Parking Space Roulette

It’s the holiday season, and the parking lot at the mall is busy. You’re looking for a parking space. What’s the best strategy for selecting a “good” spot quickly?

If the lot is really jammed, you take the first spot that you can find—no matter where it is or how inconvenient it might be.

At other times, you might seek a spot that keeps the distance you have to walk to the mall entrance to a minimum or cuts down the amount of driving that you have to do to find a spot (or a combination of the two, represented by the total time it takes you to reach the mall’s front door).