Saturday, February 7, 2015

Beach Parking with a Debit Card

There are occasions that I do not ride my bike to the beach, but they are rare. When I do, like yesterday morning, I park in the lower lot, do the dance at the parking kiosk, put the receipt in the window and off I go to the pool. This is how the charge usually shows up in my bank account online:

It is a minimum of $4 for a length of stay up to two hours if you use a credit or debit card to cover the fees the city has to pay for a small charge such as this. Like I said, it is a rare event, but with the wind and bridge repairs being what they have been, I've used this method more frequently. I never have had a resident beach parking pass, but may consider it.

From yesterday's parking this is how the charge looked in my bank account this morning:
That's also an XL black Dunkin' Donuts coffee from this morning.
Why would the same machine, 4 days later have a charge for the beach parking meter as "Coca Beach Area Chamb...Merritt Isla...FL"?? I have never been but hear it's lovely. There is no other charge that could be the Lake Worth beach.

Is this some sort of skimming? A fluke? Are the parking fees still going to Lake Worth? Did the meter re-set itself to a previous owner? Are these meters part of a larger network?

 I just find this odd and have never seen this before.