When should a shop request your C-Card?

[KY_BOB]

I'm going to have to say never for a sale or a fill.

If your under their supervision, entering their quarry, getting on their dive boat, sure. They have every right and obligation to make sure that you are safe.

My 2 nearest LDS's are 25 and 75 miles away from me. What if my dad (not a diver) is going to driving by one and is willing to stop and have a tank filled for me. Should he not be allowed to have one of my tanks filled to save me a trip?

My dive buddies and I have tanks filled for each other if one of us is going to a dive shop but we are all divers, so that's a non-issue.

 

[Wookie]

The only time a shop should ask for a card is....never. The only place you should have to present a card is when you sign up to go diving with a dive operator, be it a boat, quarry, if you are going on an organized trip with the shop. We encourage certification to make sure you aren't completely clueless, and for a dive operator to cover our liability asses, but aside from that, if you want to drive to Blue Heron Bridge, put on your new gear and proceed to kill yourself, by all means, who are the scuba police standing in your way?

 

[OldNSalty]

Maybe if you are going to take a class with them, then show a card if there is a pre-req...but now that I think about, the last class I took was solo and he never asked for a card. He did ask for a log book but I don't log dives...so he said OK and took my money anyway

 

[Tropicalwolf]

Never. Who is to say what I am going to do with that can full of highly flamable liquid I buy at the corner market to fill up my lawnmower? I don't need ID or a "certification" to buy that...

 

[KY_BOB]

Never. Who is to say what I am going to do with that can full of highly flamable liquid I buy at the corner market to fill up my lawnmower? I don't need ID or a "certification" to buy that...

...how about having the propane tank from you gas grill filled? With a scuba tank, you can kill yourself. A propane tank can take down a small office building...

 

[Mr Carcharodon]

Only for air fills (as required in this State)..

Really? That seems to be enforced more in the breach than not in California. I can only think of one air and one nitrox fill where I was asked for a card in the past ten years.

For my first 5 or 6 years of diving I did 95% of my dives off beaches and there was no one waiting in the surf zone to check for a c-card. Dive boats seem to be more insistent on credentials, but nearly always let you fill in the log yourself. So in practice having a c-card is a non-issue most of the time.

 

[lsorenson]

I am sure its been said seven times or more but... Only need to see your cards (Nitrox or OW) when filling the tank or going on a dive with me, dive operator, DM, or such...

If I was just Joe, the guy who walked into the store; I should not need to show you anything but cash, plastic, check, or MO to buy that regulator, BP, wing, tank, fill card, drysuit, sub, battleship, or heavy destroyer for my dad's birthday...!!!

Oh, and I voted "Other"... lee

 

[ScubaSteve]

If I was just Joe, the guy who walked into the store; I should not need to show you anything but cash, plastic, check, or MO to buy that regulator, BP, wing, tank, fill card, drysuit, sub, battleship, or heavy destroyer for my dad's birthday...!!!

Oh, and I voted "Other"... lee

Your LDS obviously has a much better selection of Maritime war tools than mine

 

[DA Aquamaster]

The only time I have been carded getting a was in the mid 1980's. Even then it was usually a one time event if the particular shop owner or tank monkey did not know me/recognize me as a diver, but that's far more than I have encountered since the 1980's.

I have been carded on dive boats if technical diving is involved and have been questioned about over all technical diving experience (which is frankly more important) if the captain did not know me.

I have never been carded for nitrox or trimix fills but again, with the exception of Fill Express, the shops in question have known me.

I am ok with all of the above and think those limits are pretty appropriate .

 

[Divin'Papaw]

You can't dive or use any equipment without air/nitrox. I'd say every diver NOT KNOWN TO A SHOP/FILL STATION should be carded (initially) for a tank fill or to rent a filled tank. Without one of those two, you can't dive. I see no need to 'card' a diver for any gear purchases. Put the 'check' into the system where it's guaranteed to work ... at the one element required on every dive ... compressed gas.

Or ... don't worry about it at all. It's their life on the line. We get certified because we want to learn to dive safely and competently (at least that's why I got certified), not so that we can show our card off. I've rarely been 'carded', but it's typically by the dive operator (quarry or charter boat), only occasionally to get a fill.