Don't get rid of the paper copy of your medical card!!!!

TeamCaffee · Jan 30, 2015

Many loads that we pick up require us to show our medical card and if we do not have a paper copy of the medical card we are not going to get that load.

Drivers may be able to stop carrying paper copies of med cards as early as this week | Commercial Carrier Journal

Slo-Ride · Jan 30, 2015

Good point.. I've never had that happen but I believe ya. Thanks for pointing that out.

Freightenstein · Jan 30, 2015

We need to continue to update and improve our policies to better accommodate technological improvements like digital cards.

I want the same thing for my personal car insurance. The paper cards are flimsy, get destroyed and go out of date every 6 months. If an officer could just see my digital insurance card on my smart phone it would make things much easier! I think there is an underlying belief that when something is on paper vs. a computer that it is more official, but I don't think one is more secure than the other or more fraud preventive.

gandrimp · Jan 30, 2015

I am a walking emp. I have lost everything on a few phones, smart or otherwise. Pics of my minutes old grandson, gone. I don't need the headache of trying to get important documents reloaded.

RoadHouse · Jan 31, 2015

I think some insurance companies already have an app that displays your insurance certificate. I don't know if it is Geico or what. It is that company that advertises with the pig lol.

Deville · Feb 1, 2015

Freightenstein said:
We need to continue to update and improve our policies to better accommodate technological improvements like digital cards.

I want the same thing for my personal car insurance. The paper cards are flimsy, get destroyed and go out of date every 6 months. If an officer could just see my digital insurance card on my smart phone it would make things much easier! I think there is an underlying belief that when something is on paper vs. a computer that it is more official, but I don't think one is more secure than the other or more fraud preventive.

There is nothing wrong with the paper insurance cards or medical cards. Insurance cards go in the glove compartment and seldom get lost. I'm driving like almost 30 years and I have never lost one. I don't recall my Father ever losing one either. My medical card stays in my truck along with my company ID's as well so they won't get lost either. It's a non issue.

I don't think digital cards are the way to go. It's just another way for LEO to get a hold of your personal property that is your cell phone, PDA, lap top, tablet etc... I would never willingly hand over any of my personal electronic devices to anyone.

MightyMack · Feb 5, 2015

Freightenstein said:
We need to continue to update and improve our policies to better accommodate technological improvements like digital cards.

I want the same thing for my personal car insurance. The paper cards are flimsy, get destroyed and go out of date every 6 months. If an officer could just see my digital insurance card on my smart phone it would make things much easier! I think there is an underlying belief that when something is on paper vs. a computer that it is more official, but I don't think one is more secure than the other or more fraud preventive.

You can get your paper cards laminated at Staples for $2. Well worth it, if you ask me.

Opel2010 · Feb 6, 2015

MightyMack said:
You can get your paper cards laminated at Staples for $2. Well worth it, if you ask me.

You can keep them inside the glove box and save the $2...

layoutshooter · Feb 6, 2015

My wife and I used to "shrink" our medical card, make it the size of a business card, print it, laminate it, and carry it with us at all times. That "homemade" card was always accepted at shippers and with LEO's. We also had the original in the truck in our "office", just in case it was needed.

Electronic devices can, and do, fail. At no time should one ever depend solely on electronic "paperwork". That is the reason that drivers are required to have paper logs books on board even though they have electronic logging.

Scotimier · Feb 6, 2015

I'm curious, what loads or shippers require you to show your medical card? In 20 years hauling just about everything possible, I have only been asked to show my medical card twice, and both times were at the scales in Connecticut by a DOT officer. I've been on military bases, fuel depots, and even driven down the runways at major airports under escort. Just can't imagine what the medical card has to do with anything that a shipper would need to know?

TeamCaffee · Feb 6, 2015

We were talking and I believe 99.9% of all military loads we pickup require a copy of our license and our medical card. We could pickup at the same base twice a day and we would have to do this.

layoutshooter · Feb 6, 2015

Every time we picked up a "military" load, we were required to produce our medical card, just as Team Caffee was. It is the norm on those loads. So was a security clearance.

Scotimier · Feb 6, 2015

Why are they asking for your medical card? I've never run into this at any of the military bases I've hauled out of. Is this something new? it has been a couple of years since my last military load.

paullud · Feb 7, 2015

It must be those top secret loads. I was hauling a variety of military vehicles and was never asked for mine.

Turtle · Feb 7, 2015

I've picked up and delivered several times at military bases, and 4 times I've been asked for my medical card, even though I'm in a cargo van (Sprinter). And, even though I'm in a cargo van, a medical card was required for the load. All 4 times were placed I'd picked up before, and since, where they didn't ask for the card, so I think it was more for the load than the location. The only really odd one was when they asked for the card when I delivered to White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Couldn't make the delivery without the card, even though I wasn't asked for the card when I picked the load up at a Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene. If I didn't have a medical card I'd have had to run the load over to nearby Holloman AFB in Alamogordo and deliver it there. Weird.

layoutshooter · Feb 7, 2015

paullud said:
It must be those top secret loads. I was hauling a variety of military vehicles and was never asked for mine.

Every load we took in or out of a military/government installation was a classified load. All of them, but one, was classified "secret". One was classified "Top Secret", which was weird, since we only had a "secret" clearance.

There was a lot that was not right about that load. It involved things that were connected to my job when I was with the government, and it was not handled properly by the shipper or the receiver. At least our pay was handled correctly. Not a "comforting feeling" knowing how little attention is being paid to some of these loads.