Ticket Printer

[JohnD]

We print out tickets using a proprietary package called "BoxOffice2000" which is no prob, and we have been using an Epson Inkjet printer. This is quite old, worn out, and is uneconomical in ink, so I checked that the package is compatible with a laser printer. It is, but the small size card stock we use for tickets will not auto-feed from the paper tray (possibly because it is too stiff to go round the rollers, or maybe because it is only about 125x80mm

 

It will feed OK through the straight-line manual feed.

 

I wonder if anyone has come across anything similar, and knows a printer that will feed small card?

 

Our preference is for an HP mono laser printer due to their ubiquity and relibility.

 

TIA

 

JohnD

[Tom Baldwin]

Most ticket printing seems to be done with thermal transfer printers.

Try looking at Zebra or Datamax printers - there's a massive range available...

[JohnD]

but is there a good reason for not using a laser printer, when they are ubiquitous, reliable and cheap to run?

[Brian]

but is there a good reason for not using a laser printer, when they are ubiquitous, reliable and cheap to run?

Yes, they won't do small sized stock.

 

It's down to their paper path. To move the paper through you need rollers in contact with the paper at all times. The way most (all?) lasers pick up paper from the lower tray means that picking up small sized stock and then 'bending' it 180 degrees is all but impossible.

 

You might find it more economical in the long run to change your software to a package that support A4 stock.

[Jivemaster]

Maybe this is why I've seen (as a customer not a user) continuous paper feed with perforated pieces.

 

Now there are some printers for putting text onto the back of a CD/DVD so these must accept stiff single sheets, whether they'd accept auto feed....?

[Ynot]

John,

 

Do you have to use card stock?

I also use the Nortech box Office 2000 software and we use pre-perforated ticket blanks from 24-7 Tickets suppliers. Not sure whether the paper stock will be OK in a laser printer - we also use an inkjet - but worth a gander.

[boatman]

For many years I had a Brother HL 1230 laser printer which could print on card stock using the front feed slot and rear exit slot. It's now obsolete but its successor is the HL 2035 which might be worth investigating. I'm not sure how small the card stock can be though.

[JohnD]

thanks for the suggs :** laughs out loud **:

 

the way we actually use it, is we print each customer's order as they buy the ticket (most are walk-ins to the theatre, some are by phone) with their name, seat number, time and date, so we don't print tickets in bulk, just in ones, twos and so on. Hence the individual tickets suit us better than perforated continuous stationery.

 

The laser printer I trialled yesterday wouldn't pick tickets out of the tray, but it was happy with them being put in the front manual feed slot. I suppose because it is more of a straight line. This printer only takes them one at a time from the manual slot, though, which would be a bit tedious for the box-office.

[matt_h]

the way we actually use it, is we print each customer's order as they buy the ticket (most are walk-ins to the theatre, some are by phone) with their name, seat number, time and date, so we don't print tickets in bulk, just in ones, twos and so on. Hence the individual tickets suit us better than perforated continuous stationery.

 

I not sure why this precludes the use of preprinted stock and a thermal printer? Thermal printers work out cheaper than inkjet, and at busy times print alot quicker too.

 

Is this the softare that you are using? http://www.nortechsoftware.co.uk/

 

If so it looks like it natively supports thermal printers any way. In which case the Star Micronics range of thermal printers is worth a mention. If you go for a printer with black mark detection you can get thermal paper stock printed with a black mark on the reverse that the printer will use to cut the roll cleanly every time. (You can also have other things printed on the ticket roll such as generic T&C's and text that you will always want). I can check on Monday whether they are capable of doing the cut after a certain length of roll has been spooled without a black mark if you wish; which would make it even cheaper as you would then only need standard 80mm thermal roll.

 

(Black mark cutting isn't exclusive to Star, those previously mentioned and others also support it)

 

It is alot cheaper to use thermal printers, the printer costs about £180 list (ask and you'll get it cheaper) and the thermal paper stock that we use for tickets works out at around 0.08pence per ticket! (That's for pre printed double sided 2 colour print stock). Because it's thermal there is no ink cost and the only moving part is the paper drive, so there's less to go wrong.

 

I buy printers from DED POS Ltd. They're very knowledgeable about ticket printing, it would certainly be worth a phone call.

 

On the other hand I can understand the desire to keep with roughly what the box office staff know, just be aware that the accounts department probably won't thank you the first time they see an invoice for a laser toner drum, "Ink for the box office printer didn't used to be this expensive! Why did we buy it? I thought it was supposed to save us money?" Never mind that its been 3 times as long between "cartridge" changes!

[dbuckley]

... the thermal paper stock that we use for tickets works out at around 0.08pence per ticket!

Tell me more about custom printed thermal paper, and can it have a perforation on it?

 

I bulk print tickets for the retail outlets on an aging Brother HL1030, using stock from this mob in the states, internationally delivered to New Zealand surprisingly economically, but I'm looking for something I can use in the theatre box office for door sales. Thus my current stock price is about 4c US per ticket.

 

I have been considering a Brother thermal printer that prints four inches wide, but came unstuck trying to find pre-perfed thermal stock, but the Nortech instructions for using the Citizen CLP 521 look appealing, but I'm still stuck for stock, and Nortech dont appear to ship internationally. If I could get the stuff made locally that would be ideal, but I'm having a difficuolt time finding such a manufacturer...

[rooftop]

Thermal stock for a star TSP-400 works out at about 1p-2p per ticket printed single colour on qty of 50,000-100,000. That's a ticket size of 114mm by 88mm approx

 

If any one is buying similar for less than £0.01 per ticket then let me know where. (£0.0008 sounds a little cheap!)

[matt_h]

... the thermal paper stock that we use for tickets works out at around 0.08pence per ticket!

Tell me more about custom printed thermal paper, and can it have a perforation on it?

 

*&£*& and I read that so carefully to check, its £0.008 not £0.00008.

 

Custom printed thermal roll in the UK is fairly easy to come by, its just a case negotiating the price. Look for people who print things such as wrist bands, etc. The cheapest form is single sided single colour print, although most will offer double sided single colour at minimal additonal cost (the cost of the printing die ~£5 - £10), obviously the more colours you have the more expensive it gets, additionallly the longer your ticket the more space it occupies on the roll and the more rolls you need to get the same number of tickets (The paper is the expensive bit).

 

I'm currently looking into perforations and the answer is yes. Again its the cost of setting up the stamp die (I've been given an estimate of £5) which gets put in as a stage in the stock printer and for ever after costs no more (providing you don't change where the perforation needs to be!).

 

Thermal stock for a star TSP-400 works out at about 1p-2p per ticket printed single colour on qty of 50,000-100,000. That's a ticket size of 114mm by 88mm approx

 

If any one is buying similar for less than £0.01 per ticket then let me know where. (£0.0008 sounds a little cheap!)

 

Our tickets are 80mm x 76mm for Star TSP700II printers, and we order in quantities of 500,000 at a time. Although this is going to go up as the ticket gets longer to accomodate perforations as we bring in a new pricing structure. We were able to negotiate quite hard this time last year when 5 printers were fairly desperate for the business, so I expect that this new ticket will be nearer your 2p/ticket.

 

My contact is Dave Sanger (he's a print broker), sorry I don't have contact details at home, again I can look them up on Monday if you want them.

[richard_cooper]

Another reason to look at thermal printers is reliability. We use Boca micros and they've been completely flawless for ten years. In a busy box office environment, the knowledge that all you'll ever have to do is check there are enough blank tickets loaded before you open, and not to worry about inks, toners etc. is a huge plus.

 

I would have thought the speed of a thermal printer would also be a big advantage. I can't imagine our box office staff being happy waiting for laser/inkjets to wake up, feed paper, etc on each sale.

 

I think we currently pay just over 1p per ticket for tickets printed on the back in one colour with a registration mark and our T&Cs, with a perforated stub.

[rooftop]

I agree - the Star TSP400s are proper little workhorses - perhaps a bit slow for a really busy box office. The only maintenance is to blow accumulated paper dust out of the paper path every so often as it tends to bugger up the operation of the photocell that detects the registration mark.

[NM13]

If you look at Nortech's website for the software you are using it suggests a very good printing system on there, been using it for 18 months with the only problem being the auto cutter. Can print out 2 or 2000 tickets quite happily on it. plus it's quite compact and the tickets look very good as well.