How safe are plastic library cards?

  • by Plastic Card Services
  • 17.06.2014
  • Articles

One of the most important aspects of running a successful library is that you ensure that there is a healthy level of repeat custom. It is these loyal customers who help make up a large portion of your profits and one way in which you can help maintain their loyalty is through the use of a plastic library card. Issuing library cards to customers can benefit both yourself and your customers, as you will be able to track their habits, record what books they have taken out and so on.

Using a plastic library card can benefit your business in a number of important and useful ways, while it can also help to attract new customers and keep existing ones happy. Some common benefits include:

  • Identify customer shopping habits
  • Identify your most frequent customers
  • Attract new customers / retain existing ones
  • Increase the average customer spend
  • Increase purchase frequency.

How do they stand up against paper cards?

Unlike their paper alternatives, plastic cards are not as easy to break, rip or damage and as such this makes them a much more reliable option. Despite paper cards being a cheaper option, their vulnerability would often mean that a replacement card would be needed on a regular basis and as such this could prove to be quite costly and time consuming. In addition to this, plastic cards are manufactured using advanced technologies and this means that they can be easily ordered and cheap to replace.

These technologies have also made it possible for plastic cards to include various add-ons such as barcoding, computer chips and more. Printing technology has also made it possible to add unique content to the shell of the card, from personalised messages and colour schemes, to photos and more, making them perfect for identification purposes.

While there will always be times when replacements are needed, any online access can be removed instantly when a card is lost or destroyed to prevent misuse. Plastic membership cards also have a number of other functions that make them very valuable in an increasingly digital economy and environment.