When Would I Need a Magnetic Stripe Card?

If you're considering all your options for an ID card printing solution, a popular—and secure—option to look at are plastic cards with a magnetic stripe. For a variety of reasons, these cards are used extensively today in both the US and around the world. Magnetic stripe cards are used for everything from credit and debit cards to membership cards, driver's licenses, and student and employee IDs. They offer more functionality and convenience, depending on your needs.

Here are four situations when you might need a magnetic stripe card for your ID card printing solution.

1. Widespread use

Magnetic stripe cards are used almost daily by people everywhere. According to Visa and MasterCard, you can use your magnetic stripe bank card in any country with swipe readers and it will funnel money from your bank back home. 

This widespread use means your employees, visitors, members and others are quite familiar with a swipe card and how it works. If you want a highly functional, secure ID card with the smallest learning curve, a magnetic stripe card is the answer.

2. Convenience

A magnetic stripe card gives you the convenience of having a powerful, secure means of payment, personal information storage, and more in a single, efficient card. For example, you can use your magnetic stripe card to have the full purchasing power of your bank account without having to carry wads of cash.

Membership cards with magnetic stripes allow your customers to have a range of opportunities like rewards and special incentives on a plastic card fitting easily in anyone's wallet. Your magnetic swipe card can carry tons of information about your employees and offer them a wide range of services like payment, time clock, access, and more.

3. Security

Any magnetic stripe card, while powerful enough to carry your personal information, financial purchasing means and more, is encrypted, meaning individuals cannot read the data on the magnetic stripe. This is why magnetic stripe cards are still used today for payment and personal identification purposes.

Your company's magnetic stripe cards are small and inconspicuous. As long as your employees, guests, or members maintain ownership, magnetic swipe cards are highly secure.

4. Cost effective

Magnetic stripe cards can be more cost effective than other technology cards. Depending on your budget and your security needs, these rewritable cards offer a cost-effective means of issuing and updating cards when needed. Magnetic stripes can be changed and rewritten continuously, making magnetic technology extremely beneficial in a variety of settings.

You can also store more information on magnetic stripes cards than bar code cards for example. Their ease of use makes them a less expensive and cost-effective answer to employee, payment, membership, and other needs.

5. Durability

If you need a solution that is highly durable while offering more functionality and convenience, then magnetic stripe cards suit that purpose well. Using magnetic stripes embedded in plastic material, your cards will be strong and durable. In fact, they are effective in repelling moisture, dirt, and other contamination.

The only time you need worry about your magnetic stripe cards is if or when they come in contact with a magnetic field or object. Since this is such a rare occurrence in most people's lives, magnetic stripe cards are one of the most durable and powerful options on the market.

Final thoughts

Magnetic stripe cards offer you the functionality and data storage of a technology card with the convenience, security, and ease of use familiar to the vast majority of people. Your employees, customers, guests, visitors, and others will be comfortable with magnetic stripe cards. You get a durable and useful card that contains the information you need for your business purposes.

If you're still unsure if magnetic stripe cards are right for your organization, contact one of the ID experts at Idesco. We have vast experience with all cards, printers, and more to help guide you to the right solution. Our ID experts are vendor agnostic, meaning we understand all the brands on the market but favor no individual one over others. We focus solely on your company and its needs.