When i was a kid, my best friend ended up with his grandma’s 1986 LeBaron when she no longer wanted it, and once, in another friend’s driveway, the parking pawl got stuck, we could not get it out of park to leave. Would not have happened if he had used the parking brake. We ended up shoving it a few inches with a BIG 1978 Mercury to get the pressure off of the pawl.
So since that time, I see more reason to use it than not. That being said, i prefer a stick shift, so it gets used everytime, but my girlfriend has been using hers too. As stated earlier there is a correct way to use it in an automatic. We stop with the foot brake, shift to neutral, apply parking brake, let off foot brake to make sure parking brake is set tightly and the car has settled, before finally shifting to park. Before driving off, we usually put it into whatever gear we are about to use, then disengage the brake, otherwise you could end up on the pawl anyhow.
I’m with you, overcaffeinated. I set the parking brake only when I’m on a hill, to keep tension off the transmission pawl, or if I have a standard transmission (which I don’t at the moment). I’ve never had a problem with the car rolling away for any reason. That transmission pawl is pretty strong. If someone bumped my car in a parking lot they’d have to hit it pretty hard, doing a lot of damage, and they’d be liable if it did roll away.
Too much trouble for me. Put it in park and walk away. I’ve been driving a loooooong time, many vehicles, many situations. Other than ice on the brake cable, I’ve never had one not work for lack of use either. They’re just a wire rope cable on a Y-yoke to the brakes; very simple.
I’m on your side 
Putting it in neutral sounds excessive to me, unless you are parked on a steep incline and want to be sure the parking brake is holding.
When I park an automatic on relatively level surfaces, I just keep my foot on the brake until the car is in park and the parking brake is set. When I take my foot off the brake, the car shouldn’t move. If the car moves at all when you take your foot off the brake (indicating it is resting on the pawl), you know you did it wrong.
Another point is that in some states you are required to use your parking brake when the car is parked. MD is like that. I don’t use the parking brake in my garage, but I do everywhere else. Just what I need - a ticket for something silly like that.
The only thing I hate is that many of the domestics still use the little parking brake down near the driver’s left leg. I find it is more inconvenient to use, as I must find the little pedal with my foot, as well as the release handle. If it’s dark out, or for whatever other reason, sometimes it takes a while :-).
On the other hand, I use the “handbrake” on my Mazda Protege religiously, incline or no.
yeah, she only uses it on an incline, which there are few of in our part of the midwest.
just to avoid doing it wrong, we do the neutral thing, it’s in neutral when i pull the lever on my stick shift car, we know it’s over cautious, but…better safe than sorry.
It is just a safety issue, and after that, a damage issue. Everyone should use the parking brake if only because a few less kids will die every year as a result. That is a fact.