“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” wrote Benjamin Franklin in 1736, a statement truly relevant in today’s fight against COVID-19. However, did you know that Franklin penned these words as illustration for fire safety? Philadelphia rowhome fires in his day were killing and displacing scores of residents. The cause was a simple lack of supervision of stoves or ember transfer to fireplaces with falling coals catching flame while residents slept.
This maxim applies equally well to today’s parking operations. During the current economic downturn, supervision is often lacking due to cost-cutting measures. Managers, auditors and administrators are furloughed or working at reduced hours and salaries. Very little attention is being paid to the health of the actual operation. Revenue integrity is going up in flames.
Violations are at a record high volume. Most common infractions are not issuing tickets including valet digital tickets, not depositing payments, taking cash instead of mobile transactions, overcharging customers, theft from valet parked vehicles, etc. In 2019 the rate of such violations recorded by Servimer’s independent contractors (mystery shoppers) was 4-10% of all visits. In 2020, with two reopening markets in NYC and California, this number has grown to 70% of all visits identifying integrity violations.
Mystery shops are the affordable ounce of prevention you need in order to avoid a costly pound of cure like losing an entire operation.
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