Understanding a POS printer

A point of sale printer- more popularly known as a POS printer- is popular to most businesses. Different companies work on various types of these printers and add several components to the output. Thermal printer is one of the choices a business enterprise may always look for when buying POS printers. These printers are geared to automate your businesses thus lessening the need to file paper receipts and other documents. Aside from promising the elimination of paper receipts, the concept of thermal printers brings a lot of changes to your business. It gets rid of the need to replace your printer ink as often as you need to. What you need to invest on is a cheaper thermal paper that is widely needed in the process.

A few points have to be noted before buying POS printers. They are as follows.

Certain point-of-sale software works only with specific device drivers. Hence, it is advisable to verify with the software supplier whether a particular POS printer model would be compatible with that software. Some software requires OLE for Point of Sale drivers, known as OPOS drivers for printing receipts. If you are replacing a POS printer with an OPOS one, then you might have to verify with both manufacturer and the software manufacturer whether they are compatible to each other.

POS printers are connected to the computers through either a serial, parallel, Ethernet, or USB connections. You should be able to identify the type of connections available on the computer and select the right type of interface. Find out from manufacturer or supplier whether the receipt cutting is manual or automatic. Most of them have the option of auto cutter mechanism.

Certain printers are heat sensitive. If you wish to install the printer in a kitchen, you might need to go in for an impact printer that is not heat sensitive.

Check the printing speed of the POS printer. If your sales volume is very large, you might require a high speed printer.

Check whether you need to print color receipts. In that case, your POS printer must have the ability to print colors.

Types of Point-of-Sale printers:

Impact printers are ideal for heat intensive environments like kitchens and places where double color prints and duplicate receipt printing are required.

Direct thermal printers are quiet, fast, and give high quality output. Even logos could be included in receipt printing. They are recommended in all the places where heat is not a problem.

Inkjet POS printers normally offer double color printing (black and red). If you wish to print receipts, coupons, etc. with color logos for direct marketing with the receipts, then inkjet printers should be your ultimate choice.

Multifunction Point-of-Sale printers have features like receipt printing, coupon and slip printing, check endorsement, and MICR reading. These machines are the favorites of most of the retail stores, banks, and restaurants.