"Tiger and wolf snatch money, Chinese people lose money!" 》There are also insider stories
《 Tigers and wolves snatch money, and Chinese people lose money! "There are also insider stories. After the article "Tiger and wolf snatch money, Chinese people lose money!" was published online, netizens sent messages one after another...
Author Zhang Zhaohong
"Tiger and wolf snatch money, Chinese people lose money!" After the article was published online, netizens sent messages one after another. Some reflected their own experiences, some provided information, and some put forward their own opinions and suggestions. It can be seen that the towing phenomenon is not an isolated incident, so the author followed up on this matter again.
Looking back on the tow truck incident that day, the reason was that some customers went to New World Restaurant for shopping and drinking tea, and parked their cars not far from the restaurant. However, the guests did not know that the parking space here did not belong to New World Mall, but to a unit called "Southwest Chick Cashing". The shop of this small shop faced Dobson Avenue, and the parking space was behind it, so no one paid attention. On one of the light poles in the parking lot, there is a small warning from the towing company: "Only authorized paking only" (Picture 1). There is no big warning sign in this parking lot, so it is often filled with customers' cars. It is not until they are towed away that they realize that this is a parking lot. The towed owner has to pay up to US$500 in towing fees.
The company that came to tow the truck was called "All City Towing". The company here is quite famous and can be seen in many places in Greater Phoenix. No matter which company or private person calls them, the company's large trailers with more than 40 wheels will be dispatched at any time. For example, the Hukou parking lot of the above-mentioned unit will come to you uninvited, and the tow truck will be busy with three, five or seven trips back and forth on weekends. When the tow truck crew comes, they will first select expensive cars, take pictures and record the license plates, such as LUX, BMW, etc., and then tow them away after verification. Once you are bitten by one, you can only watch it being towed away with nothing to do. Of course, the tow truck company does not only tow this type of car. It also tows all illegal vehicles, those that have crashed, those that cannot be driven, and those that have been stolen and intentionally abandoned. They tow them until they become famous in the streets, and their employees can get medals and appear on TV (Figure 2).
In the United States, there are indeed a variety of warning signs in different parking lots. The author found a variety of contents, and the following is only a part of them (Figure 3). There is a funny example. Towing companies like to tow away BMWs, but there is a warning sign indicating that a certain place is specifically for parking BMWs, and all other cars will be towed away. For some illegal vehicles, if a car is parked in a parking space for disabled persons but is not disabled, the police fine alone may be as high as $500.
Since the owner had a warning and the tow truck company did not break the law, the Chinese illegally had no choice but to eat yellow lotus and lose money to avoid the disaster. The notice posted by All City Towing Towing Company did not explain the towing fee. It charges 15 yuan per day for towing back to the parking lot, and the maximum fine can be 500 yuan. My friend's car was towed and picked up on the same day, and he was fined 255 yuan. There were five or six people who came to tow the car, like people who came to help out on weekends to find extra money. The person who collected the fine was also a tow truck man. He didn't even enter the office. After collecting cash on the big tow truck, he issued a receipt from his company and said that it was collected in accordance with the regulations of the Mesa City Government. The owner of the lost car was eager to take the car, so he had no choice but to let them do it. It is understandable that owners have the right to post warnings in private areas. If guests are not careful and do not read the warning carefully, the car may be in danger of being towed away. Only careful observation can avoid unnecessary loss of money. In addition, the owner does not need to pay for calling the towing company, but the owner of the towed car pays. Why follow up on the matter if the towing is legal? The reason is that All City Towing has too many inside stories that need to be revealed, so that everyone can understand the truth of "tiger and wolf steal money, and people lose money".
"Tiger and Wolf grab money, Chinese lose money!" After the article was published online, a netizen provided a report published by a website called azcentral in June 2012. The reporter of this website has been paying attention to the company All City Towing for many years. The content of the report is about the contract between the towing company and the Chandelak City Government, allowing us to see the inside story.
In early 2012, the Chandler City Government's Procurement Department solicited bids for companies to tow illegal vehicles on behalf of the police. At that time, there were two towing companies bidding, one was All City and the other was Valley Express.
All City was the towing company that originally had the contract. They proposed that the city government pay them $172,800 per year. Each towing, the offending vehicle owner would be fined $39, and the fine would go to the towing company.
The second company is Valley Express. They put forward a "zero bid" bid, that is, towing for the city government for free, and the car owner is exempted from fines. Therefore, the purchasing department decided to let Valley Express Towing Company win the bid.
But strangely, at the city council, only one of the mayor and six council members voted in favor, rejecting the Valley Express bid. So the mayor and council decided to re-tender and gave All City a half-year extension of the old contract. Under the old contract, the city government had to pay All City Towing Company six months of contract fees.
In fact, since 1998, the Chandler City Council decided to hire a towing company, and All City has obtained the contract. Over the past fourteen years, every time the contract expired and was re-tendered, another company won the bid. However, when the procurement department sent the contract to the city council for finalization, the city council rejected it and extended the old contract of All City Towing Company or granted a new contract. This has been the same for the past fourteen years, each time for different lengths of time, a total of twelve times.
Why did Valley Express Towing Company fail to win the bid when it offered to tow for the city government free of charge and the car owner was exempted from fines under the "zero bidding" plan, instead of going to All City Towing Company? This is obviously an unreasonable decision, but the mayor and several council members insist that there is something wrong with free services.
The congressman asked Valley Express, why can you survive without charging fees? The person in charge of the towing company said that because they could not get a contract from the city government, they currently spend 100,000 yuan a year on advertising and charge $200 for a towing operation. If they can get a contract from the city, they will tow an average of 4,000 cars a year, and one-eighth of them, or 500 cars, will not be picked up by the owners. These cars are owned by the towing company. A car can be sold for an average of $800 at auction. This income alone is 400,000 yuan a year. Therefore, there is no need to spend money on advertising, no need to ask the city government for money, and no need to collect fines, and still make money. So put forward "zero bid" to bid.
From the above reports, we can know that since towing has such huge profits, it is no wonder that All City Towing Towing Company is clinging to its contract with the city government. The author used Google Maps to view the All City Towing Company's tow truck parking lot in Mesa City from the satellite view. The place is not very big and there are not enough parking spaces, so I choose expensive cars to tow first. The owner pays quickly, and if the car is stolen or unclaimed, it can be sold at a good price. In addition, the towing company sets its own towing fees, but it misleads people into thinking that the high fines are related to the city government's decision. In some cities, such as Chandelak, they not only charge car owners for towing and parking fees, but also charge contract fees with the government.
Why does the city government not sign a contract with a "zero-bid" towing company, but must find All City? And what is the reason for extending the contract more than ten times over the past decade? This has to make people wonder whether there is interest transfer and collusion between government and businessmen behind the scenes. There are many things in society that appear to be reasonable on the surface, but secretly absorb the blood and sweat of lower-class people. Everyone must be vigilant.
Sam Huang, a Chinese who once ran for Chandelak City Council, believes that towing companies not only do not have to pay the city government, but the city government has to pay (taxpayer money) to hire them. And use various means to prevent other towing companies from winning the bid. The bid has been won, but it will eventually be rejected by the mayor and city council. All kinds of weird things happened, so that was the reason for that report.
Huang Xinmin said that as far as Chinese or ethnic minorities are concerned, racial discrimination has been significantly reduced today, but some unreasonable phenomena still exist in society. A liaison agency should be established to respond to such situations. The Chinese must fight for their rights and reduce losses. They must unite and speak out when encountering these problems. He is willing to be a liaison and volunteer, and provides a contact number: 480-698-2305. (To view the full text of the incident, please go to http://www.paaca.us )
(Picture 1) Small warning from the tow truck company (close-up shot)
Employees of towing companies receive medals and appear on TV
There are various warning signs in the parking lot
Related news links: Zhang Zhaohong: Tigers and wolves snatch money, Chinese people beware of losing money!
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