TripPak Express Document Scanning Service: A Trucker's Review

Background Information

When Mike and Vicki first started out in trucking, we were familiar with the yellow TripPak Express drop boxes outside the doors of many truck stops.

The service physically moved the hard copies of the trip paperwork that were placed in specially marked envelopes and dropped in the drop boxes.

Then over time, technology progressed to the point that instead of having to physically transport the trip paperwork, images of each sheet could be sent electronically.

Enter in the age of "document scanning services."

Preparing to Scan

To do the scanning, Mike's trucking company provided him (and each of their drivers) with a company-specific pad of cover sheets so that when the paperwork was scanned in, the information would be sent electronically to them.

Document Scanning Service

In this photo, Mike Simons used TripPak Express to scan in documents from one trip. The set up he used in this photo was completely self-serve. If it were the case that a particular truck stop had the scanning hardware behind a counter, Mike would have let the scanning clerk know how many total pages were in the pack, so as to make sure that each one was scanned in.

At a different fuel desk, Mike Simons scanned in a batch of paperwork from one trip, this one including a CAT scale ticket. Although it is not visible in this photograph, there were instructions about how to use the service to scan in loads. The scanning device works a bit like an automated copier where each sheet is fed through a slot. Instead of making a hard copy, the device makes a scan.

This photo shows the screen on the monitor with the image of the CAT scale ticket using the TripPak Express document scanning service. Each page in the batch had its own scan. Mike was always very particular about making sure that pages were scanned "straight" (instead of at an angle).

This particular scanning set-up included a printer (which you can see two photos up) that -- upon completion of scanning in every page of the paperwork -- printed a scan confirmation on an adhesive-backed label.

Mike peeled the back off the adhesive-backed scan confirmation label...

... and deliberately placed it in the space on the cover sheet designed for it. Note: A different document scanning service available at some truck stops prints out scan confirmations on specially-sized paper slips, about the size of a large receipt; when using that service, he would staple the receipt on top of the stack of scanned paperwork.

After the Scan

After a trip's batch of paperwork was scanned, Mike stored the batch in his aluminum forms holder for a number of weeks. He did this so that he would have the paperwork with him in case the company needed for him to re-scan it. After about two months, he removed older paperwork batches to make room for newer ones.

He could also refer to batches of scanned documents to make sure that he got paid for everything associated with the load on his weekly settlement sheet (especially purchases that were to be reimbursed).

Timely Payment

Mike's at-that-time trucking company usually paid the drivers on the basis of the scanned paperwork. As long as the document scanning service was used before the deadline for the week, he could usually expect to be paid for that trip that week.

By processing paperwork from trips in a timely manner, Mike could expect timely payment for his work in delivering the load that the paperwork represented.

Perhaps you have had times in your career when payment you anticipated did not arrive when you expected it and you had to shuffle around some financial obligations. If this has happened to you, you know that this can create stress for drivers.

Conclusion

Mike highly recommends TripPak Express document scanning service. You can learn more about this service -- and others offered by the company -- on their website.

Note: Even though it sounds the same, the spelling of the name of the service is neither "Trip Pak Express" nor "Trip Pack Express" but "TripPak Express" (where the words are together and no "c" appears in the name).

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