Parking meters

General Discussion
41

I remember a Blooper Edition of “This Old House” or “Ask This Old House” and Tommy Silva was instructing an apprentice (a high school kid…) on the proper use of a tape measure and was explaining why the tip of the tape measure was moveable (depends on whether it is an inside or outside measure… Google it…) and the importance of carefully checking the measure before cutting (measure twice, cut once…). I do not know if this was “staged” or it really happened, but the kid measured the board the first time from the Left (twice…) and made the cut, then Tommy had him measure from the Right (twice…) and then make the cut and then he had the kid stand the boards up side by side and one was 1/2" shorter…

Measure
Measure1884×608 190 KB

So the moral is: You can measure twice, but if you do it wrong… Well, Paul Harvey does not need to tell you the rest of the story…

42

Car Talk is always the place I go when I need to know how to measure a board .

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43

Reminds me of another home improvement tv show, off the air now, Hometime IIRC. They also had a funny blooper segment. They had diy’er wired a kitchen countertop area for better lighting and more outlets. When they turned the switch on, short circuit, black smoke followed by the counter top on fire … lol …

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44

Well another thing when shopping for a tape is that there are right hand and left hand tape measures so that you don’t have to read the figures upside down. Yes easy to pick the wrong number when it is upside down. Thats why I always buy extra.

Oh yeah, I haul it in the car. If I put the seat down I can fit an eight foot board in and close the trunk. Along with cup holders and disc brakes, it’s a must have.

45

I can’t imagine a construction pro, even a diy’er, would read the bottom tape measure in photo above as 42 1/4. Simple logic requires that the 42 1/4 mark would have to reside between 42 and 43, not between 41 and 42.

when I make a tape measure mistake … which I’ve done on occassion … the problem is usually that I’m not measuring from the end of the tape, but from the one inch mark.

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46

Well done it myself and others have also admitted doing it.

While getting people upset, one other thing is that you should always use the same tape since there can be slight differences in the printing from one to the other. One may say 36” on the mark but another one might be a 16th or 8th off. But as Taryl says, it’s not a space ship.

47

Like a I wrote, Tommy was teaching an apprentice, not a pro… And quite honestly, it might have been a “planned” blooper for teaching and entertainment sake…

48

When I was visiting (on Military Temporary Duty (TDY) in the UK) in the 1980’s, I bought several maps to get about. In the UK, they sold two types of maps. One where North is up and one where South is up. They help to avoid confusion if you are driving North or South… Before GPS, I had my wife hold the map upside down if we were driving South. Otherwise, she would say, “Take a Right…” when I should have taken a Left…

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Ha ha. I had our graphics artist draw up evacuation maps for the building. I looked at them and said you’ve got south pointing up. She redid them. I thought that was taught in grade school.

50

The key word in that sentence is ‘debt’. There’s no debt until you’ve taken receipt of the thing being sold. I didn’t have a credit card until sometime in the '90s, paid for everything with cash. I had to ship something Fedex to a friend. The office in Santa Monica wouldn’t take cash. I had to go home and get my checkbook. If I had an account with them, ran up a bill, they would have to take cash to pay that bill - then they could cancel my account.

They can refuse to sell with you in the first place 'cause you have cash, same as they can refuse your check, credit card, gold bullion, Yap stones.

I pay taxes with checks. They want a fee to use credit cards.

I remember prices that weren’t 9/10, specifically 21.7 at the Sinclair on Westbard in Bethesda.

I’ve gotten the cleat of the end caught on the board, hard to see on a long measure.

51

Around here, they accept ACH which is basically an electronic check. You enter the routing and account number and optionally assign a check number. The fee for that is less than a dollar compared to significant charges to use a credit card. Everything is online, no need to do anything in person or by mail anymore…

52

+1
I pay my property taxes online, via ACH, and the fee is less than $2.00, which is well worth it for the convenience plus the assurance that you don’t have to deal with the possibility that one’s mailed check could be lost/damaged/delayed in the mail.

I also pay my quarterly estimated federal income tax online. This is an even better deal because there is no IRS surcharge for online ACH payments.

53

Back to parking meters for a moment…

With many meters now using online payment only, be careful of fake QR codes. There have been a number of municipalities reporting that scammers put their own QR code on top of the municipality’s QR code. Then when someone clicks on the QR code, they’re unknowingly taken to a malicious website eager to get your credit card information.

A simple search for “fake qr-code parking meter scam” gives lots more info.

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54

Are there no kiosks with their system?

55

I’ve been to an increasingly number of parking lots lately where the only way to pay was through some form of online payment.

No kiosk, no tickets, and nothing to put on your dash. On your phone, you simply enter your plate number, the parking slot number, and then pay via credit card.

You pay for the amount of time you think you’ll need the spot. If your timeslot expires and the site catches you, you’re penalized. (I forget how exactly. Either added costs, or towing.)

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Of course, this is the advantage of an app-based system, where you can add more time from wherever you are.

57

No kiosks at all.

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I don’t write many checks and have the debit cards that I mostly use and credit cards that I seldom use. I don’t understand why folks have a problem writing a check. It’s not like the old days when you’d get a bunch of canceled checks back each month to go through. Now you just get the image on the monthly statement. Don’t ever use a debit card for the irs. Having the image to prove payment is a necessity. I always pay taxes with a check and the access the register of deeds site to make sure they recorded it, regardless of the cancelled check. I understand an electronic payment is nice for both of us, but in some cases a check makes more sense.

I m in Minnesota and heading to Ohio got a ticket in Indianapolis. My choices were drive 400 miles with green cash to pay at the courthouse or pay an extra fee for a debit card. They wouldn’t take a check and I think they even had a problem with a certified check, which would give you no proof of payment. The electronic fee was substantial but cheaper than driving 400 miles to pay in cash.

I guess point is you need and should use various payment methods but I will not use my phone.

59

We have a Visa and a MasterCard Credit Card and a Visa Debit Card, and we also have a Visa Spend Card. The Spend Card, like our Visa Credit Card is issued by our Credit Union. The Spend card is very similar to a Credit Card, but we have to Pre-Load it with cash (like a gift card…) other than having to pre-load the card, it is different as only we can put cash in it… Meaning if I buy an item and I want to return it and the vendor will only return the payment in kind, as in refund the card, it is not going to happen.

eBay will not accept this card as payment since they cannot return a payment to it… But it works great for incidental purchases like gasoline, Slurpees, etc… It even has the chip for “Tap 'n GO”

But as a side note, the Spend Card is just like Cash and I’ve given one to most of the Grandkids with a weekly allowance for various expenses… They can spend the money as fast as it comes in or they can save it for a rainy day or special purchase. Once the money is given, it’s theirs and I do not question how it is spent. If the amount gets over $100, I reduce the balance to a reasonable amount so if the card is lost or stolen they do not lose everything. If they need the cash back, a simple phone call, text, or email gets it re-loaded right away. Like I wrote, it’s their to spend as they see fit. But as a benefit, it offers them at an early age the opportunity to use “Plastic Money” and control it…

As the old joke goes, “I can’t be out of Money, I still have checks left…”

Back on Point… We write checks for all of our recurring bills, electric, water, sewer, internet (phone), taxes, insurance, etc… DMV accepts the Spend Card for registrations, license renewals, etc…

We have had a couple of occasions over the years as we moved around the county (while I served in the Air Force…) of various businesses (both the phone company and the electric company…) charging our credit cards even after we stopped service and moved…

Once, when we moved from a rented house onto the base in base housing, the electric company continued to charge our credit card. We went to the old address and the new occupants showed us the bill and it was in their name. It took months to get that straight, even though the credit card company stopped charging us, the power company continued to bill us and even threaten to destroy our credit for non-payment…

We do miss out on some benefits where the business might offer a discount for Auto-Pay with a Card, but “Once Burnt, Twice Burnt, Thrice Shy…”

And when it’s time to pay the bills; we pull out the check book and we feel like Oprah at her Christmas Giveaway…

tenor (2)

60

Yeah I remember her giving those new cars away to people needing them. Only to find out the had a hefty tax bill to pay for them in cash. Kinda like if I won that 57 thunderbird that I came close to winning, it would have cost me over $10,000 in tax. $100 raffle ticket and toward the end it was please don’t let me win, please don’t let me win. Don’t need another car. :smiling_face:

I should explain for the newbies here. Saturday morning a school in Boston was having a raffle for a worthy cause and had a message here. The folks here shut it down fast for spam but I bought a ticket anyway. Only gonna be 1000 tickets sold, and I had done pretty well the night before. Just had to get it from Boston to Minnesota and pay the tax. Then the virus hit and who would want to go to Boston? Plus they only sold 500 tickets. Delayed a couple times but now the odds were one out of 500 and I don’t wanna go to Boston and the hassle. Came close. A guy down the road in worthington, Mn won it and he was happy as a clam when I talked to him. He had transport figured out but I don’t know how he did the title from 1000 miles away, since they said you had to collect in person. I figured I’d do a power of attorney to my nephew in boston, but I was getting cold feet all around. Careful what you wish for as they say. I lost but consider it a win.

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