Cert Card Idea/question

[paintsnow]

could someone please explain to me why the major certification institutions like PADI and NAUI have a separate card for each certification and course?

they take up so much room if you want to carry them with you and its a major inconvenience to have to find the right one when the op asks for it.

wouldn't it be a LOT easier and simpler to have 1 card with all the info on it?

instead of a pretty picture couldn't there be a list of all the courses you took?

and instead of having a different diver number on each card, have one file with all the info in it?

this is all probably wishful thinking because most people would prefer to be able to whip out a big heavy binder filled with cert cards, but it really would be a nice change.

[Damselfish]

You would think. I suspect all the numbers (for non pro PADI certs) and cards is an old/bad system design that hasn't been worth the trouble to fix, if they've even considered it. And in the case of PADI at least, you actually can get Nitrox combined with some other cards as of some years ago - but you either have to order a replacement card and pay them money which I'm sure they don't mind, or I've read reports that if you make some noise they might issue these on new certifications.

Probably not worth wasting brain cells on though. The number doesn't matter when you're not talking professional (DM and above) certs at which point the number is fixed. And there's no reason to carry all those cards around, usually all you need is your highest card that you want to use, plus Nitrox if you have that and haven't gotten a combined card. With very rare exceptions no one cares squat about seeing other specialty cards.

[paintsnow]

so your saying they might actually listen to my suggestion if i make a good enough point and bother PADI enough???

i mean
even if they combined 4 cards into one it would be a heck of a lot easier.

because im willing to bet the most popular certs are OW, AOW, Nitrox, and Rescue

but im pretty sure that if they made it into a list format on one side they could probably fit 20 certs

[Bill22]

Doesn't sound like a bad idea... In practice you're still going to be paying for a new "updated" card that will have whatever additonal cert you just earned, so there will still be a revenue stream for the certifying agency. Just keeps you from having to carry multiple cards.

[ScubaToys Larry]

It actually would be more work for the agencies. Then they'd have to look you up each time. Now they can just pop in your info. But the real thing is it doesn't much matter as you just carry the highest card. Your college papers don't also show where you went to high school and grade school and kindergarten.

The only card I carry is my nitrox card. You can't get a nitrox card unless you're certified to dive - so that one says I'm a diver, and I'm nitrox... good enough!

I don't need to show them also my advanced, and rescue, and dive master, and instructor, and instructor trainer, and course director. What would be the point? If I'll be teaching while I'm on a trip I'll carry my course director card - but otherwise... just my nitrox.

[diverdad]

You could do what i did buy a dive log that has a place for several cards. That way i can carry all of them if i want.

[paintsnow]

larry,

i realize it might be more work for the agencies. correct me if im wrong but right now they just make a new file for each cert with your picture, birthdate, and all that other info.

so
it might be more work, but the servers that store all this would be less cluttered and unorganized, and they could easily reduce the amount of storage space all those pictures and redundant info take up.

and in response to diverdad, my logbook is a file on my computer, and i can print the whole thing out if need be, but i dont carry it around all the time, like my wallet.

and i dont always know when im going to have to stop by the shop to get a fill.

[ScubaToys Larry]

You are right it would take less hard drive... but when a 500 gig hard drive is $150 and could hold millions of card data... not much of an issue compared to the labor cost of looking up each John Smith that now has moved to a new address in a new state and doesn't remember who his original instructor was 7 years ago.

Naui used to track with SS#'s and that would work - but in todays age, no one wants to give a SS# and I don't blame them.

It's handy having multiple cards anyway. Many times when in Cayman, we'll do a shore dive at a place where they take your card to assure you bring the tanks back... but then they close before you get out. Just pop out another card to give another place for the night dive - then bring back all the tanks and gather up the cards the next day.

[Bill22]

Originally Posted by ScubaToys Larry

It actually would be more work for the agencies. Then they'd have to look you up each time. Now they can just pop in your info. But the real thing is it doesn't much matter as you just carry the highest card. Your college papers don't also show where you went to high school and grade school and kindergarten.

The only card I carry is my nitrox card. You can't get a nitrox card unless you're certified to dive - so that one says I'm a diver, and I'm nitrox... good enough!

I don't need to show them also my advanced, and rescue, and dive master, and instructor, and instructor trainer, and course director. What would be the point? If I'll be teaching while I'm on a trip I'll carry my course director card - but otherwise... just my nitrox.

I agree that all you need is the highest cert that you will need for the diving you're doing. I also seem to remember another thread about that where someone mentioned the possibility of potential liability just for being there if there were an accident and being a pro. Seemed like a little stretch, but then anyone can sue anyone if they want to (and usually do :-D)

Something else to think about from the organizations standpoint though(unless I mis-understand how its entered now?), but seems to me that it would be easier not harder. If a person is assigned a number when they first join an organization, then you would only need to punch in their number each time to add a certification instead of reentering all their personal information. Less man hours for the LDS. May only take a minute, but a number is much shorter than name, address, date of birth, etc.... Enter their number and everthing else pops up. PADI has a system already in place where I can go online and update personal information and they already cross-reference all your certifications. All those minutes that the local dive shop spends inputting that info add up to hours, which add up to money. It would relatively simple to do once the system was setup.

Just a suggestion... I don't really have a problem with the way they do it now ;-) I carry my AOW card now. I'll be getting my Nitrox cert while I'm in the Philippines next month and will most likely just carry that one after that. Wouldn't want to lose them... they're damn expensive to replace ;-)

[Damselfish]

Originally Posted by paintsnow

so your saying they might actually listen to my suggestion if i make a good enough point and bother PADI enough???

i mean
even if they combined 4 cards into one it would be a heck of a lot easier.

because im willing to bet the most popular certs are OW, AOW, Nitrox, and Rescue

no, what I'm saying is, I've heard of people getting say AOW or Rescue. PADI would normally send them just that card, but they called and insisted and were able to get it with Nitrox listed, instead of ordering (and paying) for that separately.

There's no reason to list all of OW, AOW, Rescue. Since you need OW to have AOW. And you need AOW to have Rescue (under PADI.) So you can order a card that lists say Rescue and Nitrox, and that implies the rest. The others don't matter.