It's very rare that I write a post addressing a conflict related to my notary public business in San Francisco. I know this won't cause much interest for typical visitors of this blog who usually visit to read all kinds of interesting stuff I write about but I really have no choice. I must set aside what I would normally write today to address this issue of out-of-state businesses stealing business from the San Francisco local community mobile notary publics undercutting our fees while delaying payment for 30 or more days. 
You see, as a mobile notary public I don't go to other states stealing other notaries' local business from them. I perform my services within a small 10 mile radius of San Francisco. So when businesses such as N3 Notary Services based in Portland Oregon begin calling on me to perform heavily discounted mobile notary services for their San Francisco business clients they are essentially stealing potential clients as my competitor as well as my mobile fee. N3 Notary Service clients actually receive no discount because N3 is simply stealing half of my fee in the arrangement while causing me to wait 30 days for payment. In other words, they're nothing but a pain in the rear. In fact, clients may very well be paying N3 Notary Services more then what I would have charged them directly. N3 Notary has called me twice recently while insulting my intelligence requesting I sign a contract and perform their pathetic $20 mobile notary jobs I would normally charge $40 as the typical rate in San Francisco. Not only are they asking I get half my rate, but they take 30 days to pay, if at all. What N3 Notary Services is essentially doing is attempting to make a $20-30 commission off my work, something they should be ashamed of because they're not at all needed in this market. We don't need N3 Notary Services in San Francisco, we have plenty of local notaries here to do this work without these out-of-state businesses trying to get commissions off of us. All a local business owner has to do is call me and I would be able to accommodate most all of their mobile notary needs.
Unlike Portland Oregon, San Francisco's cost of living is far higher as are its state taxes. In my opinion it should be a crime for these agencies to take business away from local notaries this way. Notaries typically use agencies for loan signing work they coordinate with title companies, not for these dime and nickel jobs they should keep their noses out of.
Other Issues Mobile Notaries Deal With - 90 Day Past Due Invoices
The other issue mobile notaries have to deal with is when agencies, such as the one I recently dealt with in Walnut Creek, CA, give us the runaround for months upon months to get paid for our work. I checked with the title escrow companies and this particular agency got paid in a timely fashion for my work but didn't pay me for 90 days. Even then the agency sent a post dated check so when I went to deposit it, the bank refused.
Any agency that seeks to take business away from local mobile notaries such as N3 Notary has should be immediately pegged as unethical. We notaries service our local community and don't need these out-of-state businesses seeking commissions off of our work over these one notarization requests. Assigning loan refinance work from title companies is one thing, but attempting to take away local businesses from us for small mobile notary jobs is just plain stealing in my book.
I'm not asking that San Franciscans give me and other locals their business simply because I'm a mobile notary near to them. I'm simply asking that they consider the harm these out-of-state businesses do to the local community robbing us of revenue in a high cost of living city and highly taxed State of California. Why give your business to a Portland Oregon based business that merely in turn calls local notaries when there are mobile notaries in San Francisco 15 minutes away who are highly networked in the community?
For these reasons, I ask that potential clients in San Francisco please choose local mobile notaries for their mobile notary service needs. Everyone knows how to locate their community notary in Google, it's not brain surgery. Notary publics use various listing services that are too numerous to mention. To choose an out-of-state notary service, one would have to likely make a conscious choice to rob local notaries of their well deserved income.
Most importantly, please don't give out-of-state business to those who obviously don't reinvest in our local community. I take my income and reinvest much of it into the local San Francisco community while these people in Portland Oregon simply don't. I pay all kinds of businesses in San Francisco in turn that stimulates the local economy. This Portland based N3 Notary Services should stick to their own local economy and notaries instead of feeding off of another city they're genuinely stealing from under these circumstances.For those who may be thinking, "what's she complaining about, it's just typical capitalist competition she's dealing with", that's not so. If your local mobile notary can't afford to stay in business the community suffers for it one way or another. We mobile notaries go to hospitals, senior homes and to elderly folks who can't leave their homes. We're desperately needed in our communities. We also go to families homes who don't want to have to drive to a bank office to perform their refinance signings. I always try to make the borrowers' experience signing loan documents as pleasant and painless as possible.
Please always consider using a local community notary directly prior to contacting an out-of-state business such as N3 Notary Services. It would make all of us here in San Francisco very grateful and happy. Thank you!
A Call to Arms: San Francisco mobile notaries who have any brains whatsoever should turn down all non-loan signing work from N3 Notary Services that's seeking to steal local business clients and undercut their fees significantly.
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