Downtown Myrtle Beach merchants say their walk-in traffic is down and that parking meters are the reason.
It’s about either putting a quarter, five or ten cents, all loose change that Carl Terry said beats dropping more than a dollar into a meter in Pittsburgh where he and his family were visiting from on Friday.
"If I can just put ten cents into this meter to go get some sunscreen I'll do that compared to try to look for a parking space put in ten dollars for it then coming out and actually use my money’s worth, I wouldn't just want my money to go to waste," said Terry.
Some downtown businesses operators, however, said that since the meters went up five years ago, foot traffic into their stores has gone down, especially because many people walk in asking for change rather than giving them their business. That makes it difficult as merchants to stay afloat during a recession, operators said.
"We are not a bank, they come over here and we don't have the money on hand to break twenties and break one hundreds after six seven o'clock at night," said downtown business owner, Bernie Berwbe.
"Come March 15 when they put them up they run away business you know, we get a fairly good business starting in February but as soon as they put the meters up then it dies off," Berwbe’s next door business owner, Tim Debardelaben, said.
While retailers expressed their dislike for the meters, city leaders had a different thought with an explanation as to why the meters were important.
David Sebok, the executive director for downtown redevelopment, said parking meters are a way to free up parking in the area, keep order and have available space for people going into stores, bars and restaurants.
"We had people towed endlessly because they were on private property we had people parking in front of fire hydrants and too close to intersections, you just have to manage the resource and the only way to effectively do that is to have the user be responsible for some cost," said Sebok.
He also said that there are no immediate plans to make any changes on the meters or with the way parking is enforced. He added meters aren't the only option for visitors since parking in a garage for a full day is another way both local businesses and drivers can benefit from.
As far looking for loose change, one parking enforcer told News 13 to read that small meter print closely and you'll see there's plenty of information on how to get that help.
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