IBM punched cards date from the 1920s. At Bletchley Park in England,
2,000,000 punched cards were used each week for storing decrypted German messagesduring WWII:Paper tape was used on the Teletype Model 33, introduced in 1963, long after punched card readers were available:
Paper tape was read at 5,000 cps at Bletchley Park during WWII.
Both were available when you started. Which ever one you used was probably determined by the budget of the department.