I was in the local UPS store several days ago dropping off docs and picking up a receipt. I refer a lot of callers there when I think they don’t want to pay my travel fee. There were 2 lines. One was lined up out the door with impatient people waiting for the notary. The other was moving fast with people just dropping off envelopes and Amazon returns. Along with all the required information, the notary was copying each person’s full address, and telephone # on each signature line. This was excruciatingly slow and very public. Watching that made me want to go grab my stamp and journal to clear out the crowd. I hope the notary wasn’t being paid by the hour.
To those that complain about the $15 signature fee. I tell them that’s all the state of California allows me to charge them for safe keeping their signature for the rest of my life.
For people who book appointments, I rarely have pricing discussions…If you are a highly rated notary business; unfortunately you must be stern about the quality of service you provide and pricing…
Can I explain the signature fee? I’m not sure how to answer that question. But if you don’t quote your travel and signature fee before meeting your signer, that issue will cause your signer to think they can bargain with you on the fees. How do I know? Experience is the best teacher.
I see the California law about the two most common notarial acts, taking acknowledgements and administering oaths, as quoted in the CA notary manual, is
§ 8211. Fees
Fees charged by a notary public for the following services shall not exceed the fees prescribed by this section.
(a) For taking an acknowledgment or proof of a deed, or other instrument, to include the seal and the writing of the certificate, the sum of fifteen dollars
($15) for each signature taken.
(b) For administering an oath or affirmation to one person and executing the jurat, including the seal, the sum of fifteen dollars ($15).
So for acknowledgements, you could think of it as per signature or per person giving an acknowledgement. They amount to the same thing, since the person giving the acknowledgement must both sign and say they acknowledge the signature.
For oath’s notice there is no mention of signatures; the fee may be collected each time one person takes one oath. Not all oaths need to be written down; they can be oral.
