Pocket License

[Jim Frame]

I just received my renewal Pocket License, the paper version that doubles as a receipt. I note that it says "Please laminate your License to avoid deterioration." Does this mean that the plastic credit-card licenses aren't being issued any longer?

As I recall, my last couple of renewals have resulted in the plastic version arriving a month or two after the paper version, but I don't remember whether or not the lamination note appeared on the paper copy.

.

[E_Page]

My experience is that the silver plastic one will show up somewhere between 1 and 3 months after the paper one.

[pls7809]

When I renewed last December I received the paper slip right away and the card came about two months later.

[Paul Goebel]

Maybe we could get some sort of lanyards so we can wear them everywhere.

[Jim Frame]

Frank Morrow (LS 3275, RIP) told me he once used his to convince a motel owner who didn't want to accept an out-of-town check that he was an acceptable risk.

I can envision a situation in which a police officer being asked to enforce the right-of-access laws might insist on seeing the card to authenticate the eligibility of the person requesting access.

I'm proud enough of my license that I'd carry it anyway, but I don't take it into the shower either.

.

[Paul Goebel]

A survey equipment supply once offered me a store credit account if I showed proof of a license. I can also imagine right-of access situations when the card would come in handy.

[Dave Lindell]

You don't wear them in the shower???

They're waterproof!

[pls7809]

The one time I was asked to show my license was for the very first job I did as an LS on a weekend in September right after I got my license in 2001. I had the paper slip pocket license before the plastic cards were used. A fence had fallen over in Yorba Linda and it affected 3 properties, 2 on one side and 1 on the other. The 1 guy in the back wanted to put it back where it was. The two in the front wanted a survey and they hired me. The guy in the back had his eye on me the whole time and when I needed to run my traverse through is yard to close my loop he objected and then I told him about the "right of entry", of course I had left notice the week before that would be surveying and may need access. Once he saw my license he was fine and let me in.

[Dave Karoly, PLS]

I would rather have a shiny brass badge. When I worked for Parks I was accompanied on a contentious Survey by the Park Ranger complete with badge, gun and campaign hat. It's amazing how well behaved people were around that guy. Neal and I were discussing whether an electric fence was energized when he said he would find out; he went over there and grabbed it then let go and said, "yep, it's energized" LOL.

[E_Page]

I've been a Boundary Determination Officer (that's my job title) for over two years now, and I'm still waiting for my badge and gun to be issued.

[MFORD]

I was asked by a police watch commander to prove I was a licensed surveyor after a property owner reported me for trespassing. There is a lot more to this story, the bottom line being most police departments don't know the "surveyor's right of entry" rights. (Before anyone goes off on a tangent, I followed proper procedures to notify the property owners I would be on their property.) So, the pocket license is useful other than additional I.D. to cash a check. (tongue in cheek)

[Jim Frame]

"Before anyone goes off on a tangent, I followed proper procedures to notify the property owners I would be on their property."

I don't know why anyone would go off on a tangent, inasmuch as the right of entry "is not contingent upon the provision of prior notice to the owner or tenant."

By the way, I used my pocket license just last week to assure a city staffer from whom I was requesting a copy of a permit application document that I was the surveyor whose map was included in the application submittal. I probably could have used my driver's license, but the LS card drew a clear line between the document (which featured a scanned copy of my survey) and me.
.

[rpost]

I just read on the BPELS website that the state will no longer issue plastic ID cards due to budget issues. Bummer.

[Jim Frame]

However, the same notice also states that BPELS is "working with a contract vendor to provide plastic photo ID cards to those licensees who voluntarily choose to purchase one directly from the vendor." So we may yet be able to get nicely-made pocket license cards.

.