T2 Systems

My husband jokingly credits himself for my career. He was writing parking citations at the beach as his summer job when we were both in college. I was tired of working part time in restaurants when a bookkeeping position opened in the office.  It turned out that working in parking was a great job to have while also completing my degree. Over the course of the next few years, I worked in customer service, wrote parking citations, booted and towed vehicles, and helped in the parking office.  I worked in three different parking operations which were all managed by the same private company.  Eventually one of those operations switched their software to T2 Flex and I was introduced to T2 Systems. 

Natalie Baird

In 1986 I decided to become a police officer. But never in a million years did I ever think this would lead to parking, I thought it was all “cops and robbers”, you know chasing the bad guys, high speed pursuits, the occasional “help save my cat”. Well over the next few years I made my career advancements and ended up as a Sergeant with the Texas Department of Public Safety in Austin, Texas. After being promoted I took over the supervision of the Parking Office in the Capitol Complex which regulated parking for 14,000 State of Texas employees. HOLY GUACAMOLE, was I in for an awakening when I discovered what parking was all about. Never in my 14 prior years in law enforcement did anyone and I mean anyone ever tell me, train me or mention in passing anything about parking! Well that was my first taste of parking, the purchase of T2 software and electronic ticket writers came next and then my arrival as an employee at T2 a few years later!  

 So that is how I came to be in parking, and honestly when I became a police officer I never in a million years ever figured I would end up doing anything in parking, never! 

Stu Glaeser
 

Wow - has technology changed in the past few years!

With the release of v7.0, not only have we added some really cool buttons, we have also allowed them to be setup as 'scratch and sniff'.  In the system settings area of v7.0, you can now assign different odors to your buttons as it relates to different objects.

For example, if a customer is a problem customer, you can assign a skunk odor to the customer module for those with lots of unpaid tickets.  Orange vehicles can have an orange scent assigned, red vehicles can now smell like cherries.

All you have to have is v7.0 and a high resolution monitor.  Rub a finger over the button on your screen, and the odor is released from the PC vents in the back of your computer...

Very cool!  Upgrade to v7.0 and check it out!

Mark Freeman
T2 Support Services

Well, it is summer.  And with it comes the fun of the kids being out of school... running around the house screaming they are bored, trying to find things for them to do... and pulling your hair out... while trying to remain flexible to the point where you don't snap... 

I guess I should jump to the positive portion of my latest blog… :)

T2 Flex v7.0 is officially out the door! The rollout has gone really well, and it looks like it is going to be loved by all. The coolest item: new buttons. Well, I guess many will argue that this isn’t the coolest item, but to me – it is pretty cool. I love the new look, and this alone would cause me to upgrade.

Other cool stuff? 

For those accepting credit cards online, PA-DSS validation is here and is part of the release.

Also, there is a new search filter that can be invoked after doing a search to better refine your search results. 

And the Event Management/PermitNow modules have been enhanced and are much more flexible and easier to use.

There are lots of changes that you should read about online in our release notes that cover many other items, such as having the Amount Due on the vehicle record that displays the total citations due and other fees (like boot and tow) that’s owed on the vehicle. This is another one of my favorites.

 
If T2 Systems is hosting your Flex site, you will be notified soon on when you are scheduled to be upgraded.  If you host your own data, then the installers and upgrade docs are online and are ready for download.
 

And if not for the cool features… do it for the buttons. They are soothing and will help to eliminate the stress from working in a parking office each day.   :)

So here is the story 

I always wanted to teach and coach.  I went to school, got a job out of college and started teaching and coaching,  In the early 80’s, enrollment declined and there were layoffs.  I was laid off in 1983.  I worked many odd jobs to pay the bills.  That included working at a department store, being a nanny (I really am not a big fan of kids), and running a convenience store/gas station. 

In late 1984, there was an article in the Allentown, PA newspaper that reported that the city was forming a new Parking Authority  to run the 2 garages the city built and do all the enforcement for the city.  Friends of mine encouraged me to apply. 

I applied and got called for an interview.  I was working for a company called Hess Gas at the time and managing the convenience store/gas station.  Hess employees all had to wear these really ugly WHITE uniforms with a green stripe down the side of the leg and the sleeve.  We had really strict rules and I was not allowed to leave so I scheduled the interview for my lunch time and went to city hall in Allentown in my lovely white Hess uniform.  I walked in and it was the Mayor, the head of our Economic Development department, the Chief of Police and the consultant for the city at the time (Barbara Chance) Barbara is one of the leading consultants in the industry today. 

My first line as I introduced myself was that I knew how important first impressions were in the interview process so I took all morning to decide EXACTLY what to wear.  At that moment, they decided I had the right warped sense of humor for a start up parking authority and was hired on the spot.  The next 23 years was ‘the rest of the story’ 

Linda L. Kauffman 

As an MBA graduate student and general parking pass holder, I will provide a couple observations for consideration.

Today I parked in a reserved spot at 4:52PM.

*Strategic Differentiation*

*Professional Ninjas:* The prowess and cunning of the parking officers  is pretty amazing. He or she had time to realize my sticker was not a reserved sticker, but a general sticker; calculate the time he or she had to get the ticket written (in this case less than 8 minutes), pull out the little portable computer of scorn, type my license plate in, print, and plant the ticket with - I'm sure - a sly smirk. As rapidly as this had to have happened, I'm surprised I didn't see, hear, or smell the officer. I couldn't have been more than an inch away from the car.

*Strict adherence to policy:* As a general parking pass allows its bearer to park in a reserved spot after 5PM, your highly trained ninja officers stick to the letter of the law. General pass? 8 minutes before 5pm? Should  I give the ticket? HECK YES!!! Admirable!

*Sound Economic Logic*

 $112.50 per hour potential revenue from one reserved spot: At 15.00 per ticket for an 8 minute infraction, I conservatively calculate your potential revenue for one reserved spot to be $1125 per day. That's nearly a quarter million per year assuming your ninjas work on Christmas; which on second thought, is a no-brainer. I hate to think what your potential revenue would be at a 1 minute or 30 second infraction. As noted above, your people can certainly handle this kind of speed and accuracy.

*Additional thoughts*

*MBA*: My choosing to return to school to pursue an MBA was; lets face it, to make more money. At roughly 60K per year, my research leads me to expect a 25 to 30% salary increase when I finish. Roughly 75 to 80K on the conservative side. My plan is to start my own company when I finish in the technology sector to increase my chances at making a bit more - perhaps 100 to 150K. I hadn't even considered the parking infraction industry, but my experience today tells me the potential revenue is HUGE. Using the above rough estimates, one spot for a two year time investment is nearly 1 Million gross. Forget entrepreneurship. The secret is in 6 X 12 pavement.

*Extrinsic de-motivation*: If the rationale is to generate income for the university to provide better facilities to attract more students, you have certainly illustrated strength in at least two of these. Were I to use your logic however; I would: invite a customer into my store, have him pay an expensive cover fee, make him sweep and clean while patronizing, force him to purchase premium products that I select, make him bring his own shopping cart, charge him for pushing his cart in my store, and have him kicked in the junk by heartless ninjas when he turns to look at what's on sale next week. Then I would smile and tell him to be sure and bring his friends and remember me when he leaves. I might even send him a mailer from time to time with a beautiful scene; a river and green space; perhaps smiling bright faces; some inspirational tag on the front like: "Learning Lives on the River", or, "Remember to Support Your Future." On the back I might include a petition to submit a few extra bucks to help fund more pay-dirt pavement acquisition.

I think I'll stick to entrepreneurship in the ninja-free technology sector.

On many occasions I will hear of the person who hit the accelerator instead of the brake when parking their car. Sometimes, this action takes them into the ice cream aisle of their local grocery store or through the windows of the car dealership. However, I had no idea parking could be this dangerous and death defying: