You finally have an ID card printing solution complete with extra supplies and everything you need to issue amazing, professional ID cards. It's great to be ready when it's time to replace your ribbon, clean your printer, and issue ID cards and badges on the fly. But, you might not know that your printer supplies might expire before you can use them.
If you've made Christmas cookies and baked goods every holiday season, you know that certain spices, syrups, extracts, and other ingredients expire after a specified amount of time. Past their expiration date, your baked goods might not taste as good as they should. It's the same with your ID card printer supplies; they won't have the same quality.
To ensure you get the best product with high quality results, you need to manage your ID card printer supplies to make sure nothing is "past its prime."
What printer supplies expire?
This is an easy question to answer: all printer ribbons and cleaning kits have an expiration date which varies by manufacturer. So if you think you can stock up when you see a fantastic sale on these printer supplies, remember that if you don't use them before they expire, you're wasting money and time.
Blank ID cards are different. While they don't expire, per se, if you don't handle and store them properly, your blank cards can irreversibly damage your ID card printer's printhead, requiring a costly repair. We'll look at how to handle and store ID cards in a minute.
How to determine how many supplies to stock?
As a good rule of thumb, store printer ribbons and cleaning kits for no more than a year. To avoid unused, expired printer supplies, calculate how many ID cards you produce a year. Now consider how many ID cards you can print with a single printer ribbon based on your manufacturer's specifications.
Say, for example, you print around 100 ID cards a month. That's 1,200 per year. If your printer ribbon is good for 500 cards per ribbon, you know you'll need between two to three printer ribbons a year.
Cleaning kits are easy to determine. Since you clean your printer every time you replace the ribbon, you need the same number of cleaning kits as printer ribbons each year.
How to store extra supplies
Always store your extra supplies in a climate-controlled, protected storage compartment away from sunlight, high temperatures, dust or dirt, and especially moisture. When you can, store your extra supplies in their original manufacturer's packaging in a temperature- and humidity-controlled area.
Next, let's consider how many cards to keep on hand and why they need extra care.
What to do about blank ID cards?
Again, it's easy enough to determine how many blank cards you should keep on hand depending on how many cards you print each month. What's more important to know is how you can get the longest lifespan out of the blank cards you store.
First, only use blank cards that you've stored and handled properly. It pays big dividends in the end. Here's how.
- Store your cards in their original packaging and in a clean, airtight container or storage compartment. Especially if your ID card program lives in a plant or manufacturing facility, dirt, dust, and debris can easily get on your blank cards, causing irreparable damage to your printer.
- Always wash your hands before handling your blank ID cards. The dirt, debris, and oils from your skin sticks to blank cards and damages your printhead, an expensive repair.
- Throw away any cards that drop on the floor. Even if it looks perfectly clean, it's not worth the high cost of replacing your printhead should minuscule dirt and debris get in there.
- To reduce static electricity, fan your blank cards before loading them into the card hopper in your printer. This will help your cards from sticking in the ID card printer and causing jams.
- Handle blank cards with extreme card. Never touch the cards' surface; always handle by the edges.
Final thoughts
Always be aware of your ID card printer supplies' potential expiration date to make sure your employee/student badging solution works seamlessly. Besides only storing the supplies you can use within a year's time, make sure you store and handle your supplies appropriately to increase their lifespan. Blank ID cards need a little extra care and attention, but once you know best practices, it's easy to keep them on hand and ready when you need them.
If you're unsure about your ID card printer supplies, contact an Idesco ID Expert at 212-889-2530. We know each manufacturer and their recommendations intimately. We can help you make sure you have only what you'll need on hand, when you need it, so you don't waste time and money on expired supplies.