Paper vs. Plastic--Win the Card Game

By Misty Byers

Pair the right card to the right application to make the most of card sales knowing what card products are available is good strategy—knowing how to match the product to the application wins the game.

The key, said Paul Edwards, president of FormStore, Fenton, Mo., is knowing what questions to ask to determine the right product. "Very few distributors know what those are, but those who do can eliminate most of their competition," he said.

Chris Lafelice, an account representative at Shamrock Graphics, a Westlake, Ohio-based distributorship, agrees.

She remembered a client who was looking for a plastic ID card. "That was all they wanted—plastic," she said. "But when we went through the discovery process, it turned out the last thing they needed was a plastic card. They hadn't even considered paper, because when they thought ‘ID' they automatically thought plastic."

Just as short-sighted are those who automatically associate temporary use with paper products. "A paper card won't hold up even a day in a body shop, for example, where the oil and grease from a mechanic's hands would make it unreadable," Lafelice noted.

Therefore, is it important to first determine not only how the card will be used, but how long it will have to last.