VIP Parking: 200 Yards from the Door
SteveSpotted recently at the far side of a giant supermarket's massive parking lot:
Maybe this is a common practice and I just never seem to park far enough away to notice?
But common or not, it was the first time I have ever seen one of these kind of 'Gentle nudge that you'd probably be better served walking a little bit rather than circling the first few rows of spaces waiting to swoop in like a vulture once someone clicks their remote door unlock'.
There were two interesting things I noticed when I saw this sign - one, that in a pretty crowded lot, that the space was indeed empty; and two, someone had left an empty shopping cart on the grass right next to the space, (you can see one of its wheels peeking out in the corner of the picture), rather than return it to the cart corral that was about 50 feet away.
Doing the right thing - walking up the stairs instead of taking the elevator, parking an extra 100 yards out when lots of closer spaces are free, having a side salad instead of the onion rings, is still stubbornly, maddeningly, and definitely harder than it should be. I think most of us know the 'right' choices to make, and we even want to make these right choice, at least most of the time. But as we see from the constant stream of research and news about America's continuing problems with obesity, (a recent example is here), the problems persist.
I really feel for the folks whose job and really life's work is to make or at least try to influence the rest of us fatties to make the right, or at least the better choice a little more often. As I saw from the abandoned cart left next to the 'park way out here because you know you could use the walk' sign, getting people to change or at least try to change is very, very tough.
I hope you have a great long holiday weekend!
Reader Comments (4)
They might have more success if the sign read, "Park all the way out here and there's less chance your car will get dinged."
That is a good point! That parking lot is usually a madhouse!
I love this. It's a terrific spin on an idea I had about making the choice parking the parking that's farthest from the front door: http://www.freerangecomm.com/2010/10/sign-sign-everywhere-a-sign-do-this-dont-do-that-cant-you-read-the-sign/
f
Thanks Fran - I wonder if this kind of thing will catch on more broadly. I always park pretty far away, but I think it is less about fitness and more about how I am generally pretty anti-crowds.