Thermal printers are arguably one of the most important machines in your office. If you need to produce any type of labels for your products, including shipping, your printer is essential to keep you up and running.
Because of this, you need the right thermal printer for the job. If it’s not pulling its weight, or is unreliable, it’s time for a change.
Today we’re going to talk about the pros and cons of thermal printers, and which is best for you.
Should I Buy a Thermal Printer?
If you need to create labels for your business, no matter how many, a thermal printer is often the best option. Traditional inkjet printers are more expensive to run (as they need ink cartridges) and can be less versatile too.
As they don’t need new cartridges, thermal printers are much more cost effective. They have a higher upfront cost on average, but as they need no peripherals, that’s all you’ll pay until replacement printer parts are required.
If you are mostly using a printer for documents, and only the occasional batch of labels, an inkjet printer could be right for you. As you can plainly see, there are pros and cons to both types of printer. To know which is best, you need to establish your needs.
How to make sure your Printer suits your needs
When choosing a thermal printer for your business, there are a lot of factors to consider. Here are the three main ones to keep in mind:
- What is the label being applied to?
- How many do you need printed per week?
- What size labels do you need?
Let’s break these down one at a time.
What are your Labels for?
First, the application of your labels. If you create a product, including cosmetics, consumables, and even medicine, you need the correct labels. These need to be packed with all the correct information, guidelines, and branding.
Some product labels need to be easy to remove, so that they can be recycled properly. This means minimal adhesion, but enough to keep it in place until it’s time to dispose of the bottle etc.
Your label printer can be programmed to create the perfect labels for your product.
As these labels need bold colours and clear text, we recommend a thermal printer for this application.
Shipping labels are commonly needed by businesses. These need to be applied correctly, with clear text, but also need to be tough. If you shipping labels are ruined in transit, your important products and correspondence may never reach its destination.
If these are the only labels you need, a small thermal label printer is plenty.
How many Labels do you need?
Naturally, if your printer is in use throughout the workday, you need one that can handle any quantity. This is common for product labels.
For occasional use, you don’t need a large printing setup. One or two small printers should cover everything you need. However, some businesses fall into the trap of buying a small, cheap printer as it is only needed infrequently. This can be a costly mistake, as you may outgrow your printer quickly, and will need a new one. Choose a thermal printer that will scale with your business.
If you need a lot of labels per batch, reliability can also be an issue. Any machine that is up and running for hours every day won’t last forever. Even before parts wear out, you can notice a lack of performance or quality that can be frustrating at best.
All the printers we provide, both brand new and refurbished, are as reliable as possible. They come with warranties, and some even have maintenance plans that will help them work at their best for as long as you need them.
We work with the best thermal printer brands, including Zebra, Toshiba, and Datamax. Simply put, there’s no printer repair we can’t handle.
What Size Labels do you Need?
Needing small labels doesn’t automatically make a small label printer the best option. Remember, these machines are only designed for occasional use and won’t have nearly as many features as a larger model.
Once again, you should keep scaling in mind too. Just because you need small labels now, doesn’t mean that larger ones won’t be necessary in the future. You may offer new, bigger products even a few months later.
An underrated use of a small label printer is for help with storage and organisation. If you have a lot of stock, documents, or equipment to keep track of, labelling shelves, boxes, and cabinets prevents any confusion for you and your team.
Other Factors to Consider when Buying a Thermal Printer
So far, we’ve only talked about the labels themselves, with a little about the machines. But there are plenty of other factors too.
If you only have a small office, a large industrial printer will take up more space than you have spare.
Print speed, for example, can make or break your thermal printer. If yours is too slow, your output is reduced, affecting your bottom line every day.
Budget will always be the biggest factor. Your printer is an important investment but buying one shouldn’t break the bank. Higher quality is ideal, but if you want to play it safe there are many more affordable options, including refurbished thermal printers.
The Best Thermal Printer for you
We’ve only scratched the surface of how many applications thermal printers have. It’s difficult to suggest the best thermal printer without knowing your business and individual preferences.
When a new customer approaches us looking for a new or used thermal printer, we take the time to learn about their needs so we can confidently recommend the perfect machine. We don’t just try to sell you the most expensive available, if there is a more affordable option that will get the job done, you’ll be the first to know.