Do you pay to park where you work?

[theknight571]

Maybe it's been asked before and my search skills just didn't pull it up...

Do you have to pay to park where you work? If so does your employer own the parking lot/structure?

I've worked in a "downtown" area for many years now and have had free parking (company had parking lots), and have had to pay for parking in a city owned structure (company didn't have parking, but negotiated a discounted rate for their employees).

Currently I have to pay for parking, which on the surface is not unusual, but I have to pay my employer for it. They own and operate the structures and charge us upwards of $50 a pay for the privilege of parking in them.

In this city/area, mass transit is a joke, so that's not a real option for most of us here.

One of my coworkers and I were talking about it at lunch the other day, and we wondered if this is a common practice. So I thought I'd ask here, as it's one of the few forums I frequent, even if I mostly lurk.

 

[rh71]

It's really no different than commuting by subway/rail. My wife pays just under $200/mo. to get out to NYC by railroad + subway. 1.5 hrs each way. It's a good thing they pay well out there.

Other people have to pay daily tolls for the bridges.

City space is expensive. Someone's gotta pay for it - either the company adds it as a perk or doesn't. Being in the city, you're lucky they provide designated parking at all. Here mostly they don't care how you get there, just get there.

 

[BudAshes]

Maybe it's been asked before and my search skills just didn't pull it up...

Do you have to pay to park where you work? If so does your employer own the parking lot/structure?

I've worked in a "downtown" area for many years now and have had free parking (company had parking lots), and have had to pay for parking in a city owned structure (company didn't have parking, but negotiated a discounted rate for their employees).

Currently I have to pay for parking, which on the surface is not unusual, but I have to pay my employer for it. They own and operate the structures and charge us upwards of $50 a pay for the privilege of parking in them.

In this city/area, mass transit is a joke, so that's not a real option for most of us here.

One of my coworkers and I were talking about it at lunch the other day, and we wondered if this is a common practice. So I thought I'd ask here, as it's one of the few forums I frequent, even if I mostly lurk.

I've heard of having to pay for parking for any decent job. Certainly not to the company you are working for...

 

[pete6032]

I take transit to work, so, no. But if I drove it would cost upwards for $300/month to park downtown.

I park on the street in front of my place and I have to have a city registration sticker plus neighborhood zone permit, which costs about $133 per year.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Yes, parking garage. There's buses that go out to a free lot (~2-3mi away, garbage walk in the rain/snow) but I prefer a reliable, and faster, timing to get to and from work.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

My company is downtown - they don't pay for parking. There is a hotel with a parking garage that you can get a monthly contract for ~$100-120, which isn't bad - the best though are surface lots for $5 per day, they are much easier to get in/out.

Thankfully, I'm usually at other companies doing projects - so I never really have to be at the office. There is realistically no one in my group at the office on Monday - Thursday, so if I worked from home no one would know the difference. That said, if I have to be in the office or go downtown consistently I take a commute bus, it runs $3.25 each way for a total of $6.50.... which is fucking insane IMO. The cost of a 20-30 minute commute bus should NEVER be more than the cost of a parking spot.That said, it's ever-so slightly cheaper than parking in the surface lot (given vehicle maintenance costs) and I am able to use pre-tax transportation dollars.

 

[highland145]

Nope. They took out the parking meters 20+ years ago. They did institute a "hospitality tax" on prepared food. That's generating $125K/mo.

 

[postmortemIA]

Nope, haven't paid for work parking since early 2000s. Benefits of living in smaller city. I don't envy your big cities traffic or costs ( I do envy other things though)

 

[highland145]

^^
that.

 

[KMFJD]

Nope, haven't paid for work parking since early 2000s. Benefits of living in smaller city. I don't envy your big cities traffic or costs ( I do envy other things though)

same here

 

[IronWing]

When we moved our office a few years ago, parking was the deal breaker for moving downtown. It was going to cost the company ~$300/day to park the company fleet plus the cost to employees of parking their own cars. So here we are in a lovely industrial park down by the airport. At least the constant low flyovers help shade the building.

 

[Exterous]

$70/month to park in an employer owned garage. Its a downtown area and expensive for Michigan. That said its cheaper than using city parking so at least there's that

Nope, haven't paid for work parking since early 2000s. Benefits of living in smaller city. I don't envy your big cities traffic or costs ( I do envy other things though)

There are plenty of small cities where you have to pay to park. Take Kalamazoo MI for example 75k people and I still had to pay to park downtown. To make matters worse their parking system is stuck in the 90s. I'm supposed to get receipts for work expenses but when their parking payment system was basically this:

I wasn't exactly able to get a receipt. So I took a picture and showed it to accounting. Also their rate was $4.80/day which basically means almost everyone pays $5

 

[Thebobo]

Hell no.

 

[highland145]

$70/month to park in an employer owned garage. Its a downtown area and expensive for Michigan. That said its cheaper than using city parking so at least there's that



There are plenty of small cities where you have to pay to park. Take Kalamazoo MI for example 75k people and I still had to pay to park downtown. To make matters worse their parking system is stuck in the 90s. I'm supposed to get receipts for work expenses but when their parking payment system was basically this:

I wasn't exactly able to get a receipt. So I took a picture and showed it to accounting. Also their rate was $4.80/day which basically means almost everyone pays $5

Just take spot #4.

 

[Ns1]

Yes I have had to pay, but not to a company that owns the parking garage where I work at. THAT is ridiculous.

And by "I had to pay" I mean I paid and then my boss reimbursed me.

 

[highland145]

Just take spot #4.

If I was in your accounting dept., I'd insist that you prove you didn't park in #4.

 

[gorcorps]

Nope, then again I work out in the sticks so it's not much of a comparison. We lease out our extra land to the local farmers to grow corn and soybeans... just to give you an idea of what the area is like =P

 

[zCypher]

I always found the cost of parking downtown to be insane, so always avoided it. For years I made the trade-off of having a smaller cheap apartment to live within walking distance of work, so I saved a buttload by having zero transportation costs, and being downtown I was able to eliminate the need for having a car at all, which was an even more dramatic reduction in cost of living than not needing to pay for parking for bus/train pass etc.

Since then I've moved across the country, and managed to maintain my carless lifestyle, although things are definitely different. I work mostly at home now, so I can avoid the monthly passes here, but I still go in a couple times per month, trending down to less and less often. So I don't mind the costs when it's only occasionally, if I had to go in every day I'd consider looking for a new place to live/work. Commuting sucks balls, I'll do everything I can to avoid it. I seem to remember the monthly "deal" to park within the building at work was north of $150/mo, f that noise.

 

[SKORPI0]

No, company owns the lot and I can chose where to park.

 

[Exterous]

If I was in your accounting dept., I'd insist that you prove you didn't park in #4.

Good thing you're not. I earned fives of dollars with that trick!

 

[highland145]

Good thing you're not. I earned fives of dollars with that trick!

lolol

crack ho.

 

[Darwin333]

Am I the only one that finds it absurd that the company you work for owns the parking structure and they charge you to park there so that you can work... for them???

 

[Zeze]

My old job I paid $10/day for parking in a busy city.

But salary was more than made up for it.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Am I the only one that finds it absurd that the company you work for owns the parking structure and they charge you to park there so that you can work... for them???

Land in cities is expensive. What's absurd is expecting your employer to provide free parking.

I've encountered some that subsidize parking but not public transportation. Very odd for an urban area.

 

[Exterous]

Am I the only one that finds it absurd that the company you work for owns the parking structure and they charge you to park there so that you can work... for them???

Supposedly they gave employees some options to rank in terms of most important to them:
2:1 company retirement match (You put in 5% they put in 10%)
free dental and vision
heavy employer subsides for a great healthcare plan
free parking
There may have been a few others on the list too but this was before my time

Free parking was at the bottom of the list so they phased it out. Property taxes and land values are high so they could have just sold the structure and then we'd all be paying $160/mo to park. Seemed odd to me at first but I just look at the 10% of my salary they put in my retirement account and roll with it