When you’re parking your car, which is the more important criterion, getting as close as possible to the door of your destination or getting a shady spot? Or perhaps it’s something else?
Me, I live in a sunny, hot area and shade has always been by far the most important issue. I will walk all the way across the parking lot if it will ensure that my car stays relatively unbaked. At church, I know which spots will be shady when we get done. At work I’m just out of luck–the place seems to be designed to act like a solar oven, no wonder they’re so big on solar energy. But for any other location I frequent, I know exactly where to park when to get any shade that’s going. It doesn’t matter how tiny the patch is.
That’s pretty much how it works in my city. Therefore I am always puzzled by (able-bodied) people who seem to want to park as close as possible to the door, which to me is not important at all. Thus this poll. Feel free to explain your reasoning.
My husband and daughter both park in the shade, even if it’s really far away. I hate this in the summer, since the AC will cool the car quickly but trudging a long distance with the sun beating down sucks.
I’m lazy, so I like to park as close as I can. The exception is at Walmart; I have a tendency to lose track of my car, so I always park in the first aisle, as far out as I have to.
Park at the most convenient spot. Shade is never a concern and distance is only sometimes a concern. So, I end up far away from the store on occasion but the walking doesn’t really bother me.
I’ve actually pissed a friend off once when doing it. We got into an argument.
Shade is important if it’s hot, but for me being able to open my doors trumps everything else. I have a small minivan but live in the UK, where parking spaces are considerably smaller than those in the US.
During the spring/summer months of the year, definitely shade, as my car doesn’t have working ac. During fall and winter months, I don’t much care where I park, since the cold doesn’t bother me any.
When I’m not with my wife on a hot, sunny day, my preference is just to park in the closest spot I see in the first aisle as I’m approaching (no circulating like a shark for me). My wife, though, would always tend to point out the shade, if any present. Typically that’s not a concern, because shopping center parking lots in my area (in Michigan) are just huge, paved expanses of land with no shade.
Shade is never important to me. I don’t mind walking either though. I aim for the quickest available which to me are the ones at the back of the lot I don’t have to navigate isles to get to.
Me too. I often deliberately won’t take the closest spot, figuring that a little old lady or family with small children may come along who need it more than I.
In the summer shade is nice, though it’s not always an option, but mostly I just look for a spot that’s easy to pull into and out of. At the grocery store, I try to park fairly close to a cart corral, too.
What’s this shade you speak of? Do some of you live in places where the parking lots are filled with tall elm trees?
At the grocery store, pretty much the only shade in the parking lot is the shadow cast by the sign atop the cart corral or tall minivans.
As a result, we just park wherever’s convenient and near cars that look like their owners won’t fling doors open and dent us.
If we’re driving the pickup, we are aware of how big our rolling ark is and park out in BFE so we don’t annoy everyone else. At most lots, the truck will not fit into one space. No problems at Home Depot, though. Imagine that - a parking lot that was designed to hold trucks.
Convenience is the most important criterion. I have no problem walking from the back of the parking lot, unless perhaps I have to carry something heavy, but that’s exceedingly rare. I’ll favor shade over distance when it’s hot out, but I’ll pass up shade for convenience. And by convenience, I’m refering to being able to pull through, or where that’s not possible, one where it’ll be easier to back in and/or pull out, which is typically farther back as closer you have to deal with pedestrians or other cars driving through.
As such, I will generally take the first space that fits my criteria unless I am absolutely sure I see one closer. I’d rather take one farther back and realize I made a mistake, than ultimately take longer to park and get to wherever I’m going by aiming for a spot that’s not really there.
Generally speaking, I just aim for the most convenient spot. Neither shade nor (reasonable) walking affect my choice all that much. When at a store of some kind, I usually try to park fairly close to the cart return area so I don’t have to walk all the way back into the store to put my cart away.
No, the elm trees all died. But it is pretty routine to plant a few trees in the parking lots here. They’re sometimes kinda scrubby little things, but every bit helps. Here’s one of the big-box parking lots, for example–even they have some trees, you can zoom out and see that everything does. I expect the city mandates it or something, but I’ve never thought about it before. Thelibrary parking lot is older and has excellent shade.
Unless it is raining (or expected to rain later) or I have passengers, I try to park a good distance AWAY from the door so I am obliged to walk.
And the passenger thing isn’t absolute. My baby sister, my son’s sister, and my wife all like to walk, so the policy needn’t apply if any of them is the passenger; and if, say, I am driving my father and one of my other sister’s someplace (say to a doctor’s appointment), I’ll drop them at the door and then park if time allows.
Me too. I tend to park for ease of car access, and deliberately avoid the crowded areas near the store entrances. As I say to people when volunteering to pound sand, “I need the exercise.”
No, the elm trees all died. But it is pretty routine to plant a few trees in the parking lots here. They’re sometimes kinda scrubby little things, but every bit helps.