All about Receipt Printers

A Receipt Printer is a major peripheral when it comes to Point of Sale (POS). They are commonly used in Retail & Hospitality Environments to print customer receipts. Merchant services print Credit Card / Eftpos slips incorporated on a single Invoice  docket or a separate slip. Cafe's & Restaurants also use Receipt Printers as a part of their Food preparation in the Kitchen and Drink areas for Coffee/Drink preparation. You can add a receipt printer in any area you wish to long as your POS Software is able to cater for this. A Buzzer or Bell may also be added to make the cook/chef aware an order has come through but again, you would need to confirm that the Software Vendor is able to support this function.

There are two major receipt printers used in Australia which include Thermal & Dot Matrix.

Thermal Receipt Printers are the most common on the market due to their Low Cost, High Print Quality, Fast Print Speeds and Quiet Printing. The high quality allows you to add a graphical black and white logo to the receipt which provides a professional looking Tax Invoice for your customers. If you are looking to use a Thermal Printer in the kitchen, you must ensure that the paper is NOT exposed to high heat areas such as steam from deep fryers or underneath heat lamps or else the paper will turn black! 

 Dot Matrix Receipt Printers are commonly used for Kitchen Docket Printing. They take an ink ribbon and a bond (plain paper) receipt roll which can be purchased in either Single Ply (White Paper), 2 Ply (White & Yellow) or 3 Ply (White, Yellow & Pink) which provides multiple copies which can be ideal for different food preparation areas within the Kitchen. The plain paper rolls do not discolour when exposed to high heat areas so you are able to put these under heat lamps on the pass for waiters or docket rails near hot areas within the kitchen.

When buying a Receipt Printer, there are quite a few things you will need to consider.

Which Interface to select - You can purchase a range of connection types including USB, Serial (RS232), Parallel, Bluetooth, Ethernet (LAN) or Wireless (WiFi). You may also need to check to ensure that the interface you wish to use is also supported by the software vendor.

Does the printer have an Auto-Cutter? All of our receipt printers for have for sale have an Auto-cutter.

Is the paper Front Exiting or Top Exiting? Most Receipt Printers have the paper exiting from the top of the paper. There are some areas in which a front paper exiting printer may be most suitable.

Printer Speed - In fast service, you need fast printing and reliability so although some printers may be more expensive on the initial purchase, in the long run, it may pay off to get a high volume printer which is faster and reliable.

Does the printer have a cash drawer or buzzer port? Almost every new POS Printer has a "DK" (Drawer kick) port which enables you to connect a 24 Volt Cash Drawer. You can also use this same port for kitchen buzzers (again you will need to check compatibility with the software vendor for the buzzer) which is great for Kitchen or Noisy areas to notify you that the printer has printed the docket.

You can purchase Point of Sale Receipt Printers in a POS Bundle which provides you with a complete POS Solution or compatible hardware for specific software vendors.