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Parking isn't "naturally free". You're using a scarce resource, land, which typically isn't given away for free in a capitalist system.

Parking spots are often small enough, used for short enough periods of time, or in places with low enough land prices that it's not worth charging for them, but people often continue to insist that parking should be free even when those descriptions no longer apply.

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What I mean by "naturally free" is that if I was alone on earth, I could park anywhere, for free, without having to work for it. Gold? I'd have to dig it up, I'd have to smelt it; a lot of work there, not naturally free. Parking? It's a free resource.

The "scarcity" is largely manufactured. Go to Google earth, take the street view dude, plunk it randomly anywhere in the central United States - and there will almost certainly be untapped free parking space as far as the eye can see.

That's certainly an interesting perspective. To help me understand your viewpoint, do you think unimproved land should be free in general?

If a parking spot is paved, does it become more reasonable to charge for it?

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