Parking Pass

My motorcycle parking pass expired today. The university has some odd rules about moto parking passes. The pass is a sticker that goes on a plate next to your license plate. They have two versions you can purchase for $5 (when I bought mine a few years ago). The passes come in about three varieties with different expiration dates. The expiration dates seem to be fairly random. And the parking department seems to have no control over the range of dates. They get what is sent to them. This time around the options were a pass that expires in May 2010, a pass that expires in August 2010, or a pass that expires in March 2012. Yes, 2012, that's not a typo. I was hoping to get one for a year but that wasn't an option. They let you know that if you want to get a refund, for example, you purchase a 2 year pass and decide you don't want to use it for a few months, you can bring the pass back and get a refund. Keep in mind, it's a sticker. So, you have to peel it off to get your refund. And then, when you want to buy another, you can get another.

Another odd thing is you can't buy a new pass until the old one expires. So, I couldn't buy a new one yesterday. They also won't mail them to you unless you do a payroll deduction. So, you can't pay for them online, like you can a car parking pass. But, if you have a car parking pass, you get a free moto parking pass.

So, I guess I'll be at this job for at least another two years, since that's how long my pass is for. Oh, if I want to pay for the longer pass using payroll deduction, they'll charge me the monthly rate, which goes up each fiscal year. But, if I pay for it outright, I pay the current fiscal year's monthly rate for the duration. I'd set it up as payroll deduction so I didn't have to shell out all of that cash right now. But, I think I'll save myself some money and just pay for it outright.