Printing IDs in-house vs. Outsourcing

In any office – IDs are of extreme important. Whether you provide your employees with simple pictures IDs or IDs that will grant them access to different parts of the building someone needs to print them. So why not do it yourself?

Many times companies feel that printing their own IDs will be time consuming and costly when in fact it is as easy as using a traditional printer. A local medium sized company located in Miami, FL decided to stop outsourcing their ID printing and purchased the easy to use SunLight K3 from Card-Online.

Before purchasing the ID printer, every time some lost their ID, they hired new employees, or need to change the access for an employee they would have to wait about a week to receive the new ID. Now with the SunLight K3 they can quickly and easily print IDs when needed.

Not only do they instantly print IDs in-house but they are saving about $100 a month once they stopped outsourcing IDs! And Card-Online is now their one stop shop where they directly purchase the ribbons, cards and lanyards.

For more information on how printing IDs in-house can save money and time give us at call at 305-260-6743.

How to select the right ID printer

Here at Card-Online we extended our ID card printer line. We are now offering ID printers by Datacard, Fargo, Evolis, and Magicard in addition to the SunLight K3 and the Cimage K10.


To help you in your purchase of the right ID printer for you we listed a few questions that you need to consider when selecting an ID printer that will fulfill all your needs.

1. Will you be printing color ID cards?
Most of the printers that we offer here at Card-Online come with the option of monochrome (single color) or full color. Think about which option is best for you and remember to keep your future needs in consideration.

2. How many cards do you plan to print?
Each printer varies in printing speed and capacity which means you must think about the output you will need. Are you planning on only printing a few cards a day? Or do you need a machine to print fast and large quantities on a daily basis? If planning on a large volume then a printer with a input hopper would be important, if large quantities will not be your situation then a printer with a manual feed will work well.

3. Single sided printers versus dual sided printers.
Will your ID cards only need printing on one side or will you need information printed on the back of the card as well? Single sided printers will only print on one side of your plastic card leaving the back blank. If you have the need to include information on the back of the card then a dual sided printer is the best choice for you.

4. What encoding options will you need?
For increased security and personalization reasons some ID cards have magnetic stripe or smart card encoding. If you will need one of these options you will need to look into the type of encoding that will be necessary. Will you need just one feature or both of them? These encoding features are additional features that you must request for when making your order.

5. Need more ID card security?
Other features such as lamination are available. If you feel that your ID cards need extra security to avoid duplication and fraud look into features that will help prevent this. To learn more about special security features feel free to contact one of our ID printer specialists at 305-260-6743.

6. What technical features do you need?
When selecting an ID printer it is important to know some of the technical details such as the driver and interface that the ID printer is compatible with. Most ID printers come with a USB interface and Ethernet is available when requested. It is also important to know if the ID printer supports the operating system you work with – whether it is Microsoft Window or Mac (only few ID printers are Mac compatible).

Creating a secure workplace

The office is a place where most of us spend a large part of our week in. For a minimum of 40 hours we are at our desk and for some reason we never really put much thought to how secure our work environment is.

Whether you work in an office with many individuals that walk in and out all day or in a small office with 10 or less employees, security should always be a priority and it does not need to cost you much money.

Increasing security at the office is a simple task that comes with many benefits such as safety for your employees, prevention of loss of inventory and confidential documents, and more.

It is as simple as purchasing a desktop id printer so you can provide picture IDs to all your employees and even for visitors. Our printers also come with encoding options so you can add contact/contactless or magnetic stripe features so employees will have to swipe their card to be granted access to certain areas of the office.

This is a great tool because you will be able to know at what time employees enter or exit certain areas of the building. You can even restrict access during certain times of the day or to certain employees.

Call one of our ID specialists to further assist you at 305-260-6743.

Also check out our website at www.card-online.com for our extensive line of lanyards and other ID accessories that will go great with your IDs!