Thinking about buying a label printer? Have a read through this buyers guide to shed a new perspective on which label printer that best suits your needs. Whether you are a small business owner to just someone who wants a big more organizing around the home this guide is for you.
Ink vs Thermal printers?
Probably the most important question but with a very easy answer. Thermal printers are the way to go for shipping label needs.
The biggest difference between Ink and Thermal is thermal printers cannot print in color. But because shipping labels are generally addresses, product information and bar codes. the need for color is not a critical factor anymore.
Thermal printers can print better, quicker and most importantly is cheaper to run as labels aren’t near as expensive as ink.
Printing resolution vs Speed?
Another important question but the answer might not be as surprising as you think. Now you’re probably thinking, ‘Hey, that’s two questions!’ and you would be correct. They are both large and valid key points when determining the best product for your needs. However I consider them on the same spectrum.. One side is quality and resolution and the other is speed and efficiency. This is the reason why i am putting them together.
Our goal is finding the sweetspot and the biggest factor is all about the intended use of the printer. If you are only printing plain addresses on parcels then you could easily trade off quality for speed. This can be especially useful if you have large quantities of workload to get through, after-all time is money.
On the other hand if you are including logos, barcodes and QR codes, then quality of more importance. As I have mentioned before, it is all about finding that sweet spot for your needs.
What Price range?
The price really depends on the amount of traffic the printer is expected to receive on a daily or weekly basis. If you are just working from home with your own e-commerce store or a small business owner you shouldn’t need anything over $1000 unless you require photo quality printing.
Whereas, if you are a large business, then a more commercial grade product will be the go to (Stay tuned, we will be doing a run at finding the best commercial grade label printer in the future!).
