It's fairly easy to make a decision whether the Service Bureau is a viable option for you. Here are some guidelines:
How much time do you have before issuing an I.D. card? If you need to be able to issue cards same or next day, then you need your own equipment. Although we strive to accomplish the very best turnarounds, the USPS or UPS delivery will take a little time. Yes, we will expedite when you need us to, using next day air delivery if you request it. But our normal production puts cards back into your hands about three to five days after we receive your order.
How many cards do you need? There is, of course, a point at which it's more cost-effective to buy your own card-making equipment. You can use our rate schedule to help with this decision. But we do have customers needing hundreds of cards who choose to use our service because their photos come from multiple small offices, none of which could cost-justify their own system.
How do you choose to spend your time? Most of our service bureau customers use our service because they want to spend their time doing what they do best, and leave the I.D. cards to us!
What if you decide to change and begin your own card production? No problem. If you choose, you can upgrade by purchasing an I.D. system. Any templates developed by the service bureau belong to you, and will be made available for you to import into your software so you can become immediately productive.