Card production is a multi step process, usually carried out by several different manufacturers. Firstly, both front and back of cards are printed on blanks from artwork supplied by Starbucks. Subsequently the cards are sent for application and encoding of the magnetic strip and the printing of the control number and PIN number on the back. The control number identifies an individual card within a production batch and comprises 4 blocks of 4 numbers (We sometimes refer to this as the `serial number' as well.)

The 1st block of 4 is the prefix (series number), the 2nd block of 4 is a range within a prefix, the 3rd block is a sub division of the range, and the 4th block of 4 numbers is a random number for extra security purposes. The 2nd and 3rd block of numbers increment by one from 0000 to 9999, so each range number constitutes a print volume of 10,000 cards. There are some anomalies to the control number definition whereby some countries use the first 2 blocks of 4 numbers as a country code (e.g. 0091 2000 is Czech Republic), and in these cases it is only the last 2 blocks of 4 numbers which identify a unique card within a production batch.

Below is a table that outlines the layout of all countries' prefix and range numbers within a card number. Note, Denmark, Norway and Sweden have either no or very strange serial numbers. Some countries have a few different types.