staralike Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 We are looking for some new ID cards at our venue, as we are starting to do a lot more children based dance shows in the venue, and need to readily identify people. Last week we found a parent wondering around backstage, and because we only have really small name badges, or stage blacks, nobody challanged him. (we discovered him just after 2nd act start, he'd been wondering around since before the show staerted !) Does anyone know of a good (read: Cheap !) supplier of ID cards and lanyards ?. We dont need all of them to be custom with photo on etc, but some would be nice. Ive found these on Ebay, which seem quite good for the price, and am thinking about black Lanyards for the crew, and bright yellow or red ones for visitors. They seem to do custom cards, and are waiting back for a quote on some from them. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...ROMOBOX:NEWLIST Heather xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 May I suggest a slightly different approach? Any office supplies company will sell you a laminator for between £25 and £50; A pack of empty plastic pouches to hold cards is about £3 for 50. Add to this a box of cheap lanyards (a few pence each) and you're set for months. With the above you can just use a word processing programme to create your own custom badge(s), even incorporating photos from the nearest machine if you want to. You can take your own view whether you just want generic badges, or specific ones for particular events. I spent a few years helping to run a small production company which was often asked to give all our workers a specific badge...it took a very short time for this to work out the most cost effective way to handle this. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikienorth Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 My girlfriend used to work for this company, until leaving for another job, they are an ID card producing company, dealing with major companies, and also some really tiny ones. They make cards to your design, and ship them to you via DHL (one of thier biggest clients btw) Not sure of the prices, but they are the real thing, and none of this laminating stuff, or expensive printer purchasing. Ask to speak to Mike at the company if you are interested, he is the best person to talk to about your needs. I have never used them myself, I just know they exist. ID Card Ltd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mac.calder Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 I second the laminator idea. As an extension - I would also buy plastic ID pouches with the lanyard hole at the top - you can get ones with a spot at the bottom to place "STAFF" lables like these:http://www.officeworks.com.au/ims_docs/44/44EA18DD71CE013D02000000AC193D36.JPG You could even put "postion lables" - ie Lighting, Sound, FOH etc. instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w/robe Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 With the plastic pouches for visitors you can have a piece of paper/card that goes in them instead of a laminate so that Stage Door can write information on it such as who they are visiting (giving you an idea, if you meet them in the corridor, of where they should be) and the date the pass is valid for in case they leave the building without handing it in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the kid Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 I might be thinking too much, but if you are having children about have a stage door/management signed card. might be taking it too far [old man] but in this day and age etc etc [/old man] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staralike Posted October 13, 2006 Author Share Posted October 13, 2006 Hi, After speaking with the council person this morning about it, there are concerns with the laminated ones, as anyone can go to Staples, and copy the cards very easily. At least with the professional made cards, not only do they look much better, but they also are more durable, and cant be copied, not without spending a lot of time and expense. I got a quote for custom made ones, on silver cards, they are about £1 each from the person on ebay, and they are only about 5 miles away from the venue !. The nearst quote for 20 cards from another company was £11.00 EACH !!!! (unless I ordered 1000). Thanks for all your help and replies, im going to order the ones from ebay this afternoon. They are throwing in the lanyards as well, 'to support the local businesses' !!. Heather xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timpman19 Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 This may sound stupid but.... If you can buy an ID card off ebay, so can everyone else (especially now you have created a topic containing the exact cards on a public Internet forum). They will be all the same. It would be much easier to go for the laminate version especially if you cannot justify the price of getting professional customised versions printed with your logo on. Just a thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 When I was at my old college - we all got badges. I wasn't convinced they solved any problems at all - in some cases, just having something hanging was good enough. I made up a replacement for mine with a picture of a teletubby instead of me - nobody noticed for 3 months! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Lewis Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 I made up a replacement for mine with a picture of a teletubby instead of me - nobody noticed for 3 months! Does that say something about your physical appearance, or people's inattentiveness? ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 Hi, After speaking with the council person this morning about it, there are concerns with the laminated ones, as anyone can go to Staples, and copy the cards very easily. At least with the professional made cards, not only do they look much better, but they also are more durable, and cant be copied, not without spending a lot of time and expense. I got a quote for custom made ones, on silver cards, they are about £1 each from the person on ebay, and they are only about 5 miles away from the venue !. The nearst quote for 20 cards from another company was £11.00 EACH !!!! (unless I ordered 1000). Er, this sounds backwards to me. If you can buy them for £1 each, so can I! If somebody clever with a computer designs something specific for you, complete with logos, spaces for signatures and photos and so on, surely that's harder to copy than anything commercial. Just my tuppence worth. I hear what paulears is saying by the way. All the ID badges in the world are only as good as the policy on checking them. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w/robe Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 At least with the professional made cards, not only do they look much better, but they also are more durable, and cant be copied, not without spending a lot of time and expense. This may be a good plan for badges for your permanent staff but not if you have freelance staff, visiting companies, acting companies, maintenance and service personnel etc. etc. If a visitor comes in through Stage Door, and gets a pass, and then exits with it through FOH they have access to your building unless you are going to replace all passes with a new design each time a badge goes missing. The situation is even worse with cast who may be with you for weeks or months as they will definitely forget to give in a pass that they have taken home every night when they leave for the last time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 I made up a replacement for mine with a picture of a teletubby instead of me - nobody noticed for 3 months! In a previous job, we did something similar. One person had a "fake badge" with a picture of (if I recall correctly) Dangermouse, and one completely bald chap had a normal badge, but with curly hair, moustache and beard drawn on with a Magic Marker. Nobody noticed for months - indeed one chap there lost his badge, and "borrowed" one anytime he had to go out the office, for 2 years! ...and this was a factory where security was allegedly tight, because the only products they made were for the MOD...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 you can get credit card size blanks that go through a PC printer and have an embossed logo that foils photo-copiers. Still with children involved someone needs to have evidence of who is vetted, not all parents are! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 ... I made up a replacement for mine with a picture of a teletubby instead of me - nobody noticed for 3 months!... One person had a "fake badge" with a picture of (if I recall correctly) Dangermouse, and one completely bald chap had a normal badge, but with curly hair, moustache and beard drawn on with a Magic Marker. Nobody noticed for months - indeed one chap there lost his badge, and "borrowed" one anytime he had to go out the office, for 2 years! ....This isn't badge technology problems; its just slackness on the part of the so-called security people who are supposed to check the badges. The same will be true for the OP. Anyone can produce a badge, so you need to have a consistent badge design, and you need to have effective control at the point(s) of access. No-one in without a valid badge, and wear it at all time or you will be "asked" to leave. Laminated with photo is the best, and have a underprinted "P" for parents, "C" for crew or whatever the full height of the information area. The best of these stories I know of was a former colleague of mine (this is some years ago now) who made photo-ids for himeself a of himeself and a couple of mates stateing they were medical helicopter aircrew, and found themselves with access all areas at Le Mans. He had no idea what a proper badge looked like, but so, it would appear, the security crew didnt either... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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