I have some downtime currently and am emailing the companies I have signings with tomorrow. I currently have 5 signings. Busy day. (also my last signing is at 6 tonight so home around 7:30-8ish) My email, …hello - I am covering a signing for you at X time and will be traveling all day starting at 8 am. Can you please see if you can have documents to me tonight - even if it’s late. Thank you….
3 responses - oh yes of course we will get them to you as soon as possible (or similar); 1 no response yet and the last one - “Why the signing isn’t until 3 pm that should give you sufficient time to prepare”
UGH - WHAT!!! As I described in my email - I will be traveling and more to the point - unable to print on the run.
Sigh…..the more I do this - the more I think no one understands the job of the notary and we aren’t genies that just pop up at each location.
Wait, what? the trunk of your vehicle doesn’t have a mobile printer and reams of paper stored? (ok…please know that remark is seriously dripping with sarcasm.) Hope you got a chuckle and that we feel your pain.
Love the sarcasm!!! When I first started doing this I had all that and it’s totally unnecessary 89% of the time. I noticed since like November, though the lenders are getting documents out later and later, and when I first started, the general consensus was, you would have documents on your hand 24 hours in advance. How are people getting the documents in their journal organized and making sure of quality if they’re getting them an hour before the signing and they have to drive to the signing.
Also not to mention, I’m in rule Indiana nothing here is 20 minutes away. And if you do have all that set up in your car, it goes on your car insurance and causes your insurance to go up to a corporate rate instead of a personal vehicle. That is an unnecessary cost of business.
If I get anyone that says 2 hours before the appointment tomorrow I say well I probably won’t be returning to my office so if I am unable to support your transaction tomorrow I will let you know in the morning.
For services in the East I can and will print when they open at 5am but most services I work for know to get me docs or maybe they have to re-schedule. It’s only the last month or so documents get later and later.
5 jobs would be a lot for me because this is rural Eastern WA everywhere is a drive.
I sometimes think the platforms and signing companies and might as well throw title in as well, think all we do is sit around eating bon bons waiting for them to grace us with an assignment. When in reality we are hustling. I cover a very large multiple counties west of Fort Worth. most of my drives are 45+ minutes away. And yet, they want me to rush around and have less than an hour to print and drive. A little research on their part would go a long way. At least in the respect of overall time involved.
I too cover a large geographic region. I got a call yesterday from a coordinator at MC who I have an appointment for this morning at 10, about a 45 minute drive away. He asked what the latest time I can accept documents today will be. They are in Eastern Time Zone so I said as soon as you’re open would be great but no later than 10am your time is ideal.
So we often have a lot of negative things to say about companies, but this is a company that consistently contacts me because they know I want documents the day before an assignment. And usually I get them.
The rest of the week are appointments set one after another and distance is involved. I do not mobile scan large packages. So shipping and scanning is impacted by my calendar. But this is all clearly communicated well in advance especially with services that have a 2 hour deadline for scans.
We retain the power to control our days. If I don’t have the documents for the 10 o’clock early enough it will be moved or I’ll withdraw. But I expect to receive them in time. As much as we’d like services to be aware of our geographic situation, they only know if we are clear in our communication with regard to their expectations. I don’t feel like anyone else is in control of my calendar except for me. In my opinion there’s this idea that it’s all about who hires us but really it’s all about how well we communicate with those who hire us.
Way back when I first started this biz, I’d take just about every signing that came my way (provided the fee was within my business plan). I’ve never had a mobile printing capacity. So, I found I was running myself ragged. Go to a signing then rush back to print for another. There were even a few times when I was doing signings right before midnight (to sign same day and accommodate end-of-month rush).
I finally took a step back, took a deep breath and carefully thought about what I was doing. It was then that I started telling hiring parties I need docs by end of day on day prior to signing or giving myself at least a 3 hour interval if signing is for same day (longer interval depending on distance).
My usual spiel: Due to a busy schedule tomorrow, I’ll need docs by end of day today for a signing tomorrow. If this isn’t possible, please re-assign. Seldom have I lost any business because of this request.
It’s not up to the title company/signing service to take care of me. It’s up to me.
I remind them that their “fee” is not a retainer for the entire day! I am scheduling and preparing others. If they want to talk about an all-day fee, there’s room for negotiation.
I had a company book me for a half day fee before when I had to travel a distance to make the signing happen. I used to get booked for the day for exotic assignments like bank drills. Now it seems that company is no longer in business. Shame.
I love your comments straight and to the point. I do a lot for MC they are not coming up to help with the high gas prices. Most of my signings are 30-50 min away. I should sent them a letter.
Sure you want to know? My round trips can easily exceed 180 miles. The average according to snapdocs where I log about everything says about 105 miles average. This is rural over here. The local shipping center cuts off shipping EARLY and doesn’t issue receipts. The airport locations for FedEx and UPS with late cut offs are each 35-40 miles away. If someone wants me to make that trip I charge them. If I’m going to be there anyway for an appointment I’ll drop so I can get a receipt.
Today I am going way far through agricultural country where combines and fruit trucks and big tractors are running. No one goes to Chelan County so I charge a lot. Friday morning I have to go to Moses Lake which is 90 miles one way but it’s as the crow flies through 2 lane highway Columbia Basin region. But I come back for two local jobs about 12 miles away. Eastern Washington has a ton of notaries in the “cities” but the ones traveling to out of the way rural towns has gotten smaller.
