Aplusid

An ID card printer is a machine that prints on a plastic (PVC) card. They are used to print employee ID badges, membership cards, credit cards and more.

ID card printers work the same way a typical inkjet printer does. Your office printer sucks in a blank piece of paper, prints on it, and then spits out the finished product for you to use immediately. In the same way, an ID card printer sucks in a blank white PVC card, prints your design and then spits the card out so that you can use it right away.

While they are easy to use like your paper printer, printing on plastic requires a different process and internal parts. This means, ID card printers are generally more expensive than inkjet printers.

Do I Need an ID Card Printer?

If you have employees or provide cards to customers you need the ID cards, but whether you need to buy an ID printer comes down to two factors:

1.       Immediate Issuance – Do you need to use your cards immediately? If so, printing them in-house with an ID card printer is your only option.

2.       Quantity – If you only need a few cards per year, you can contact us for more info at sales@aplusid.com to create template design and print for you. If you need a hundred or more, the math suggests it’s the best decision financially to buy an ID card system. This is because a service will cost you $7 per card or more while the printer is a large upfront cost but the cards cost roughly $0.70 per card after that.

Service Cost

(card qty x card price) x number of years = Service cost

(100 card x $7) x 5 years = $3500

Printer Cost

printer price + ((card qty x card price) x number of years) = Printer Cost

$1500 + ((100 cards x $0.70) x 5 years) = $1850

While printers have a large up front cost, their cheap cost per card pays dividends down the road. Printers often last around 10 years so imagine the price difference using 10 years instead of 5!

Contact us at sales@aplusid.com to request for printer details and card samples.