Austin News

Jim Rogers was a teenager when he started his career in the parking and driving industry.

"I started in the parking business, as a valet, when I was 18 years old looking for a summer job before college," he recalled in a statement to Austin News. "I fell in love with meeting new people every day, driving nice cars and working a busy downtown area."

Rogers, currently vice president of Premier Parking who works out of the company's Austin office, said he has built lifelong friendships in the industry. He said he also "worked through 9-11 and its catastrophic impact to hotels and tourism," and survived the housing crash of 2008 that spawned the Great Recession. But he has never seen anything like the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has tanked the economy, sending many industries to the very brink. Including his own.

"I have to say that the impact of COVID-19 is the worst thing I have experienced in my professional career," he said. "This impact has been severe and I fear will be long lasting after the virus has run its course."

Rogers called on government to intervene to keep the parking and driving industry afloat.

"Our industry needs help to survive this," he said. "We need help to keep our current essential employees paid in order to remain in a position to be ready to provide services to our customers when they reopen. We need help to continue to pay our clients so they can keep their own businesses operating. We need help to pay our landlords so they can avoid foreclosure."

Rogers is not the only Premier Parking official seeking government assistance. Last week Premier Parking COO William Clay called for more help to his industry, hard hit by the economic freefall wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We are asking that the parking industry [NAICS 812930] be recognized as an industry in need of assistance, and we are asking for business interruption insurance to be granted to our company [and others like us] in this time of great need," Clay told Tennessee Business Daily.

Premier Parking employs more than 2,000 associates in more than 600 locations in more than 40 cities across the nation, providing services at concerts, sports and other events.

Those events are postponed or canceled, drying up Premier Parking's business as the company's customers are largely stuck at home waiting out the crisis. That has led to the furlough of hundreds of Premier Parking's employees.

The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was starkly illustrated last week when the U.S. Labor Department reported that a record-breaking 6.6 million workers signed up for unemployment benefits.

The parking and driving industry is a segment of the economy that most people don't necessarily think about and yet it is key to keeping large numbers of people moving in the world's largest cities, Rogers said.

"Our industry is often overlooked as a major employer in the U.S. and, specifically, of those at the line level whom may not have many other options for employment," Rogers said. "Our team works as valets, shuttle drivers, patient greeters/ambassadors, patient observers, bell attendants and maintenance porters as well as many other positions."

Most of that Premier Parking team has been furloughed and it's cold comfort to know that they're not alone.

"With the recent impact of COVID-19 on tourism, health care and the general workforce, Premier Parking has seen its revenue drop by as much as 95 percent in many areas or shut down all together," Rogers said.  

The hardest part was furloughing so many team members, Rogers said.

"We have had to tell people that we care deeply about, both professionally and personally, that we can no longer afford to employ them," Rogers said. "As a result I am working every day in an effort to mitigate the impact to our business and preserve our company for those associates that remain employed and for our clients."