Good quality PVC plastic cards do not have to be terribly expensive.
All that is important is to know precisely what they are to be used for and to ensure that your purchase meets all of the required specifications.
Mass production made necessary by the burgeoning demand for ID cards in all manner of widely divergent applications has done much to reduce the cost of these items as well as the hardware, software and consumables required for their printing.
To ensure print that lasts, selecting a proven reliable supplier of quality PVC plastic cards is a must.
With that settled you will normally be presented with the option of having them printed on your behalf by the supplier or purchasing the necessary equipment with which to undertake your own printing.
In the latter case, it is advisable to select both medium and equipment that may, if required, be called upon to supply additional functions that may be indicated as a result of future changes such as any proposed plans you may have for expansion.
Outsourced or in-house the options for PVC plastic cards are numerous and each option chosen is likely to have a bearing on the final price as will the total quantity of units ordered.
Today's technology allows for very high resolution images to be reproduced on the cards and you may choose between black on white and full colour on one or both sides of the unit.
Printing may be edge to edge or allow for a border as preferred.
Cards may be personalised and even printed with a full-colour photograph of the holder if required.
These PVC plastic cards may also carry hidden data such as may be carried in a magnetic stripe.
The service provider will normally be able to affix such a stripe to the reverse side of the cards and, if required to do so, actually embed the personalised data as well.
All data transferred to the stripe is machine readable and linked to a specific database entry by means of some unique identifier.
Other services offered by companies that print PVC plastic cards could include the addition of a signature panel as found on credit and debit cards as well as embossed text from which impressions may easily be made with a suitable hand-operated machine and then signed by the card holder.
Where volumes are known to be high, there is definitely a strong case for a move to in-house printing and the initial capital investment in a cost-effecter printer and software package is very quickly recouped in time and costs saved.
Either way, these ubiquitous PVC plastic cards have become totally indispensable to today's sophisticated markets.