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

[tursiops]

Any Padi dive shop can perfectly check your certification online.

As has been stated repeatedly, but apparently needs to be repeated again:
Not all dive shops/operators are PADI, and not all PADI shops/operators may have internet access when you need it.

 

[Ripley]

As has been stated repeatedly, but apparently needs to be repeated again:
Not all dive shops/operators are PADI, and not all PADI shops/operators may have internet access when you need it.

True, but PADI and the PADI certificate card is the subject of the discussion.
Hence my statement.
I nowhere claimed that internet access is available everywhere.

Perhaps I should have added "Any Padi dive shop can perfectly check your certification online when internet is available". Better this way?

 

[BlueTrin]

Unless I'm missing something, an e-card should be free. Can't cost anymore to generate than sending an e-mail, right?
That said....
I'll take physical cards thankyou. None of mine have made it into the waste chain yet. And my phone is just that and ONLY that. A phone.

The economics says that the cost of producing something is not a strong factor in the price it is sold when you are not in free competition.

If you certify with PADI you cannot get your ecard from an alternative provider. Therefore you have to buy it from PADI. If PADI acts like a rational economic agent, they will set the price where it maximises its profits.

Also, they could have decided that it is fair to make it a ‘free’ service that would be charged as a low price once you choose to certify with them but it does not seem to be the way they decided to operated.

 

[Bob DBF]

So I suppose that we will give them those 45 bucks... PADI is really great in grabbing money!

I suppose you give all your work and expertise for free.

So if they are saying that you are only certified if you send them $45, that would definitely fit into the bad rep that PADI has in some circles. Hopefully that's not the case.

That Jr cards can be used into ones retirement, if you want to upgrade...

Unless I'm missing something, an e-card should be free. Can't cost anymore to generate than sending an e-mail, right?

I’m not a fan of e-cards, but they require infrastructure to insure they continue to work, but it is a service for those that are willing to pay.


I’m not an apologist for PADI, but I’d be more worried about the quality of training I receive for my money than the cost of an extra e-card I don’t need after being sent a plastic card from the course. As an aside is there a selection of e-card on the PIC that the instructor didn’t use?



Bob

 

[tursiops]

As an aside is there a selection of e-card on the PIC that the instructor didn’t use?

no

 

[Bob DBF]

no

The like is for your quick response, not the answer.


Bob

 

[Mod63]

Stupid question from a SSI certified diver: what is so special abbout the eCard? I have all my certifications since 2006 linkedto my SSI diver account and have them available in an app even if online. When I certify a diver, I can get the plastic card made or skip it (e.g. only have the AOWD card send to the diver but not the 4 single speciality cards)

 

[TeamBubbles]

I'd much rather see a single certification card (plastic or digital) that lists all of the training courses a diver has completed through that agency. Each new certification could be added like an endorsement on a commercial driver's license. If you complete a new course, you get a new card that contains your entire training history with that particular agency. That way the diver has only one card to carry and the shop or dive op has only one card to look at (per agency, at least) to see if you're qualified.

 

[Angelo Farina]

I suppose you give all your work and expertise for free.

Well, mostly it is exactly so, as I am an academic, my wage is paid be the Italian state, coming from general taxation, and I provide free answers and consultancy to privates.
I also do some research contracts with big companies, and in this case they pay my University (but not me directly).
When I was young, before working for 5 years as a professional scuba instructor in commercial resorts, I was for 6 years a CMAS instructor, teaching for free as a volunteer in my club.
I am still a volunteer in "Civil Protection"...
And I am also an off-service firefighter, which means that they can recall me at any moment if they need my help. It is very nice not to worry about being paid when doing your job!
But of course we are going off topic.
The point is not me giving instruction, training or consultancy for free, which is just fine, the point is if issuing a duplicate card is worth 45 USD...
PADI is a money-making organization, and they are excellent at this. Usually they provide quite decent return for the money you give them: if not, the market rules had already destroyed them, as they have excellent competitors, but still they keep the edge. Which means that they are not that bad, both in training and in other stuff.
And this is proven by the fact, albeit both I and my wife are CMAS instructors, and both our sons had got also CMAS certifications, we sent them also to PADI courses. So now they are aware of the "other" way of diving, which in the end is the most widespread one. And they have no problem adhering to the procedures and safety rules employed in most places all around the world.
Back to the card: as PADI will update the card of my son to an adult AOW without need of further training (which of course he does not need at all), I will be happy to pay those 45 bucks.
If instead they had sent us just a copy of the old card with Jr AOW certification, I had saved those bucks easily, as in most places a printed copy of the card is all what they need (for their archives), and PADI shops can easily check the certification online also without exhibiting the plastic card.

 

[Bob DBF]

...the point is if issuing a duplicate card is worth 45 USD.

I guess that is up to the diver to decide if it’s worth the money, to me it isn’t.