I had a parcel which I wanted to send to a recipient in Mchinji. I took it to one of the courier service providers in Blantyre to get it sent.
“Sorry, we do not serve Mchinji,” the courteous receptionist told me. “The recipient will have to collect it from Lilongwe.”
I thought it would be too much of a hassle for someone to travel from Mchinji to Lilongwe just to collect a parcel containing two books. I enquired if there was any other courier service close by that could send the said parcel to Mchinji.
“Yes, you can try the one across the road,” I was advised.
The courier service being referred to was next door to the one I had hoped would send the parcel. I decided to walk across to their office, quicky send the parcel then come back to collect my car.
As I attempted to walk past the gate, I was stopped by an enthusiastic lady guard.
“Mukupita kuti? (where are you walking to?)” she enquired. I told her my destination.
“Muchotse galimoto yanuyi, muisiye panjapa (Remove your vehicle and park it outside our yard)”. I could not argue, but just did as I had been instructed, although there was hardly any parking space in the street.
“Was that the best way to handle a potential customer,” I wondered to myself. In fact I had been a frequent traveller on the coaches operated by this particular courier service provider. I made up my mind that day not to patronise that service provider again, and not to recommend them to any of my colleagues.
Parking is becoming a highly contentious issue in our urban centres. Some time last year, I had a fair bit of business to transact at the offices of one of the mobile operators in Blantyre. I decided to park in a reasonably spacious parking lot next to the offices. No sooner had I entered the parking lot than a lady guard came running after me.
“Are you a member of staff here?” she asked. When I told her that I was not, she instructed me to exit the parking lot and park in the street, which by that time was already bursting at the seams with parked vehicles. Reluctantly, I obliged.
Businesses that are located in the central business districts of our cities have to reconsider the issue of parking seriously or they will gradually lose clients. For some years now I have not patronised businesses located in the central business district of Blantyre if I have the option of accessing similar businesses outside the city centre. I would rather go to a bank or a pharmacy located at Chichiri than the one in the central business district.
The reason for the decision above is that businesses in the centre of Blantyre monopolise parking space. You want to a visit a pharmacy located along Victoria Avenue. When you get there, you cannot park because the people working for the pharmacy have reserved the parking lots next to their shop by placing plastic beacons on them. You need to keep going round and round the city centre until you get a chance to park, God knows where. Honestly, why would anybody bother to patronise that pharmacy? Let the workers, who have the exclusive right to park there, patronise it. My favourite pharmacies these days are those around the Ginnery Corner area or at Chichiri or Chitawira. Kudya is another favourite area.
Availability of parking space will be a major decider of whether customers will continue to patronise businesses located in our busy city centres. Those that are developing business premises will do well to provide ample parking space to their clients. These days, indoor parking lots are an absolute necessity. These can, I am sure, be retrofitted even to buildings that were erected some time back and did not have them initially.
Up until recently, nations used to go to war against each other over the issue of land. In modern times, fresh water is a more critical issue than land and it is quite likely that nations will be fighting over this scarce commodity. In the business world, businesses wage war against each other for customers. Strategy has historically been the issue over which battles for customers have been lost or won. Parking space, or lack of it, will surely be another major issue over which customers will be won or lost.
Organisations situated in the city centres need to search within their strategies and ensure that their customers are well provided for in terms of parking space. They will face customer flight otherwise.