Why you should consider the whole cost of your plastic card printer, not just the ticket price.
There are many factors to take into account when researching the best ID card printer for you.
You’ll want to look at whether you are printing single or double sided, the volume of cards you’ll be printing per year and the type of cards you’ll be printing on, for example.
Naturally, cost will be a significant factor when it comes to choosing your ID card printer, but it is important to also look beyond the initial price tag.
How much will it cost you to print a card each time?
The initial outlay on a card printer may seem expensive, but the real expense is yet to come. With up to five years of continuously restocking the printer with ribbons and blank cards – you’ll want to make sure you check the per-card print cost when deciding on a printer.
The most expensive aspect of running an ID printer is the consistent replacement of ribbons, with manufacturers offering printer ribbons in a range of types and print sizes. Usually, the larger the ribbon (in terms of number of prints), the cheaper the per-card print cost.
Look up the standard ribbon cost price
Take the IDP Smart 21s for example. Despite being the cheapest ID card printer on the market, it has one of the highest per-card print cost.
If you are only printing 100 cards per year, then this isn't a problem, however if you print 1,000 cards per year, it’s going to cost you £315 in printer ribbons alone.
And that's when it may be worth looking at some of the other more expensive models on the market.
Let's take the Matica MC310 for example, a significantly more advanced printer with a higher initial outlay than the Smart 21s. This printer has a per-card print cost of 25p due to much cheaper consumables.
To print 1,000 cards a year with the Matica MC310 would cost you £158 in ribbons.
