Well said. I passed on the webinar because, if recent SD emails from Equity are any example, there's no way I see these panning out financially. Their offered fees in my area dropped to $75 when they went to SD (for packages with lots of notarizations, which nearly always have non-compliant certificates for my state, i.e. time consuming), so that doesn't come close to making sense, IMO.
If we even forget the first year fee and go with the $99 annual renewal, and if you do 10 signings a year for them, that's like reducing your fee by an additional $10 each. You can all use your own numbers and do your own math. Even if more companies eventually buy into that system, I'd be very surprised if any of them are willing to pay a decent fee, unless a notary is in an area with few competitors. And this doesn't even factor in the increased costs (mobile data connection/usage, wear and tear on laptop, etc.) and time required for an e-signing.
Sounds like they think they're doing us a favor by giving us 'access' to bid for these types of jobs. For now, I'm not buying it. But I guess the long term goal is more "Uberization" of signing services, i.e. to automate the entire signing process to the point where it becomes so idiot-proof that anyone with a notary stamp can handle it. Those of you who plan on a long career in this business should give this a lot of thought and plan ahead. I don't see it happening soon, but who knows. It could happen sooner than we think. Having a Plan B may be a very smart idea for anyone who wants to, or has to, keep working for many more years...
|
