Guide to Making Identification (ID) Cards / Badges

Lets face it, we live in a security conscious world these days.  Sure companies had antiquated id card programs in years past, but since September 11, 2001 companies have gotten serious about security.  Id cards also benefit human resource departments in employee time keeping and providing company phone numbers or other useful information on the back of cards.  So there are a bunch of great reasons to have an id card program in your company, but “Do you have to buy an id card printer to have an id card program?”  The answer in many cases is “No”. 

Sometimes it makes a lot of sense to have your id card production outsourced.  Outsourcing gets a bad rap due to jobs leaving our country and companies outsourcing things to the lowest bidder that they should be doing themselves.  Done properly outsourcing can be effective when you don’t outsource your core competency.  Chances are producing id cards for your company is not a core competency so it is a great candidate for outsourcing.

You have to really consider what kind of an id card program you have or are going to have.  How many employees do you have?  How quickly do you need a new id card?  What kind of employee turn over do you expect?  What kind of technology do you need for you id card?

A typical thermal id card printer system will cost around $2000.  You will probably get enough supplies to print around 500 employee id cards.  That works out to $4.00 an id card plus the overhead labor to enter the information that is on the id card.  Not too bad if you are really going to print 500 employee id cards.  But, what if you only have 100 employees?  Now the cost per id card goes to $20.00 per id card plus overhead labor!  Outsourcing is sounding pretty good about now considering most id card producers charge around $8.00 per id card with quantity discounts for more.

With id card outsourcing small companies with just a few employees can afford an id card program that would have been cost prohibitive without outsourcing.  Larger companies can benefit by cutting costs and saving time on non-productive tasks.  Organizations with multiple facilities can centralize their id card making by using an id card provider who ships to each facility.
 
So there you have it, there is an alternative to buying an id card printer.  If you need your id cards immediately and are going to print over 500 id cards then you want to buy an id card printer.  If you have less than 500 id cards to print and can wait a few days before you get the id card you should consider outsourcing your id cards.  Most companies that provide id cards also sell id card printers.  They should be happy to help you decide which way makes the most sense for your company.  If not, beware…

Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• Don't forget to consider employee turnover when deciding how many id cards you may print.
• When outsourcing, print as many cards at one time as you can to get a quantity discount if available.
• Choose an id card provider that can help you design your id cards and advise you on the best information to have on your id cards.
• If buying an id card printer choose a company that tells you to call "them" and not the id card printer maker if you have a problem.
• Consider there will be a small learning curve when using id card making software.