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A comment on 'Robin Hoods' who feed parking meters are hit with lawsuit in New Hampshire. Parent comment

Re:'Robin Hoods' who feed parking meters are hit with lawsui... by dylangs1030 on Tuesday August 06, 2013 @02:20PM (#6168230)
I don't quite understand why feeding parking meters is illegal.

Bear with me...

In some cases of abuse, like with NYC metro cards, there is a legitimate reason not to use a single metro card for a number of people (the limit is four I believe). The reason is because putting a large enough money on the metro card to accomodate those people automatically gives extra money as an incentive for large purchases.

But if you use this other people, you're technically ripping off the system, because those individual $2.50 cards wouldn't have gotten any extra percentage.

So in examples like the foregoing, I get why it's illegal to "share" money. But feeding parking meters has no such incentive anywhere, as far as I know. Why would it be illegal?

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Re:'Robin Hoods' who feed parking meters are hit with lawsui... by plorkyeran on Tuesday August 06, 2013 @02:22PM (#6168242)
It's not. They're being sued for taunting and harassing the parking inspectors, not for feeding the meters.
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Re:'Robin Hoods' who feed parking meters are hit with lawsui... by bifrost on Tuesday August 06, 2013 @02:59PM (#6168489)
The "taunting and harassing" is a smokescreen, these guys posted video of several interactions, I wouldn't be surprised if more came out.
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Re:'Robin Hoods' who feed parking meters are hit with lawsui... by dylangs1030 on Tuesday August 06, 2013 @02:28PM (#6168284)
I know that's the reason in the article, but the parent had said it's illegal, so I figured I'd ask.
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Re:'Robin Hoods' who feed parking meters are hit with lawsui... by philwelch on Tuesday August 06, 2013 @02:23PM (#6168252)
Because you're depriving the city revenue they would make from writing traffic tickets when the meters expire.
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Re:'Robin Hoods' who feed parking meters are hit with lawsui... by e3pi on Tuesday August 06, 2013 @03:05PM (#6168519)
"...would the city still be complaining? Well, the answer is probably yes, because their intent to enforce the law isn't to prevent law-breaking but to raise money.
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Re:'Robin Hoods' who feed parking meters are hit with lawsui... by bifrost on Tuesday August 06, 2013 @02:57PM (#6168477)
> Why would it be illegal?

Because its about revenue. The cities want to give out tickets to prop up their bottom lines. Yes, there is a congestion and anti-car component but do not be fooled, its all about parking tickets.

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