Select the Right PVC Card for your Identification Badge

It is important to select the appropriate type of PVC card for an id, membership or loyalty card. There are several choices from which to select.

A few simple answered questions will provide the best card for your requirements.

Will I need to print on both front and back of the card?

Most PVC cards sold today are finished on both sides of the card, allowing for printing on the front and the back. There are some cards that are only finished on one side and printing will not adhere to the unfinished side.

What size card is needed?

Standard size identification cards are called CR-80. These are the same size and thickness of a VISA or MasterCard. Other cards that are larger are CR-90 and CR-100. They are for specific or special applications. Specialized printers are needed to print these larger size identification cards.

When considering id card requirements and whether to purchase a single side or dual sided printer, one needs to know what the card requirements are. A list of required items on the card may include: member picture, member name, bar code, title, license code, etc. When reviewing these things deciding where they should be placed on the badge, the determination of which printer is needed is often obvious.

Single sided PVC card printers are among the most cost effective printers to operate. They meet most of the industries need for identification. They allow photographs for face recognition, text fields for names and titles, logos and additional personal or corporate information. Depending on the capability of the software used, it is possible to place a bar code on the front of the badge.

An important feature of the dual sided printer is that the information on the back of each ID card can be different from any other card. The system will automatically place the right information on the reverse side of the card with the correct card front. The dual sided printer has a built in flipper to turn the card over to print the back side. Because the id card printer prints one full card at a time, the possibility of mixing the information up will not occur.

Another benefit of the dual sided printer is the possibility of placing a greater amount of information on each card. By utilizing both sides of the card, additional printing area is available to place maximum information on the id card.

Catherine Williams writes articles about personal and workplace safety. For more information on PVC cards and id card printers, visit Safe-Card ID.