I freely admit that 6 years ago my knowledge of plastics was fairly limited. In fact, all I really needed to know was if the plastic was microwaveable and dishwasher safe. Now I’m proud to say that I can spot a 1/16” 2-ply laserable plastic a mile away. Well, maybe not a mile but at least from 5 feet away. If I have my glasses on. And there’s good lighting.
Still, if you hand me a plastic name badge it’s now second nature for me to immediately determine the type of plastic that it’s made from before I even consider the printing process or other details. I know by feel if a plastic is 1/16”, 1/8” or if it’s as thin as 0.030”. I’m not sure if that’s an ability that most people dream of having but I can tell you that it comes in handy in the promo products business.
Not long ago I decided to share this awesome plastic knowledge with my fellow industry folks and wrote up a blog post about the different types that we use to make name badges. It’s a handy quick reference guide if you’ve ever wondered or needed to know what types of plastics are used for which printing and/or engraving styles. It covers 2-ply (both laserable and regular), styrene and acrylic; all three of which we use on a daily basis to make name tags.
Do you have a fondness for a certain type of plastic for your name badges? Are there any particular “super abilities” you’ve gained (like my plastic intuition) since being in the promo products industry? Leave a comment and let me know!
Tags: name badge, plastic, promo products
I’ve noticed that BPA is a major concern as of late. Not that all plastic types contain BPA, but people are always deterred from plastics that DO contain it. Unfortunately, a lot of the stronger plastics use it (at least, they used to) so it’s a bit of a trade off. I’m glad that so many of our products are BPA-free because it gives customers more options! And to answer your question, I prefer thicker plastics over thinner ones…especially for badges. The floppier ones never last as long! (Okay, that sounded bad taken out of context. But you know what I meant).
I’ve noticed that too…though again, I never paid much attention to it until I started working in a business where plastic is everywhere.
I’m a big fan of the thicker badges (I started to say “thicker ones” then realized that I’d only be continuing the utter wrongness of your comment!) but I will say that I’ve accidentally washed one of our .030″ badges (more than once) and it actually survived without looking any different…well, maybe a bit cleaner.
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