PADI and technology (what’s the deal with e-cards?)

[BlueTrin]

Plastic cards are more convenient for the shops. Imagine a group of 12 divers signing in to take a charter dive. Each diver hands his phone for the shop person to read their cert (assuming the phone is charged). The employee grabs it and the image disappears or he has to expand the image but taps the image and it disappears. So he hands it back to the customer who has to open the picture. Meanwhile, you've got eleven other customers to process. Call me old-fashioned but I like the plastic cards.

You make an app where you can scan the code (and/or send you the code by email)and they will be added to your class login.

 

[JXT71]

If you're gonna talk about PADI cash-grabs and c-cards, I'd just point to the PIC. You can be best friends with an instructor and convince them to give you a $400 course for free, someone still has to cough up for the PIC.

I remember seeing an option to pay for my OW e-card. It didn't make sense, though. Any shop or pro can look you up and see what certs you have online. In fact, I think anyone can view your certs under the "card replacement" option. You just need your name and birth date.

I know your frustration, though. I had similar feelings after OW from pushing the e-learning option on students. Whoever thought paying an extra $200 for the luxury of a limited-access online course (with the most basic info you'd WANT to keep and reference) needs their priorities straightened.

 

[TMHeimer]

I've never seen an e card. I own a smart phone, but keep it "dumb" (I do all my "computerin' " on my laptop). E card or plastic card--PADI charges a lot -- and I paid $41 for the MSD card back in'07 (It's a lot more now). Why would PADI make available anything that would decrease their revenue? I would not. Why is this shocking to some in 2020?

 

[BHWookie]

Any padi shop can just look you up and confirm your certs. Instant and free E-card.

I would recommend against relying on this option, twice now, I’ve been to dive shops on remote islands with difficulties connecting to the internet to look up divers who forgot their cards.

I took pictures of all of my cert cards and saved them in a new album on my iPhone - free eCards and helpful for those with certifications outside of the PADI ecosystem.

 

[Jackie Treehorn]

i bought them once i hit final levels: MSD, Trimix, and Nitrox.

Many shops have never seen them.

They should be the norm. And printing on paper should be acceptable as backup/alternate.

 

[Rickk]

Not arguing here, but are you saying there's no option to receive *no* card? As you mentioned, shops can just look you up, so why need *any* card, physical or e-card?....

Only PADI pros can look you up. You can go to your PADI account and see the listing of your c-cards but there are still places in this world where the internet is either non existent, not reliable or very slow.

So far the pictures of my cards have been accepted.

 

[DoubleAA]

Vote with your dollars with this one. Don't stick with PADI as they don't care. E-cards are a money maker for them for replacement cert cards. TDI/SDI/PFI/ERDI already offers free online accessible cert cards.

My shop knows that I don't want plastic cards and all my certs come via e-cards that I pull PDF's to an offline available dropbox except for my pro level certs.

 

[BlueTrin]

Only PADI pros can look you up. You can go to your PADI account and see the listing of your c-cards but there are still places in this world where the internet is either non existent, not reliable or very slow.

So far the pictures of my cards have been accepted.

There is a trick to show a cert if you are not a PADI pro.

You start the process to request a replacement card: at some point it will ask you which very needs to be replaced and you’ll see a list of certs

it’s not really something you can use probably to show a valid proof of certification though

 

[Scuba Scott]

I’ve seen businesses stop listening to their customers before, and my hope is that if we can get a bit of momentum and collect the frustrated voices in one place it might help PADI hear how we feel.

Sign/share this petition to ask PADI for two things:

• Make e-cards the default for new certifications (at no additional cost)
• Encourage environmentally friendly choices by providing replacement e-cards for current certified divers for free (or at a substantially reduced cost)

I will also not be signing your petition. For the most part, petitions are a waste of time and effort. If you want to make an impact all you will need to do is to convince about 500,000 people to complete their training with another agency then have them email PADI explaining they were going to complete their training with a specific PADI shop or instructor but chose the competing shop across the street because they found out they either had to pay extra for an ecard or they didn't want to receive a plastic card. That is real. Dollars are real. Signatures on an internet petition are worthless.

Want a free ecard? Take a photo of your plastic card and keep it on your phone. Free.

I am a PADI instructor and I am also a NASE instructor. NASE offers a free ecard with the option to purchase a plastic card. The vast majority of my students want a plastic card. As for me, I have never had a problem with my plastic card having a dead battery. I never had a problem when a dive shop wants to collect cards and hand them back on the boat, and I have never had a problem when a shop wants to make a photocopy of my plastic card.

 

[Kharon]

Long time lurker, first time poster checking in.
I’ve been a “holiday diver” for a decent while now. I did my open water before smartphones were something everyone had so I thought nothing of the plastic card. Fast forward to this week when my girlfriend got certified and I was somewhat dumbfounded to hear that you don’t even get the option of issuing the e-card. The only option that comes with the course cost is to have a physical card mailed to you.

You don’t have to look hard to see how frustrated folks are with this money grab. It’s really dumb, and I want to nudge them towards not being so greedy and wasteful.

I’ve seen businesses stop listening to their customers before, and my hope is that if we can get a bit of momentum and collect the frustrated voices in one place it might help PADI hear how we feel.

Sign/share this petition to ask PADI for two things:

• Make e-cards the default for new certifications (at no additional cost)
• Encourage environmentally friendly choices by providing replacement e-cards for current certified divers for free (or at a substantially reduced cost)

Sorry, but not everyone has or wants a smartphone. And saying that a smartphone is more environmentally friendly than a physical card exhibits a complete inability to grasp reality.