Parking Lot Striping – How to Stay Safe, Visible & Compliant

Your parking lot plays in critical role in establishing the credibility of your entire operation. Whether the people parking in your lot are shoppers, patients, tenants, students or their parents, diners, clients, or guests, most of them will be gain an impression of your level of concern for them, the quality of the services or products you provide, and your attention to details from the condition of your parking lot. If you have neglected repairs, failed to install the necessary signs, overlooked compliance violations, or allowed your parking lot striping to deteriorate, those impressions will be more negative than if you have taken care of those issues.

Parking Lot Striping – How to Stay Safe, Visible & Compliant

How Much Might Parking Lot Striping Improve the Impressions Others Have About My Operation?

Subconscious perceptions are impossible to quantify. However, researchers who have interviewed large numbers of people have found that a well-striped lot that also has the necessary pavement markings tends to encourage people to shop at that store instead of an otherwise comparable store with a neglected parking lot. Furthermore, they are more likely to become regular patrons of the store. Similar results have been noted among interviewees who were looking to rent an apartment. Complexes with poor parking lots received less consideration than those with neat, well-marked lots. Although not every industry has received the same amount of research, it seems safe to assume that the results would be quite similar.

Why Do People Tend to Prefer Businesses With Great Parking Lot Striping and Pavement Markings?

Because many perceptions or impressions are formed at the subconscious level, people cannot always explain their reasons. However, among those that can put their reactions into words, the following reasons tend to be cited frequently.

1. Among apartment hunters, missing stripes and pavement markings were often viewed as a warning that maintenance at the complex was not a priority. This led them to suspect that the individual units had also been poorly maintained, and they feared that it might prove difficult to obtain repairs in a timely manner.

2. Among shoppers, many people wondered whether the store’s lack of care shown the parking lot was an attitude that extended to customer service, stock rotation, cleanliness, product quality, or other aspects of the operation that the shoppers considered important.

3. Among both groups, a failure to comply with the ADA cast the operation in a negative light. Admittedly, those having a family member with a mobility issue, or who had an issue themselves, were more likely to have this view, but a sufficient number of those with no personal knowledge of mobility challenges viewed the lack of compliance as socially unacceptable or irresponsible.