Printing Those Scout Shop Blue Cards

[swilliams 157]

I bought some of the perforated blue cards from the scout shop and figured I'd pre-print some with scouts' names for our Scoutmaster to take to camp.  Well, the only template I can find anywhere is one that prints the entire text.  The blue cards from the shop already have some of the text on them, so if I use the pdf I found online it will print over what's already there.  Does anyone know whether a template exists that works with the cards from the scout shop?  Why does BSA have to make everything so dang user UN-friendly?

[Eagle94-A1 2687]

2 hours ago, swilliams said:

I bought some of the perforated blue cards from the scout shop and figured I'd pre-print some with scouts' names for our Scoutmaster to take to camp.  Well, the only template I can find anywhere is one that prints the entire text.  The blue cards from the shop already have some of the text on them, so if I use the pdf I found online it will print over what's already there.  Does anyone know whether a template exists that works with the cards from the scout shop?  Why does BSA have to make everything so dang user UN-friendly?

Those cards came about before computers. Most folks just hand write the info.

[qwazse 4342]

I think once upon a time the Computers MB had options to write code for typesetting output.

Word mail-merge with custom labels should do the trick.

[swilliams 157]

21 minutes ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

Those cards came about before computers. Most folks just hand write the info.

Given the amount of griping from him last year about having to hand write...

Sounds like I have to find a scout who knows more about mail merge than I do, lol.

[Cleveland Rocks 75]

Our Scout camp has done away with blue cards. Just an online report that lists everything and can be directly imported into Scoutbook or Troopmaster at the end of camp, if you don't want to print a hard copy.

It's an electronic version of the blue card, but no more having to purchase them at the scout store or hand writing anything.

[perdidochas 658]

21 hours ago, swilliams said:

I bought some of the perforated blue cards from the scout shop and figured I'd pre-print some with scouts' names for our Scoutmaster to take to camp.  Well, the only template I can find anywhere is one that prints the entire text.  The blue cards from the shop already have some of the text on them, so if I use the pdf I found online it will print over what's already there.  Does anyone know whether a template exists that works with the cards from the scout shop?  Why does BSA have to make everything so dang user UN-friendly?

Give the Scouts the Blue cards and have them fill them out before summer camp--in this process you can have the older boys teach them about what needs to be filled out--we had a handwritten template on a bulletin board in our scout hut for the scouts to follow.  Never do what a Scout can do for himself.  Give out the blue cards before summer camp.  Have them fill out the information about themselves.  

Edited July 2, 2019 by perdidochas

[mrkstvns 486]

On 7/1/2019 at 9:00 PM, Eagle94-A1 said:

Those cards came about before computers. Most folks just hand write the info.

I know some counselors have rubber stamps with their name, address, phone on them.

Some counselors also print info on stickers.  Avery makes labels in dozens of sizes and styles. There are templates that can be downloaded for many of these, and they're easy to modify in Word or other apps to handle specific things (like list of requirements done, appropriately spaced for the lines on a blue card).

I do like perdidochas' suggestion to let scouts fill in most of it....that works well for me most of the time.  

The only really bad solution I've experienced is Scoutbook sending me (the MBC) an invite to access some scout's advancement record....especially when he's never even bothered to contact me first to chat about what he's doing.

IMHO, Inconvenient and gratuitous use of technology is not a step forward. Seems to me like Scoutbook's developers never actually observed MBCs or real scouts to see how "the process" works in real life...

 

[qwazse 4342]

1 hour ago, mrkstvns said:

I know some counselors have rubber stamps with their name, address, phone on them.

Some counselors also print info on stickers.  Avery makes labels in dozens of sizes and styles. There are templates that can be downloaded for many of these, and they're easy to modify in Word or other apps to handle specific things (like list of requirements done, appropriately spaced for the lines on a blue card).

I do like perdidochas' suggestion to let scouts fill in most of it....that works well for me most of the time.  

The only really bad solution I've experienced is Scoutbook sending me (the MBC) an invite to access some scout's advancement record....especially when he's never even bothered to contact me first to chat about what he's doing.

IMHO, Inconvenient and gratuitous use of technology is not a step forward. Seems to me like Scoutbook's developers never actually observed MBCs or real scouts to see how "the process" works in real life...

 

@mrkstvns, consider signing on to discussions.scouting.org. It's a new forum for all things SB. (And a little bit about the other methods of scouting.)

The developer was a scout, so he gets it. But, sometimes folks ask for conflicting features. So his team is trying to be responsive. At least on the forum they are giving frank answers as to the priority of a bug fix/new feature and the thinking behind the decision.