What’s a Thermal Printer? Do I Need One?

It doesn’t take up much room on a desk. And it doesn’t ever need to be refilled with ink. But it prints labels only. Is this the printer for you?

As a small ecommerce business owner, I need to create shipping labels all the time. When I looked into which would be the most efficient printer, the thermal 4- x 6-inch label printer was a clear winner. It requires no ink, no toner. Ever. And if you have a UPS account, you also get the labels for free. That makes the mini desktop printer your only one-time expense. 

At a recent BCP meeting I whipped out a sticker idea that kids can color and stick onto a chocolate bar or nosh to give to their friends or teacher on Purim (see this post). When the label popped out of my printer, the team insisted that this would make a great household product for everyone.

Although the main purpose of this little printer is to print shipping labels, I find myself using it all the time for other purposes as well, like these:

For one, RETURNS. Who doesn’t need to print out return labels from Zara and other stores that stopped providing labels? (Some own a printer just for return labels!)

Household Labels

I use these to print labels for organizing boxes (great when you are moving)  toy containers, and more.  

Address Labels

Do you ever need to do a mailing?

Projects for Kids

I print out coloring pages all the time onto these stickers; for some reason they love coloring on the shiny paper using gel pens more than they love coloring on regular paper.

See this post for a cute Purim Sticker activity for kids to color and give to bus drivers or teachers…or anyone they want to thank. 

Print Recipes

I use this to print all my favorite BCP recipes on!

Do you think a thermal printer is right for you? These are the top two recommended thermal printers: