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Plastic Annual Passes

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How much does it cost to produce a plastic card, people pay enough for these passes and they are meant to last a year at least. Poor show in my eyes.

Well they can get a plastic card printer that can print a plastic ticket for APs. I don't know how much the printer and the plastic cards are, but for APs to get a new one will cost $20-$25, because it's Universal. It's $10 to replace my school ID that I only use 5 days a week for 9 months.
 
The printers for cards are surprisingly expensive, even for a park like Universal (talking about the budget level they would be at, not overall resort profits), and I think the ink for them is proportionately insane as buying ink for a home printer.
 
You guys have to remember that Universal already has one of these machines, if not more already. They use them for Employee Identification. So in my opinion it should not be too hard to make them for Annual Passholders.
 
I still wonder why Universal uses bar codes instead of magnetic strip or RFID.

Well magnetic strips can sometimes get demagnetized where as bar codes don't. Even if they get wet they're usually still readable. I think RFID is still in it's infancy as far as theme parks a concerned but once Disney figures out their system we might start to see it more elsewhere.
 
The card printers can't be that much BGT and SW have them for pass holders.
Uni uses them in their hotels, as well as other chain hotels, for key cards. They probably just make more money selling replacement cards.
 
That is the thing really. They want you to pay ten bucks for those replacements. I hate that they used to treat the AP holders a bit better as returning premium paying customers by giving them the hard plastic ones. If you can't for environment based concerns in animal locations that is fine, but don't charge ten bucks for a paper replacement then.

A tip, if you bring back your crumpled wet card that has some evidence of it being that way you can get a replacement for free. At least that used to be the rule with Guest Services.