by Jeff on December 26, 2010
Name badges are becoming more and more widespread as the situations in which they are used, continue to grow. But along with this growth comes a greater diversity in the different types of name badges that can be purchased. Most people have come across the simple name label used in social gatherings or meetings where a sheet of labels is used and a persons name is written one of the labels, peeled off and stuck to the person’s clothing. Many people have also come across metal and plastic name badges which are often used in service industries where it is a curtesy to the customer for the assistant to display their name. The problem with each of these is that they are permanent once the badge has been created and in the case of the paper labels, far too temporary. As a result, plastic badge holders are becoming far more popular.
What are plastic badge holders?
Plastic badge holders are more or less what their name implies. A badge holder is something that holds a name tag. Plastic badge holders are badge holders that are made from plastic. These can come in several different types. The most common one is the clear plastic sleeve that has an alligator clip or safety pin attached to the back. Usually a thin cardboard card with the name of the wearer is written or printed on the front and the card is then inserted into the plastic sleeve that makes up the plastic badge holder. This plastic name badge holder is then attached to the wearer’s clothing using either the safety pin or the alligator clip. Plastic card holders of this type are most commonly used in company and social meetings as well as product expos and conferences because the organizing body can buy a large number of them and simply hand them out at the door with the name of the person printed on the card within the plastic name badge holders. Then if the plastic badge holders are returned at the end of the conference or meeting, they can be used again at the next one. This can end up saving the organizing body a great deal of money.
Why are plastic badge holders popular?
We’ve already covered some of the reasons for this. Namely that, depending on the type of plastic badge holders being used, they can often be recycled and used over and over at different gatherings. They can also hold different names by simply sliding a different card into them. Anther reason is that because they are made from plastic, plastic name badge holders are very cheap to buy. In fact, if they are bought in bulk from a supplier or manufacturer of plastic badge holders, the price can drop to as low as a few cents each depending on the type. This can be particularly attractive to companies that are always trying to save money. This cheaper price through buying in bulk also translates through to orders for custom plastic badge holders. This means that companies can order plastic name badge holders that have the companies logo on it or even in the shape of the companies logo. As a result, whenever an employee of the company wears their id badge out to lunch or in other situations, they are effectively advertising the company. Yet another reason for plastic badge holders being so popular is that they can be formed into a number of different types and combinations.
Different types and combinations of plastic badge holders?
As mentioned earlier, one of the more common types of plastic badge holder is the clear plastic sleeve. But plastic name badge holders are not limited to this form. There are several other types that fulfil particular purposes. One of these is the plastic retractable badge holder. This is made up from a retractable badge reel around which is wound a wire that holds the actual plastic id holder. The badge reel itself is attached to the wearer’s clothing. These plastic badge holders have become particularly popular in the corporate world where security is an imperative, so that valuable technology or intellectual property cannot be easily stolen by just anyone walking in off the street. In these companies, every floor, department and office has a secure door that requires a plastic id card with a magnetic strip to be swiped through the door to allow entry. A standard name tag holder that attaches to the employee’s clothing is fine if only one or two security doors must be passed through each day. But if the staff member must pass through a larger number of doors, then taking the identification card off the clothing each time becomes annoying and time consuming. This is when plastic badge holders in the form of retractable badge reels becomes useful. Each time the staff member approaches a security door, they simply extend the id badge away from the body to be swiped without the need to remove it from the clothing.
Plastic badge holders also come in the form of a magnetic name tags. This is where a pair of magnets are attached to the badge holder instead of a safety pin or alligator clip. The problem with pins and clips is that they can damage the clothing. For instance, a pin must be pushed through the clothing and when it is removed, it can leave a hole in the fabric. This is where the magnetic version of plastic badge holders comes into play. These are attached to the clothing by placing the magnet that is attached to the plastic id badge holder in front of the clothing and the other magnet on the other side of the same piece of clothing so that they attract each other and keep the name badge holder in place.
by Jeff on December 26, 2010
Neck Lanyards sell for between $0.50 and $20 depending on the quantity bought, the materials used, the length of the neck lanyards and their specific purpose. Neck lanyards are a wonderful tool for keeping regularly used objects close at hand. Lanyards have been around for centuries and are one of those items that has a multitude of uses. Originally they were used by both seamen and the cavalry to guarantee that an item the user was holding could not be lost. One example is the sword. Before riding a horse into battle, the rider would attach his sword to a lanyard that was then wound around his wrist or attached to his mount. Then in the heat of battle, if the sword became slippery due to sweat or blood and slipped from the riders hand, it could only escape as far as the length of the lanyard. At that point the rider could simply swing it back up into his hand and continue fighting without having left himself defenceless. Seamen were in a similar situation in that they would fight on an unsteady footing in a situation where anything they were using could easily get washed out of their grip. They too would use lanyards to secure to their wrist whatever item they were holding so that if it was dropped, it could easily be retrieved.
Neck Lanyards
Lanyards today are used for entirely different reasons and often in a different way. Rather than wrapping the lanyard around the wrist, most people now use neck lanyards which, as the name suggests, are hung from around the neck. This has the advantage of leaving the hands completely free from carrying the item attached to the lanyard, when that item is no longer being used. Instead, the item simply hangs from the neck and can be grasped and used at any time that is necessary and convenient. The items which now dangle from neck lanyards have changed from the sword of old. For instance, an item that waiters use often is the bottle opener. Because of the number of times the waiter may need to use a bottle opener during a single night, it becomes incredibly inconvenient and frustrating for the waiter to have to fish out a bottle opener from their pocket every time they are asked to open a bottle of wine for a customer. In this situation, the neck lanyard provides the perfect solution by allowing the bottle opener to hang from around the waiter’s neck in a position that is conveniently reached when needed by the waiter. After use, the waiter can simply drop the open rather than having to put it back in his pocket.
Neck Lanyards for Nurses
Similarly, neck lanyards are useful in nursing situations to allow the nursing staff to carry a number of useful items including such things as scissors or a watch. Nurses often are in a position where they need particular utensils in a hurry without the need to go searching for them and as such, the neck lanyard again provides the perfect solution.
Cell Phone Neck Lanyards
Cell phone neck lanyards are also becoming more common as a way to carry a mobile phone. The advantage here is that neck lanyards allow the cell phone to move around rather than being stuck in one place on the body, thus reducing the concentration of harmful waves received around any particular part of the body. Neck lanyards have thus provided a possible reduction in cancers through their implementation as a cell phone lanyard.
Identification Name Tag Lanyards
Another use for which the neck lanyard is becoming most well known, is as a convenient means for carrying identification name tags. This is particularly the case in many corporate work places which have a number of areas with limited access based on the authority of the user. Even the buildings themselves of many of these companies cannot be accessed without the use of an identification badge. Whether it is a bank or an IT company, simply entering the building may not be the only entrance the name badge is required. Some employees find that they need to enter a number of different areas including floors, departments and individual offices that each require an id card to gain access. In days past, the id name badge was attached to the staff members shirt or blouse with the use of a clip or safety pin. Because the cards are usually swiped through a card reader, this required the card to be removed from the clothing every time the employee wished to access another area. The neck lanyard, to some extent, provided a solution to this problem. The identification name badge is attached to the neck lanyard and so does not have to be removed to be used. The employee simply leans towards the card reader and swipes it without having remove it.
Retractable Neck Lanyard
The only problem with this method though, is the user must still lean towards the card reader to swipe their identification badge which can result in them having their face right near the wall or door, or doubled over if the card reader is at desk level. The solution to this problem has been solved with the use of a retractable lanyard badge holder. This really is the combination of a neck lanyard and a retractable badge holder. A retractable badge holder contains a reel around which is wound a wire or cord. The name tag holder is attached to the end of the wire and when it is pulled, the wire unwinds from the reel, allowing the identification tag to be pulled away from the reel. Normally the retractable badge holder reel is attached to a persons clothing so that when needed, the id tag can simply be pulled away from the body to be used in swiping the card at a card reader, without the need to remove the badge from the body. A retractable lanyard badge holder is created by simply attaching the retracable id badge holder to the neck lanyard. This gives added flexibility when wanting to use id name tags.
The neck lanyard and retractable badge holder used to create a retractable lanyard can be purchased online for a nominal fee. Neck lanyards range from $1 to $20 depending on the style. They can be manufactured from leather, canvas, ribbon and cord. The retractable badge reel can be bought for as little as a dollar and also comes in several different materials including metal, fibreglass and plastic. Plastic badge holders tend to be the cheapest of these. These items can also be bought in bulk which reduces the prices even further. In fact, because of the usefulness of these items, many companies often order custom badges that have the company logo emblazoned on either the neck lanyard or the retractable reel and sometimes both. This idea has many pluses that include the reduced price of the lanyards, a small gift for the employees, an easier method of security access for employees and company advertising whenever the staff member leaves the office with their retractable neck lanyard around their neck.
