The Boot Girls Who Might Take Down Atlanta's Parking Boot Industry

Some people call them the Robin Hoods of the parking enforcement industry. They call themselves the Boot Girls, and NPR took a ride alongside these two entrepreneurs to see exactly why their unusual business has gone viral. The "Boot Girls" offer a service to Atlanta drivers who get their cars booted to remove the boot for the flat fee of $50. It's a significant discount over the $75 per day that boot enforcement agencies typically charge, and their underdog business idea is amassing a big fan base across the world.

It turns out this practice of booting cars as a form of enforcement is already illegal in many places and Georgia legislators are considering banning it altogether. As one judge noted, "it is a crazy thing to say the normal cure for an unauthorized entry on your property is to insist that the trespasser remain on your property." When an illegally parked car is towed, you could argue that everyone benefits (except the car owner!). A booted car, however, only benefits the company collecting payment to remove the boot. There are entire threads online that consider the practice to be unethical and even sell keys for anyone to unlock a parking boot themselves.

Ultimately, the reason why there is so much delight online from people who vicariously enjoy the pain the Boot Girls are inflicting on these private booting companies is because it's easy to hate a company that provides so little while employing a business model based on extortion. It probably explains why so many people hate Ticketmaster too.