A card cartridge (30) includes a housing (70) having a pair of opposing side walls (72), a top (74), a front wall (76), a back wall (78) opposite the front wall, and a base (80). The housing includes an interior cavity (82) that is sized to accommodate a stack of cards (84), a card access (86), and a card output slot (47). The card access allows a card transport mechanism to engage a lead card (88) contained in the housing and feed the lead card through the card output slot.