I have a common brand of contractor's belt pouch for my phone. It has a second pocket that fits the reader just fine.
Since it could get wet, I keep the reader in a plastic bag which gets changed as needed.
Recently I've not been using the bag, as weather has been dry here. Yesterday I got the "Your reader is damaged, must replace reader" message.
I don't know how it got damaged. I've been doing this for well over a year and have not had previous problems, other than occasionally having it forget how to connect and needing a hardware reset.
Anyway: How about a solid plastic box for it. Could work like a book box with the spine showing, line it with faux velvet to trap dust. Still have it hinged so you could open it to vacuum it clean now and then. Or it could be a hinged box that a really flat ring box. It should be stiff enough to protect the reader if dropped from hand held height onto concrete. Heck, the device itself should be that tough.
Alternate ideas: Make the case itself heavier. have a spring flap that covers the card slot.
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Idea #2. Right now there is only a faint grey logo showing which way is up. I've written on the bottom of mine, "Wrong Way Up". You could put a big bright square logo on the top face either molded into, printed on, or as a decal.
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Idea #3. Make the button a different colour. Make it larger. Make it make a noise when you have successfully pushed it. Just try starting this thing on a cold day on the christmas tree lot.
