The Advantages of a Barcode Label Printer: Small Business Tips

If you’re a small business owner, chances are you built everything from the ground up yourself. You’ve had a share of each part of your business, wearing so many hats that your neck is sore. But still, there’s nothing better than seeing your business grow a little bit more each day. Business growth is great, of course, but as a business grows you will no doubt come to a point where the amount of work to do is more than a little overwhelming. When this happens, it’s time to make things a little bit easier for yourself.

The logistical operations involved in running a business are often one of the biggest headaches one can endure. How should I keep track of everything? How do I manage my inventory? How do I manage my sales? These are many of the daily questions implicit in providing products of any variety, whether you have a local storefront business or an online ecommerce website. Because this is such a large and aggravating part of the business, you should consider minimizing the effort involved in this aspect of your business.

The answer to many of these small business qualms lies in a barcode label printer. Barcode label printers are specifically designed for, you guessed it, the printing of barcode labels. How do you currently track your product information? Do you keep an old-fashioned paper record of your transactions? Do you punch numbers in on your computer manually? Maybe you’re a step further and print out labels on your desktop jet printer. While printing labels on your jet printer is a step in the right direction, nothing really compares with the ease of use and speed of a label printer.

Label printers work differently than jet printers. An inkjet printer actually sprays ink onto the paper, while a barcode label printer works thermally. The paper is heated by the barcode printer, and a photo-reactive element turns black. It works entirely without ink, which means no dry time, no smudging, and faster printing speeds. The benefits of a barcode label printer are immediately apparent. The logistics of business ownership are cleared up, you needn’t slow down to wait on labels, and you don’t need to buy ink for your labels anymore. So what’s the best choice for a small business?

Desktop Models

Barcode label printers come in two classes: desktop and industrial level. Obviously there are several divisions among both classes, with some models being very small (like an electric pencil sharpener) and others being quite large (think an office inkjet printer). Small businesses can normally meet all their needs with a desktop printer model. When considering a barcode label printer, look for print-speeds of four inches/second minimum along with a 203 DPI (dot per inch) minimum. Major manufacturers and popular choices include Zebra barcode printers, Datamax barcode printers, and Intermec barcode printers. In no time, you will be well on your way toward optimizing the logistics of your business, which means more time to keep running your business successfully.