Pay for Your Parking Meter with Your Cell Phone, Thanks to PayMint!   - 2,294 Views,

How many times have you parked at a parking meter, only to find yourself on your hands and knees under the front seat of the car, frantically searching for enough change to fill the meter? Or worse, discovering that you had no change at all?

Well, if you live in the Miami suburb of Coral Gables, you’ll never have to get on your knees in your car again (at least not to find change for the meter).

That’s because Coral Gables is one of the first cities in the nation to parking meter payment by cell phone.

After registering your cell phone and credit card number with PayMint, the provider of this novel service, all you have to do is pull up to a meter, call a special number, and enter a unique number which has been assigned to the parking meter. This is akin to punching in on a time clock, and that is when the meter starts running, so to speak. When you leave, just punch out by calling the number again, and your credit card will be charged the appropriate amount, plus a 25cent service charge. PayMint will email you a statement once a month.

Explained Mari Molina, executive director of the Gables Business Improvement District, “It’s innovative. People come down and they start meandering and they forget about their parking meters, and we certainly don’t want them to get parking tickets.”

No word on what happens if you forget to check out though. Try explaining that phone bill on your expense report!