Plastic Phone Cards Printing

Prepaid long distance phone cards are becoming the promotional item of choice for a growing number of organizations. Plastic card printing, pre-paid phone cards have become a lucrative, point-of-purchase, retail profit center - and an extremely effective premium for marketing professionals. When used as market research tools, prepaid phone cards generate incredible response rates - as high as 50%. Cardholders get free long-distance minutes in exchange for taking an automated telephone survey during card activation.

Either purchased or received as a premium, every plastic phone card creates a tangible connection between a business and a consumer. Each time it is used, your brand is seen and your image projected.

Plastic Gift Cards Printing

There is no easier way to keep all of your money in your store; your customers purchase gifts or necessities based on the expenditure of the card. For consumers, this perceived value continues to take hold.

Gift cards are found in all kinds of stores. During the holiday season, Allstate produces cards for a variety of clients and many of the cards sold in the same location. For instance, a bookstore offered its card as a point of purchase item in a grocery store and sporting goods store. Gift cards keep your logo in front of the consumer. Passive branding is an easy concept. Because the card looks and feels "like a regular credit card" the value is perceived higher than a paper certificate. Some gift cards are "reloaded" after the initial pre-paid amount has been spent. With annual growth in

the 8% - 12% range, plastic card printing, gift cards have had a dramatic effect on retailing over the last five years. Offering the flexibility of a traditional paper gift certificate and the convenience of a credit card, they are easy and convenient to obtain and perfect for all giving occasions. Gift cards can be individually packaged for activation at point-of-sale. Our Allstate service bureau can produce up to 500,000 personalized cards each day. With the services of our sister companies, we can provide forms printing, laser or inkjet personalization, bindery and automated pre-sort.

Plastic Membership Cards Printing

Membership cards are the third most popular plastic card printing in the US today, right behind credit and ATM cards. According to an A C Nielsen survey, 64% of US households said loyalty programs were important in their shopping decisions. This card serves as a marketing tool for the business and those who see it. As a valuable data-gathering tool, it enables retailers to enhance customer service based on actual shopping habits.

plastic card printing, Casino membership cards - credit card size, use computer chips or magnetic stripes to record every spin of a slot machine. At table games, pit bosses keep track of players' bets and add points to cards later. Patrons using Player Tracking Cards can receive VIP treatment at casinos - ranging from a free meal or show tickets to complimentary luxury hotel suites or free first-class air travel. One of the hottest trends in the highly competitive casino industry today, allows casinos to monitor their customers' behavior with a precision that other businesses can only envy. Casino officials compare the cards to airlines' frequent-flier programs, noting that both reward customers according to their level of patronage. For casinos, this card is a valuable marketing tool.

Loyalty and Promotional Cards

Allstate produces plastic card printing for an array of programs including frequency awards, insurance identification, club memberships, fund raising, convention marketing, medical and donor information, preferred customer discounts and for countless other promotional purposes. If required, cards can be personalized using magnetic stripes, PINS, embedded chips, bar coding, embossing, thermal printing and ink jet printing. As with all Allstate cards, a variety of sizes, graphics techniques and finishes are available to add impact to any marketing program.

Plastic Casino Cards

Allstate can deliver to your casino innovative and creative player tracking cards, door key cards, loyalty cards, marketing cards and more. Our experts have worked with the top casino and gaming establishments worldwide. From card to fulfillment, we will assist you with the creation and production of your card to match the uniqueness of your company. Our streamlined process gives customers competitively priced products without sacrificing the quality of your product. We understand you have demands and deadlines and our responsive team is dedicated to providing you with fast turnaround without sacrificing quality.

In addition to producing high-quality casino player cards, Allstate is proud to be one of the few manufacturers offering service bureau facilities. We can produce your new card and distribute it to your members all under one roof. Our facility features the most advanced, state-of-the-art equipment to assist your personalization needs. Our operational functions meet strict standards for the highest quality processing available.

Plastic Key Tags

Key Tags provide a convenient way for customers to "carry" their store. Purchases are completed with the swipe of the barcode. Businesses learn more information about their customers and customers have less to worry about knowing their tools for spending or discounts are right on their key chain.

Our Combo Card has one standard size card, two clean snap key tags with matching account numbers, and a third snap-off tag that can be used for co-op advertising or coupons.

The Triple Key Tag Set supplements the Combo Card.

The key tag with tab has two clean snap tags for matching account numbers.

The Card with one key tag has one standard size card, one clean snap key tag with matching account numbers.

Key Tags provide a convenient way for customers to "carry" their store. Purchases are completed with the swipe of the barcode. Businesses learn more information about their customers and customers have less to worry about knowing their tools for spending or discounts are right on their key chain.

Plastic Access Cards Printing

Encoded plastic access cards are fast, easy and safe to use. Allstate has developed hotel keys for international hotel chains and local bed & breakfasts.

Our access cards are ensuring security and safety in other venues. We can also produce credit or debit cards for vending machines, copiers, and other pay-per-use equipment.

Cards can also be digitally imaged for use as photo IDs. Preprinted with customer's logos and other information, individual photos are then "imaged" onto the pre-printed cards by the customer.

Plastic Health Cards Printing

We have worked with some of the world's largest healthcare providers, offering our expertise in direct mail, personalization of cards, and match-affix for mailing. We can also offer security features and specific personalization printing for any kind of program.

Plastic Secure Transaction Cards

Allstate is one of the world's prominent manufacturers of secure transaction cards. Allstate is certified by both VISA® and MasterCard® as a secure manufacturer, assuring the highest quality and utmost in security. Credit and financial transaction cards are available with full-color graphics in a broad selection of finishes including UV coated, laminated, polished or matte. Other features include embedded chips and encoded magnetic stripes, making them ideal for a variety of uses such as banking, ATM, debit, retail and prepaid cards to name just a few.

Plastic Lenticular Cards

A lenticular image has two components; a printed image and a lenticular lens screen through which the image is viewed. As you turn a lenticular image in your hand, the image seems to come to life. Depending on how are the images interlaced, lenticular images can convey the illusion of 3D and/or video motion. Flip images are any two images that flip back and forth as you turn the lenticular image.

3D images are an illusion. When the images are interlaced, you'll seem to "walk" around the object as you turn the card.lank Cards

Styrene: Is a lower cost alternative to PVC and the most popular plastic card material produced at Allstate. Styrene cards are ideal for applications not requiring long wallet life such as prepaid phone cards. Styrene cards are available in credit card size (2 1/8" X 3 1/8"). The most popular thickness is 20 mil since it has enough rigidity to have perceived value but takes up less space in over-crowded wallets, has less material cost than 30 mil, weighs less and packs out in less volume. Personalization (numbering), if required, is by high-speed ink jet.

PVC: (polyvinyl chloride) Is a little more expensive than Styrene, but is more flexible and durable. It has the same look and feel as Styrene and it is difficult to detect any difference between the two. PVC is recommended for applications requiring thermal personalization. Thermal printing produces a higher resolution image than ink jet and is required for some bar codes. Laminated PVC: Is the most widely used material for plastic cards since it is the standard for financial transaction cards such as credit and ATM cards. It is the most durable but also the most expensive. It can be thermal printed over printed images and can be embossed. Most financial transaction cards such as credit and ATM cards require long wallet life and hence are over-laminated PVC. Most magnetic stripe cards and smart cards are laminated PVC.

PETF/PETG/PET

Although there is considerable similarity between the names PETF, PETG and PET, there is a world of difference among these three materials.

Plain polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or polyester is most commonly associated with a material from which cloth and high-performance clothing are produced (e.g., DuPont Dacron polyester fiber). Increasingly over the last ten years, PET has gained acceptance as a material of choice for beverage bottles. Because of the improved performance and functionality of PET, it has managed to replace:

• Traditional bottle materials such as glass and aluminum, as well as,
• Newer materials (e.g., PVC and polycarbonate) that had been thought to have the potential to replace glass/aluminum, but proved not to be as efficient or effective as PET.

PETG, also known as glycolised polyester, is used in the production of cards. The "G" represents glycol modifiers, which are incorporated to minimize brittleness and premature aging that occur if unmodified amorphous polyethylene terephthalate (APET) is used in the production of cards.

PETG films are amorphous, meaning the polymer molecules are not aligned or ordered within the material. It is produced in a roll calendering process similar to that used to make standard PVC. As a result, PETG has many features similar to PVC with similar temperature resistance and durability.

In Europe, PETG has found a market where customers are looking to produce "environmentally" friendly cards. In addition to its use in cards, this polymer is used in applications where thermoformability is required.

Polyester film (PETF) is very different from PETG and indeed PET. Polyester film is a semi-crystalline film produced by a roll quenching process followed by biaxial orientation (stretching the film in machine and transverse directions) and heat setting at temperatures around 230¡C. Polyester film is used in many applications such as videotape, high quality packaging, professional photographic printing, X-ray film, floppy disks, etc. The film's primary advantages are high thermal stability, mechanical strength and chemical inertness. In fact, PETF has one-third the tensile strength of steel and can withstand temperatures of up to 200¡C. PETF is produced in a range of thicknesses from 3 gauge (0.6 µm) to 2000 gauge (500 µm).