Don’t be a Case of Barcode Printer Over-Kill

Before you let a slick salesperson “sell you up” to buying a $4,500+, fancy, over-featured, high-end barcode printer, take a minute or two to 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”, 7ips 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 7ips 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 save you money.

Does the printer cost more than $1,000?

??????- If yes, seriously examine if you 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 lineup of desktop printers.