How can you protect your ID cards from daily wear and tear while preventing card tampering? Try lamination – these clear or holographic films protect your cards and give them a much longer lifespan versus regular non-laminated cards. And with two styles to choose from, there’s a lamination option for every ID card program.

Overlaminates vs. Adhesive Laminates

A tranditional overlaminate is added during the card printing process by the card printer. An adhesive lamiante is added by hand after the card is printed. While both add a layer of protection to the card, there are many reasons you would want to pick one or the other:

  • Lamination requires a printer upgrade, adding several hundred dollars to the cost of a printer – organizations on a tight budget may choose an adhesive laminate
  • Lamination is a hand’s off process – if you have hundreds or thousands of cards, the time you save by not manually placing the adhesive laminates on each card will be significant
  • Adhesive laminate works with old cards – if you don’t want to reprint and reissue all of your cards, adhesive laminates can be applied to the cards you already have printed

Both adhesive laminates and overlaminates come in multiple styles, including clear and hologram for added visual card security.

Overlaminates

Overlaminates are applied to your cards as part of the printing process. Lamination is a printer upgrade, and will increase the cost of your card printer. But because the printer laminates the cards, it is a faster and easier process compared to applying an adhesive laminate to the card yourself. Overlaminates also protect your cards from daily wear and tear from scanning them, along with making it harder to tamper with a card.

Shop overlaminates by brand:

Adhesive Laminates

Adhesive laminates are applied to the front (or back) of an ID card after it has been printed. This allows you to apply them to cards you’ve already issued to cardholders, instead of needing to take the time and resources to reprint all of your current cards. Adhesive laminates protect your cards from daily wear and tear from scanning them, along with making it harder to tamper with a card.

Choose from:

Questions?

Contact our ID experts at (877) 868-0012 for help finding the right products and supplies for your ID card system! We’ll make it easy for you!

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