By Hannah Kennelly
The ultimate challenge of Boxing Day sales shopping is surely the relentless pursuit of a parking spot, which at times seems an almost Everest-like expedition.
The painstaking process of hopelessly driving in circles at a busy shopping centre is a universal experience. So, is there a perfect strategy for securing a park?
Hover rather than honk, if you want a prime parking spot. Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
Behavioural science expert Dan Monheit says the most effective way to score a parking spot is to employ the wait-and-follow method.
“You should make your way straight to the exit of the shopping centre and wait for someone holding bags and keys to make their way out,” he said. “This is the most effective strategy, but our brains actually don’t like this for a couple of reasons.
“We tend to have a natural action bias ... the idea of waiting for something to happen doesn’t sit well for us; we prefer the idea of trying, even if it’s less effective.”
Monheit said an unfortunate pitfall of the waiting technique was social pressure from other drivers.
“Some people consider it cheating to wait and hover by the exit, so they might honk and shout abuse ... so it can be uncomfortable, even though it’s the most effective and efficient way to get a spot,” he said.
He said many shoppers preferred to drive around in circles rather than wait for a parking space, comparing the strategy to the workings of an airport environment.
“In some airports, they move the luggage carousels further from the aeroplanes because we don’t mind walking for longer; we just don’t like standing there waiting for the bags to come off,” he said.
Monheit said shoppers’ confidence levels could be influenced by previous experiences of nabbing “the perfect park”.
Behavioural science expert Dan Monheit said the most effective way to score a car park was to “wait and follow”.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
“We can be irrationally encouraged by the memory of getting a really good spot in a previous visit, so we think the exact same thing will work again, even if it’s a completely different environment,” he said.
Mardi Ashkine works at Melbourne’s Chadstone shopping centre – the largest indoor retail centre in Australia – which will welcome an estimated half a million shoppers around Christmas and Boxing Day.
The centre has nearly 11,000 parking spaces and will have about 40 parking attendants on hand to help shoppers find a park, but Ashkine recommended planning ahead to avoid stress.
Ashkine said that even though following someone and waiting for a parking space might be effective, she found the method could be uncomfortable.
“With any shopping centre, my preferred method is to head straight for the rooftop because that’s usually the last place to fill up,” she said. “I don’t mind walking … the time it takes to walk to the entrance [of the shop] is usually the time it takes to wait for a car park.”
Monheit said it was important for all drivers to remain calm while searching for a parking spot, and encouraged the use of a “self-anchoring” technique.
“When you anchor ... you tell yourself that you’ll need to allocate at least 20 minutes to get a parking spot,” he said. “That way, if it takes 17 or 18 minutes to find a park, you still feel like you’ve won.
“Another really useful tactic is to make a mental list of things you can do while waiting for a park … call your mum, listen to that podcast, do something you haven’t had time to do.”
However, he said there was one way to eliminate car park stress, although it might be a bit late for his suggestion.
“If you want to be organised, you might want to try shopping online,” he said with a laugh. “There’s typically very little car park stress involved in that.”
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