Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Why Label Printers Are Good For Retail Businesses



Label printers are very useful for people who own their own shop or retail unit. When designing your own labels through an external agency, this can cost more than what you had originally intended to bargain for. This is why it is easier to design the labels yourself and invest in a label printer. These can help to transport the data onto a special machine, which prints the data onto self-adhesive paper that you can then use to label products and packages.

Label printers work very differently from normal printers, as these require a specific type of paper, which is self-adhesive, and they have a special feed mechanism to withstand large rolls of paper. They use two different types of technology, one of them is a direct thermal printing that is used in fax machines. These use heat sensitive paper, however, like some fax machines these can last from 6 months to a year. Once the labels have been printed, if exposed to direct sunlight they can fade away and have a shorter life. These are only useful for shipping operations and short term application.

Thermal transfer is another type of label printing which works by using ink from a ribbon to print onto the label for a permanent print. This can also be used on direct thermal printing. These are better for long-term usage. The different types of label printers available are desktop printers, commercial printers and industrial printers. The desktop printers use four-inch wide rolls, are relatively cheap and is used for light usage.

Commercial printers are used for medium volume usage and can hold up to eight-inches of roll. These are good to keep on sight for use on larger brands and products. Industrial printers are the most expensive of all label printers, as it holds much bigger rolls and are used for heavy-duty label making. These can be programmed to accommodate for printing on data that use different languages, roll size, permanent printing and in wide format.

Having your own label printer means, you can have it ready to use as and when you need it. When changing logos and designs often it can take up a lot of time to find a good place to have them printed. This will add to the cost of producing the labels, whereas, the only added cost of owning a label printer is maintenance or replacement. This does depend on the kind of printer you buy, which should always have a manufacturers guarantee.

In short these little boxes are good for staying on top of all of your marketing needs, no matter how big or small your company may be. These will also save businesses money so there would be no need to go to external agencies for their services.