Definitive Guide to
Choosing a Receipt Printer for your Small Business
On the face of it every receipt printer will look the same. But there are subtle nuances to selecting the right printer. As a small business owner you will not want to own something that is too much for you to handle. Too many features for which you have no use are actually a drain on your resources. When you have the right printer installed, you will save not only on the machine’s cost but also in maintaining it. The bigger and too complex printers consume too much of energy and consumable, and you will have to print in large volumes to making it economical.
Here is what a first-time buyer needs to know before ordering a receipt printer for his small business. The two main printer types are thermal and dot-matrix printers.
· The salient feature that differentiates the two is the technology that they use. Thermal printers as the name suggests uses a heat source to transfer the ink on to the paper. That means it is usable only on special papers made for it. The paper should be able stand the heat. The dot-matrix printer uses pins in rows and column, and does not heat to transfer ink to the paper.
· Prints made with thermal printers fade off and disappear within a short period of time. So if the prints are intended for use over a short period, then they should meet your requirement. Dot-matrix prints on the other hand last over a longer period of time and are more permanent in nature. They are great if you want the print recipient to retain it for a long time.
· Thermal Printer is very compact in size and lends well to miniaturization. That is not the case with dot-matrix printer. They have mechanical parts inside them and are subject to wear and tear. They need regular cleaning. The print time for thermal printers are short and are ideal in situations where quick printing is important, like in bus ticketing for example. They require very little maintenance on the part of users.
· Cost wise the thermal printer is cheaper compared with a dot-matrix printer. There is however a limitation to the width in which prints can be made with thermal printers. Dot-matrix printers are available in wider formats and multiple width papers can be used. It is therefore ideal for printing receipts that require the use of a wide paper.
Some of the better known brands of receipt printers are Wep, Posiflex, Star Micronics, Citizen and TVS-E. Some of them make both types of printers. When you shop for receipt printers, you should look at their specifications closely, and it should be based on your requirements. The specifications to look are the maximum width of the paper roll, printing speed of the machine, colour printing options, logo printing options, print head life, auto-cutting option, USB plugin compatibility, desk space requirement and the machine’s durability. You should also consider the prices of consumables like ink cartridge, ink-ribbons and paper rolls before you decide to go for one of these two types.
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Author
Priyankar Baid is the owner of the website www.smesauda.com, the website facilitates the selling of products such as a barcode scanner and billing machine. Both these products are used by big businesses to make their jobs easier and record the sale of products.
Email: info@smesauda.com
Website: http://www.smesauda.com/billing-machine-cash-register
Location: SMB Unisol Pvt. Ltd. 198/30, Second Floor Ramesh Market, East of Kailash New Delhi-110065 INDIA
Phone: +91-9910605077
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Twitter: @smesauda