Say Goodbye to Parking Scratch Cards & Hello to Flexible, Contactless, Digital Parking Passes
Scratch cards should stick to their lane — i.e., the world of lotto tickets — and back out of parking for good. See, they’ve reached their prime; they’ve peaked and they’re now on their way to extinction. And good riddance! With the digitization of, well, pretty much everything nowadays, coupled with the need to create flexible products and services that are touch-free and safe — we can finally give parking scratch cards the boot thanks to digital parking passes and scan-to-park options!
As a final salute to the era of parking scratch cards, we’re sharing the main reasons why we need not shed a tear now that they’ve been tossed to the curb (but not literally — let’s not litter, folks!).
If we had to describe the late, not-so-great parking scratch cards in only 6 words, they would be…
1. Costly —
Printing is expensive. Both the cost of printing itself as well as the cost associated with time spent coordinating their design and printing.
2. Cumbersome —
There are just SO many moving pieces. The need to liaise with multiple parties — design, print, and parking — it’s exhausting just thinking about it.
3. Inflexible —
Once the cards are printed, it’s a done deal. There’s no wiggle room for changes. And if there’s one thing the last 14 months has taught us, it’s that change is inevitable — we need processes that allow us to run with the punches.
4. Friction —
Paying for parking should be easy and painless. And that ain’t scratch cards — they require prospective customers to take too many complicated steps: (1) arrange and pick up the physical card in person or coordinate by mail; (2) find a coin laying around to scratch off a session; (3) calculate how much money’s been lost when they are inevitably misplaced or possibly stolen.
5. Eco-UNfriendly —
They use trees and they eventually end up in the garbage. ‘Nuff said.
6. Data-less —
With no reporting or insight on usage, there is no way to track or analyze how and when parkers are using their scratch cards to pay for parking.
Enter the new kid on the block: A digital parking pass that was born out of change and disruption. When the pandemic hit back in March 2020, the HONK team knew that one of the repercussions would be a void in monthly parking so we created HonkPASS — a cross between daily and monthly parking, and the perfect alternative to Mr. Scratch card. HONKPASS is a prepaid package of electronic parking credits that can be redeemed through the HONK parking app for parking at a single location or within a group of locations during a specified period (e.g., 10 days in a calendar month). Gone are the days of manual, inefficient scratch cards. Hello, digital parking pass and convenience!
Now if we had to describe this new contactless parking payment technology in only 4 words, they would be…
1. Flexible —
You, the operator, have full reign when configuring rates and availability from the backoffice, whenever and wherever you want. And there’s seriously no limit on how many different digital parking passes you can create. With our parking payment software, you’re back in the driver’s seat!
2. Insight —
Thanks to good ol’ technology, you get real-time access on redemption and usage of all parking credits. You’ve got the data to truly understand how, when, and where each of your customers is using their digital parking pass — which helps in the creation of future smart parking rates and programs.
3. Contactless —
Give your customers the safest, cleanest, easiest way to pay for parking: touch-free mobile checkout! And the sheer convenience of it drives uptake and compliance.
4. Profit —
An ideal mix of daily and monthly parking options, a digital parking pass is a contactless payment solution that will attract more customers (which translates into more money for you). Plus, collect funds up front, and save on individual credit card processing fees. How’s that for a guaranteed revenue generator?
Want in on the fun? If you are a college or university getting ready for Fall ‘21, or if you’re on the office parking management team, HONK’s digital parking pass is the solution for you!
Want to learn more about the parking payments solution of the future?