Before you let a slick salesperson “sell you up” to buying a $2,000+, fancy, over-featured, high-end barcode printer, take a minute or two to really rationalize your true barcode printing requirements, and evaluate your options. You will save yourself a bundle and still get all the barcode printing performance and service that you need. Here are the facts.
Thermal barcode printers are a commodity product. The industry has been around for over 30 years, the technology has advanced dramatically, and the prices have dropped significantly. For example in the early 1980’s, a 2.5” direct thermal, 2ips, desktop barcode printer sold for $1,395. Today, you can purchase a 2.5”, 3ips direct thermal printer in the $300 range.
The same price / performance trend is true for thermal transfer industrial barcode printers. Twenty years ago, a good industrial, 4 ips barcode printer would cost over $3,000. Today you can get a very good 7 ips industrial printer for $1,000 or less. Furthermore, some of the desktop printers of today can print at 5 ips and have duty cycles of up to 10,000 labels per day; they do the job of industrial printers for one half of the price!
So to avoid being a case of barcode printer over-kill, here are three simple questions you should ask yourself:
- How many labels a day do I need to print?
- If the number is under, 2,500, seriously consider a desktop printer
- How long do my labels need to last?
- If the answer is just a few months, (and the labels will be indoors, not in direct sunlight or excessive heat) direct thermal technology will be fine, and saves you money.
- Does the printer cost more than $1,000?
- If yes, seriously examine if you really need those extra bells and whistles.
Godex International is a thermal barcode printer manufacturing company that specializes in high performance, low priced barcode printers. If you are interested in getting the “most for your money” we encourage you to have a look at the Godex International line of desktop printers.