“We wanted to print PVC membership cards that would instantly identify our customers as residents or non-residents of the city, because residents have different fees and privileges versus non-residents,” explains Fran Allen, a PC/Systems Analyst for City Services. “We currently are using a total of 20 Zebra P310i printers to print the identification cards on demand and on site at our various centers. We project we will be printing around 12,500 cards this year.”

The Zebra P310i printer offers fast, full-color, edge-to-edge, high-quality plastic card printing with sharp, readable bar codes, ID photos, graphics and text. The P310i features Zebra’s revolutionary i-functionality, which simplifies card printing via automatic driver configuration, intelligent color optimization and a special RFID system for ribbon image counter and ribbon low notification. Its space-saving, small footprint design makes it the perfect choice for on-the-spot desktop and countertop printing applications such as those at the City of St. Petersburg.

The City of St. Petersburg started printing its own cards in July of 2004 using Class Software Solutions, which was later purchased by Active Network. Before purchasing the card printers, the City printed paper cards.

Residents pay $5 for a card and non-residents pay $100. The cards have varied designs that visually denote a cardholder’s membership status.

The card printers have allowed city officials to create personalized and innovative programs to support and encourage the use of its many programs and facilities.

They were recently used to personalize the back of about 2,000 gift cards that will be used at the City of St. Petersburg’s golf courses. A monetary value is assigned to the cards using the card printing software. That number is printed onto the card, which is read at the cash register by a scanner. The gift cards can be used in pro shops, at concessions and in starter buildings where customers can purchase buckets of balls to practice their swing.

The City of St. Petersburg is also currently developing membership cards for unique city resources, such as the botanical gardens. These cards will have a distinctive design and will likely include a barcode encoded with information about the cardholder.

“The printers have been easy to learn and simple to use,” Allen reports. “Any problems we’ve encountered have been simple. Most of our staff knows how to operate the printers.”