Mobile Document Scanners?

I've been scanning and faxing in the truck since 2003 when I got my authority. It was much more difficult then using an HP all-in-one, WinFax, a tethered cell that had to be set to FAX mode, and good enough signal to send and receive. I replaced that setup about 5 years ago with myfax and a wireless card and haven't looked back. I'm on my third printer for the truck, 2 HP's and now an Epson. I hate the Epson. It scans VERY slow. The printer portion sucks as well. It uses the cheaper the cheap individual color cartridges. Even if you are you just printing black, it still uses a spurt of color at the start of every print job. If you run out of color and are trying to just print black, it won't let you. I will be going back to an HP with the print head built into the ink cartridge for my next all in one, or maybe laser all in one's will have come down in price a little.

 

I will not buy an inkjet printer ever again. Lasers have come way down in price. I got a samsung all in one color laser for my old business 3 years ago and it was around $800. I know you can get black and white laser all in ones for $400 and under now.

 

There is NO way I would put a $400 printer in the truck! No reason to do so! It's not like you'll be printing money or micro dots, well if the economy gets any worse we just might have to! Heck they gooberment just might put a program out there so we can print temporary money! All of a sudden, something I wrote in jest hits me as a real possibility! Temporary money with an expiration date!

As to having a printer/scanner it's your call. If you can do whats needed with the smart phones and tablets then go that route. Technology is hard to keep up with but if it works then do what you need to do. It's funny as hello but believe it or not there ARE companies both trucking and shippers/receivers that do not do email of documents.

No kidding! They are either really old (age wise) and can't keep up with the pace and have no idea of how to open an attachment and print it out OR too cheap to buy a good anti virus so that those attachments can be scanned before opening so they still rely on that dinosaur called fax!

As for needing a printer in the truck that's still your call. There ARE shippers that want it on paper and not as an attachment (they have to pay for the paper and ink so now you understand! Let the driver foot the cost!) I had mine for just that reason and because it was just as easy as buying a printer only. They take up the same amount of space!

Seeings how I'm pretty much out of the mainstream on what cell phones are doing now I only see what I look up online.

What you use is up to what you job involves. If an O/O, then what will let you keep copies of and how you set up your transfer of documents for taxes and your accountant and home office if you have one is how you decide on what you need. I was ahead of the curve when it came to computers in the truck. When Park and View came out it was great for me to plug into the old IBM Think pad and do what needed to be done! For those of us who remember P&V you know it's an old dinosaur! It won't be long before the scanner/printer is old and out dated.

 

$400 was the top end for a B&W all in one. You can get greyscale laser printers for $50-$100 if you know where to look, used maybe even less (I got a used greyscale laser printer for $40 from a swap shop years ago). And when you are carrying that important paper printed out on an inkjet printer and it starts raining and the ink starts running, lasers don't do that.

 

I don't know much about lasers vs. inkjets...but that Canon 495 I bought sure has made my life simple.

I get my over size permits via email, print them right there in the truck...and down the road I go...that printer has already 1/2 paid for itself just this week alone.

No waiting on faxes, no waiting in line, no $2 per page....by the time I get the load chained down, my permits are waiting on me...read, print, roll on.

 

thats the reason we have one. we just pull a dry box but alot of our bol's are faxed to us before we can go in to pick up and not having to find a t/s go in get a fax # then call back and wait then go in to get the fax and pay...

 

Reviving an old thread. Not all drivers have top of the line Android or the latest iPhone, & those that do, couldn’t take a clear photo if their life depended on it. I’m looking for a solution to put in all of my trucks to alleviate the number one response I get when requesting a better image “buy me a newer phone”

 

There's an APP called CamScanner. Really brightens and clears up BOL's for me.

Really happy with it. Shoukdn't be hard to teach a driver to use it.

 

Sure, if you leave it there while you are driving.

Why not set it on the bunk mattress when the truck is in motion?
Put a pillow on top of it so it doesn't move around.
No more taking a beating, right?

Also...
Doesn't TransFlo have an app that lets you simply take a picture with your phone to send it in?
No scanner needed, if your company can use it.

My company has their own app that lets me do the same thing.