Should you buy an ID card Laminator or a Plastic Card Printer?

When you need to produce a large number of membership cards for your business, either because you are a gym owner or a library manager or because you are in charge of the HR department at a hospital or a company that hires lots of temporary workers, your best option is to have full control of your card printing process. Now, the question is, should you buy a plastic car printer or an ID card laminator? Let’s analyze their advantages and disadvantages.

Undoubtedly, the finished plastic ID card  that does not need to be laminated has a more clean and professional look. If the laminator is really of very good quality, it leaves no bubbles between the card and the plastic cover but there is no guarantee that this will be like this every time you laminate your card. Another disadvantage of laminators is that they will always leave a plastic border around the card.
       
As regards speed, a plastic card printer, especially if it can hold more than one  blank plastic cards, is much more advantageous. If you use a laminator, you first have to introduce the paper cards in the plastic holders, then turn on the laminating machine and wait for it to heat up, which definitely takes longer. In addition, while a card printer mainly works by itself, the card laminator demands much more manual labor.
As regards versatility, however, a card laminator is highly advantageous. It can be used to protect not only identification badges but also any kind of document you need to keep safe from bending, getting wet or the daily tear and wear.
It is up to you to decide what you need, according to your own printing needs. If flexibility is important for you and if you consider that there are important documents such as notices or certificates you need to laminate on a regular basis, then you should definitely consider buying a card laminator. On the other hand, if you do not need to laminate things more than once in a while then it is definitely a good decision to invest your money in a high quality card printer.
As you can see, choosing between an ID card printer or a card laminator relies more on your company’s printing and laminating needs than in anything else. It is important to consider that many card printer models that are now available in the market offer the chance of adding a laminate to your cards, which means that you may have both devices in only one machine. Buying one of these card printers may be useful for you if you print many cards on a regular basis and, at the same time, you need to have them as well as other documents laminated.