Property, Plant and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2018

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Property, Plant and Equipment

Property, Plant and Equipment

Property, plant and equipment, net consisted of the following at December 31 (in thousands):

	Estimated Useful Lives (in Years)	2018			2017
Computer hardware and software	3 to 5	$	291,404		$	244,655
Card-reading equipment	4 to 6	20,117			25,462
Furniture, fixtures, and vehicles	2 to 10	18,308			18,846
Buildings and improvements	5 to 50	21,854			21,603
Property, plant and equipment, gross		351,683			310,566
Less: accumulated depreciation		(165,482		)	(130,509		)
Property, plant and equipment, net		$	186,201		$	180,057

Depreciation expense related to property and equipment for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017, and 2016 was $52.9 million, $46.6 million and $36.5 million, respectively. Depreciation expense includes $24.2 million, $21.8 million and $17.7 million for capitalized computer software costs for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively. At December 31, 2018 and 2017, the Company had unamortized computer software costs of $86.5 million and $75.8 million, respectively.

During 2018, the Company recorded a write-off of $8.7 million of capitalized software costs within other operating expense, net within its Consolidated Statements of Income.