local Iceland have good system where you pay £2 for an hour and you get it refunded at the till by showing teR off part of the ticket. Before they did that, you could never find a space, despite the shop being near empty as their car park was in town.
Well firstly keeping non customers out is perfectly valid. But even as a Lidl customer myself this new approach seems to put things well beyond fairness by not taking into consideration instances that do not constitute parking. For instance, a potential shopper, perhaps the most loyal Lidl shopper in the country, drives into car park. There are no spaces. They leave. At this point it seems certain they will get a demand for money though the post. It isn't clear if the system logs entry and exit times as other systems do? The way it is being used doesn't seem to require two times. Just arrival? Hence my interest. Next time I am in the store I'll ask. I only popped in for a couple of items today so didn't want to hang around.
This seems to be a sort of escalation in the private parking wars. Perhaps spurred by that pivotal court decision a short while ago?
This seems to be a sort of escalation in the private parking wars. Perhaps spurred by that pivotal court decision a short while ago?
I think this is by far the best way to deal with parking transgressions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=052S1yg-zR0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=052S1yg-zR0
Rather than scare monger about Lidl having to issue thousands of tickets due to the obvious (to everyone) oversight of installing an exit camera.....
...the more obvious assumption is that they will have a method of knowing who has only driven in and out to drop passengers and who has actually parked for more than ten minutes.
Three premonitions:
There will be more free spaces once non-shopper start getting invoiced.
LIDL will sell a lot of small items as people buy anything to get freearking.
Some people will post on Facepalm about LIDL being uncaring about xxxxx and money grabbing - simply from stopping non customers from parking there for free.
...the more obvious assumption is that they will have a method of knowing who has only driven in and out to drop passengers and who has actually parked for more than ten minutes.
Three premonitions:
There will be more free spaces once non-shopper start getting invoiced.
LIDL will sell a lot of small items as people buy anything to get freearking.
Some people will post on Facepalm about LIDL being uncaring about xxxxx and money grabbing - simply from stopping non customers from parking there for free.
Mandalore said:
Forget theory.
In practice it will create spaces for their shoppers by removing all the people we all see every day who park there for their personal convenience and then go off somewhere else.
Our local Iceland have good system where you pay £2 for an hour and you get it refunded at the till by showing teR off part of the ticket. Before they did that, you could never find a space, despite the shop being near empty as their car park was in town.
So, if you can't find what you want, and buy nothing, it costs you £2. What a great way make you buy something you don't want. I wouldn't shop there.In practice it will create spaces for their shoppers by removing all the people we all see every day who park there for their personal convenience and then go off somewhere else.
Our local Iceland have good system where you pay £2 for an hour and you get it refunded at the till by showing teR off part of the ticket. Before they did that, you could never find a space, despite the shop being near empty as their car park was in town.
Lots of supermarkets are doing this now. My parents' local Waitrose was doing a shopper refund / ticket stamp waiver scheme in the late 1980s. Recently the big Tesco in Slough have started a camera-enforced pay scheme, but its free if you spend under 30 mins or over a fiver, so big shops and quick stops are OK. Local Lidl is something similar. Got my back up at first but really can't see any issue with it, it works fairly well.
mybrainhurts said:
Mandalore said:
Forget theory.
In practice it will create spaces for their shoppers by removing all the people we all see every day who park there for their personal convenience and then go off somewhere else.
Our local Iceland have good system where you pay £2 for an hour and you get it refunded at the till by showing teR off part of the ticket. Before they did that, you could never find a space, despite the shop being near empty as their car park was in town.
So, if you can't find what you want, and buy nothing, it costs you £2. What a great way make you buy something you don't want. I wouldn't shop there.In practice it will create spaces for their shoppers by removing all the people we all see every day who park there for their personal convenience and then go off somewhere else.
Our local Iceland have good system where you pay £2 for an hour and you get it refunded at the till by showing teR off part of the ticket. Before they did that, you could never find a space, despite the shop being near empty as their car park was in town.
goneape said:
My parents' local Waitrose was doing a shopper refund / ticket stamp waiver scheme in the late 1980s.
I remember Waitrose in Welwyn Garden City doing it in the 90's. It's a bit like validated parking in the US for shopping malls - I don't have a big issue with it, especially in areas where there is high demand and an lot of "options to shop"
Mandalore said:
mybrainhurts said:
Mandalore said:
Forget theory.
In practice it will create spaces for their shoppers by removing all the people we all see every day who park there for their personal convenience and then go off somewhere else.
Our local Iceland have good system where you pay £2 for an hour and you get it refunded at the till by showing teR off part of the ticket. Before they did that, you could never find a space, despite the shop being near empty as their car park was in town.
So, if you can't find what you want, and buy nothing, it costs you £2. What a great way make you buy something you don't want. I wouldn't shop there.In practice it will create spaces for their shoppers by removing all the people we all see every day who park there for their personal convenience and then go off somewhere else.
Our local Iceland have good system where you pay £2 for an hour and you get it refunded at the till by showing teR off part of the ticket. Before they did that, you could never find a space, despite the shop being near empty as their car park was in town.
The Aldi in Worcester has a system whereby you have to enter your registration number on touch screen displays mounted on the packing shelf behind the tills. Yet the car park is shared with the golf shop.
Lidl on the other hand is completely free and no checks as it's on a retail park with plenty of space.
Personally can't get particularly exercised by whatever method people use as long as it's clearly signed and operated accurately.
Lidl on the other hand is completely free and no checks as it's on a retail park with plenty of space.
Personally can't get particularly exercised by whatever method people use as long as it's clearly signed and operated accurately.
mybrainhurts said:
Mandalore said:
Forget theory.
In practice it will create spaces for their shoppers by removing all the people we all see every day who park there for their personal convenience and then go off somewhere else.
Our local Iceland have good system where you pay £2 for an hour and you get it refunded at the till by showing teR off part of the ticket. Before they did that, you could never find a space, despite the shop being near empty as their car park was in town.
So, if you can't find what you want, and buy nothing, it costs you £2. What a great way make you buy something you don't want. I wouldn't shop there.In practice it will create spaces for their shoppers by removing all the people we all see every day who park there for their personal convenience and then go off somewhere else.
Our local Iceland have good system where you pay £2 for an hour and you get it refunded at the till by showing teR off part of the ticket. Before they did that, you could never find a space, despite the shop being near empty as their car park was in town.
To be fair, I just popped out today to buy fruit packets from Aldi, of which they had none! If I had been charged to park here, I'm sure they'd have waived that, but it's still quite distasteful.
As others have said, if the normal 10-15 mins free parking existed, then that's absolutely fine. It also encourages customers to be decisive and get on with it (something Aldi obviously love when they throw your eggs in your face after they've scanned them).
As others have said, if the normal 10-15 mins free parking existed, then that's absolutely fine. It also encourages customers to be decisive and get on with it (something Aldi obviously love when they throw your eggs in your face after they've scanned them).
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