The next year we had gotten a Honeywell mini-computer that was still programmed with data cards. We had problems with the cards swelling up due to humidity, and the computer was considered stae-of-the-art, it allowed us to program in FORTRAN and COBOL.
Ah, swelling cards. IBM made the best quality cards, but was forced by the Justice Department in the 1950s to spin off their card manufacturing business and allow competitors.
IBM still marketed the best quality cards through their captive manufacturer, though.
IN field service, we had this precision card gauge; a precisely stamped and lithographed aluminum sheet by which you could gauge the dimensions of the card, and the accuracy of the placement of all 960 punched holes.
If a customer was having problems with his punched cards and they were from a third party supplier, we Customer Engineers could hold one of his cards up on our gauge and show him the dimensional problem; however, we were not allowed to say “take a look at your crappy off-brand cards,” or the Justice Department, we were advised, would come and whack our collective pee-pee.