Printing New Panther Passes

New information has already surfaced relating to the new PSU Panther Pass. Recently, Plymouth State University's Director of Technology Dave Carpentiere gave a run down on the short-term plans with the new system.

The proposal to add a proximity chip in the cards to be used in the new tap card feature will likely come to fruition in the near future. "Currently our vendor for foodservice technology has not caught up with the type of proximity chip on the card," said Carpentiere, noting that the technology is extremely cutting edge. "They are ready to implement this on the type of cash register we utilize, so you may see us trying this out in the Union Grille [as well as the dining hall] in the near future." However, other vending such as laundry, copying, and ValuePorts will likely be held off for a while longer as the machines will likely be upgraded and or replaced in the next few years.

 Regarding security features such as key card access to buildings, Carpentiere said, "We are not looking at that at this point, at least for the residential areas...Card access systems are incredibly expensive to implement and maintain...we are always cautious at how we spend student money and utilize staff resources."

Test models were actually piloted in Mary Lyon and Blair Hall several years ago, but the technology team was disappointed with the results. Though this may not be the next space race, it is certainly a step in the right direction. "I believe in going slow and doing it right to prevent unnecessary expenses and student frustrations," said Carpentiere.

Updates also came from Randy Szabadics, the manager of the Panther Print Shop and ID Center, relating to fees and replacements. There are multiple things factored into the total cost for ID replacements,  "You have to approximate cost of the card stock...the cost of the ribbons, and laminate, plus the cost of the printer upgrade as well as a percentage of personnel costs in the Print Shop," said Szabadics. 

With these factors in mind, the new ID cards are evidently stronger as well as of better quality. The respective printing costs of $25.00 and $15.00 for lost cards and the re-printing of damaged cards are also not randomly assigned fees. "We called other institutions around the state to ask them what they charge as well as looking at the costs of the materials before we settled on the current cost," said Szabadics. With this information students can be assured that fees are both fair as well as competitive.

For more information on ID distribution and information regarding scheduling, students should visit the print shop web page under the 'services' tab on the Plymouth.edu website and click on 'PSU ID re-carding.'