The short answer is: You can, but it's tricky.
Standard office printers handle business-specific printing jobs, mainly on standard A-4 paper. Whether your office uses a laser or inkjet printer, they're both designed for paper of a certain dimension. And most office printers can only handle paper of a certain heaviness and thickness. A PVC card such as employee ID cards, debit/credit cards, loyalty cards, and more are considerably thicker than paper.
ID cards you can print on office printers
Some companies use paper, synthetic paper, or card stock for basic employee IDs and laminate them after printing. Or you can put these paper IDs in a badge holder to protect them for normal wear and tear. You can use your standard office printer to create these ID cards, but you'll need a separate laminating machine.
What if you want the requisite credit-card-style employee ID cards, which is substantially thicker than paper or card stock?
How to print PVC cards on office printers
First, laser office printers won't print on PVC cards. But if you have an inkjet printer… AND it can accommodate a special tray for PVC cards, you might be able to use it. Only specific inkjet printers accept these special PVC card trays, so check out your model before you count on it for your employee ID card program. Note that you won't be able to print in batches, only one card at a time.
But if you want to use smart cards, you need a PVC card printer.
What is a PVC card printer?
Sometimes called an ID card printer, aPVC card printer is customized to print on plastic cards with high quality, durability, and reliability. Cards won't smear or bleed after printing, and many printers let you print high quantities in a single batch. The secret is a PVC printer can handle higher thickness and weight.
All PVC card printers can print on cards with a standard thickness of 30 mil, or 0.8 mm. Regular paper (A-4 business paper) is 0.1 mm thick, and card stock (normally heavier than A-4) is around 0.254 mm to 0.3048 mm. The difference in thickness causes traditional office printers to jam when printing PVC cards because they're not designed to handle its thickness.
Smart cards with antennae and chips are even thicker to make room for RFID technology.
Benefits of a PVC card printer
Organizations who want a highly professional, top quality, reliable cards choose PVC card printers for their ID card programs. You get a printer customized to print batches of single or double-sided ID cards, and you get ID software to help you manage, issue, and track your cards. Some retailers bundle the printer, software, printer ribbon, camera for photo IDs, and a quantity of PVC cards—everything you need to get your ID card program off the ground.
You have the option to outsource your ID cards to an expert like Idesco who can produce highly quality smart cards and others for a reasonable cost. Or you can save costs over the long-term by establishing an in-house ID card program. It all depends on your budget, your available resources (e.g., someone to manage the ID card program), and how quickly you need cards. For example, outsourcing your ID card program can usually provide cards within 24-48 hours. Your own in-house program prints instantly, on-demand.
With an in-house PVC card printer, you control the printing process. So, if security is an issue, you may want local control delegated to one or two people. The fewer people who have access to issuing ID cards, the less chance of counterfeiting and other external interference.
Another security issue with outsourcing is the use of temporary cards while permanent cards are printed. Temporary cards don't include personalized information, can't be used to visually identify the cardholder, and can be used by anyone.
Final thoughts
Owning your own PVC or ID card printer gives you absolute control over what's issued and to whom. You can produce different ID cards for different user groups, or you can change designs often to prevent counterfeiters from creating fraudulent cards.
You can also create an ID card program with different colored cards based on user category. This lets everyone know at a glance what group the cardholder belongs to and what they should—and shouldn't—have access to.
If you're still unsure a PVC or ID card printer is the right choice for your business, call Idesco's ID Experts at (212-889-3530). Whether you purchase an ID card printer, we're here to help you get the right solution for your business and budget needs.