I've always heard of thermal printers but never thought I would want one. Well I bought my Zebra 2844 about a month ago and this thing is ******* awesome! In another month or so it will have paid for itself, not to mention the time it saves me.

If you ship frequently, think about getting one. No more ink, no more buying expensive label sheets (or having to use regular paper and packing tape), and each label is printed perfect in a flash. Each roll has 100 labels on it so you don't have to change them out too often, and they are self stick.

I opted to buy a used unit from a reputable seller and got mine for more than 50% off the new price. Very, very well worth the money and I wish I got one years ago.

 

Yup, it's kickass for high-volume shippers.

UPS Worldship + thermal printer + free label rolls and boxes from UPS = win.

 

Huh.

When I saw the thread title, I thought we were talking about the sort of general-purpose PC thermal printers from 25 years ago which used fax paper and were made obsolete by the availability of cheap 9-pin dot matrix models.

 

Yeah, I was wondering why anyone would want to go back to using a roll of paper. Ugh!

I just print a label on my regular printer using regular paper. Cut it out and tape it on. I'm not fancy enough for fancy printers over here...

 

We use those same ones where I work, or a very similar model. I probably pull 500 labels off the roll a night. Never had one fail or have any problems over probably many tens or hundreds of thousands of labels each.

 

most major pharmacies use these to make the labels on the pill bottles.
great stuff.
I remember using these at walgreens years ago lol

how much does one of those cost? should have jacked a couple when I left (jk)

 

So how much is 50% off of new price on one of those? I ship about 40ish boxes out a year and currently use the standard paper/laser printer and tape method for my labels.

 

UPS will give you free stick-on pouches if you want to use paper.

they'll also give you sheets of 8-1/2 x 11 adhesive labels (2 labels on a sheet) so you can print the labels on a normal printer.

 

Fedex also has free 8 1/2 x 11 laser labels, and they work just as well when printing USPS labels.

C

 

Dammit Chris you should have told me about those Fedex labels years ago lol.

 

Depending on which model you get they cost anywhere from $200-$400 new.

The one I got was the highest rated by other online sellers that ship anywhere from a handful to dozens of packages a week. I paid just a little over $120 for mine.

Depending on which labels you get quality can vary. I chose to just buy an extra 2 rolls from the same seller I got the printer from.

If you only ship a package here and there using plain paper from your printer is fine for most, but when your trying to get a dozen boxes packed and shipped by noon, everything that saves time and makes it easier is a huge plus.

Like I said.....I wish I bought one 5 years ago.