LOL@ Dollar General shipping! I know exactly what you mean! They get that and CVS shipping from me, if I’m not in a FedEx brick and mortar area, because they’re far away from me to!
As long as I have that receipt…all good 
mobile notaries are independent contractors, not on anyone’s payroll, and all those extra requests outside of actual notarial duties are administrative work that should come with a higher price tag. That " well other notaries do it line? Classic manipulation tactic. Hire another notary!” It’s about knowing your worth and setting boundaries. These signing services want to squeeze every last drop for a base fee, and it’s just not worth the stress, especially with all the micromanaging and attitude some of them throw in.
You’re running a business, not a favor factory. Let ‘em know!
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I do the same thing. Nobody needs to print all those directions.
In these last two cases, I didnt know of the shipping approval. Many of them are waiting until after you accept. I’ve now had 3 in the last 7 days. If I were to cancel 3 times in one week Im sure it would reflect. I’ve just bèen making note to not work for them again. I dont NEED to work. I work for something to do and because i like to feel like I contribute.
You are exactly correct. I wrote down the names of all 3 companies that have asked for me to hold docs for approval and other BS requests in the past week. I wont work for them again. As stated, I work because I want to and not because I need to work.
I’ve worked for the first company you mentioned . I’ve never texted a pic of the printed docs. I don’t mind waiting for them to approve shipping because they review the docs for accuracy and they have caught things that I missed. Texting a pic of the receipt only takes a sec, so I don’t mind. I’ve worked with them for a few years now. The people are nice to work with and they pay better than others. If you tell them your situation, they’ll work with you. I understand your frustration though. Driving back and forth is not easy when you’re so far away from the shipping location.
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So, did you not see the notary block on the second page? When the page is split like that, I automatically look for the notary block. It does look weird and I understand how you could have missed it. I’m sure I’ve made that mistake. I agree that you could have added one yourself.
Driving back and forth isnt easy doesnt begin to describe. Its an hour one way to an actually manned FedEx. Luckily the 2 superlative ones were UPS. But still, when i had to wait for the next day to ship they were texring me by 12:25 bugging me because they didnt have a picture yet. I jave until 6pm to ship. There was no need to be pushy. As i said, I dont need their $$ or micromanagement so I just wont work for them again.
I’m just not used to seeing poorly prepared documents to that extent. Then yesterday another split notarization but it was easily fixed.
I just think it’s weird that notaries are now expected to look for and fix document preparation errors. Is the entire industry poorly trained? Sometimes I think maybe.
I see more and more of this. Yesterdays job was a split. A mother was cosigning for her sons refinance. So many things not done correctly by document preparers and Notary. There were 2 notary blocks suprisingly on each notarized form in the beginning. However, had both names. Notary #1 was crossing out sons name on my blocks and not initialing any of them. She had no right to touch my notary blocks. She was also what I consider lazy with her notarizations. She would just write DL as identification produced instead of filling it out. She wouldnt fill in any extra notary information on the lines, not even print her name. Sure, its on her stamp I guess, but still laziness. Just because everything is on my stamp doesnt mean I dont fill in the blanks. One stamp was so light, i couldnt read it. It got a bit stranger than that, but hey my thumbs are tired. Other mistakes by the document preparers… Sent me yesterdays documents via regular overnight which meant a guaranteed 1:30 delivery for a 2pm appointment with 45 minutes drive. Luckily they were here on time. I didnt get a return label, unless notary #1 used it and wasnt supposed to. I noticed a bunch of sons documents not in package. But yes, Im noticing things more and more that I have to call on before I go to an appointment. Wrong middle initials, sometimes a completely missing document.
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If I am the first notary on a split signing, I practice the courtesy of printing an extra page for the next notary if a second notarization is not included. And you’re right she didn’t need to correct the form you were handling. If the notarization says “by means of” and you write in Drivers License where it asks how they proved they were them, the DL number is not required on the notarization. You’re just saying you confirmed their ID via their presented driver’s license. That number is filled in on other forms in the package. In my state it’s not required to be filled in on the notarization. I wouldn’t call it lazy. But excluding your printed name and whatever else they want filled in - probably an error. If her stamp was that light - it can also be rejected for that.
The guy at the shipping center showed me how to get my stamps open so I can re-ink them. Here in the desert, they dry up fast. So that will save me money.
The split notarization I mentioned is the actual notarization being split onto two pages. Just another thing to look for. Feels like the number of hats we wear is getting larger.
Im not referring to a Drivers License number. Im saying she couldnt even bother to write out Drivers License and jusf simply put DL. Why would you even think i was stating she wasnt writing a Drivers License Number?
It looked like that’s what you said when you said instead of filling it out.
Why have notaries become so defensive.
For a split signing with only one certificate, I’d look at the provided certificate. If it’s just like my state’s short-form certificate, I’ll use it; let the next notary use what they like best. But if it’s anything but the short-form certificate, I’ll attach a short-form certificate and leave the one that came with the docs for the other notary.
Sometimes only one is included and you have to remove one of the signer names from the acknowledgement because they are somewhere else. When the docs are like that, I print that page twice if I’m the first notary. But I understand the other posters point - being the 2nd notary can be a pain if Notary #1 was careless.
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Had that happen once, too. N. Certs on same page, customized for each notary. PERFECT! But, instead of leaving MINE alone, 1st N just puts a big X across MY whole Cert. forcing me to use ‘loose’ Certs. Adding insult to injury, TC gets upset with me for doing so. It did get straightened out, but the added work and TC confusion…was not fun.
@Arichter Completely understand the frustration as it definitively increases the time at the signing time . . .
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What fee are you charging for an order with these types of instructions/demands?
Unfortunately, my normal fee. They dont send ALL the demands until after acceptance.
If you don’t mind me asking, what is your normal fee for some of the signings you’re referring to?