POS Printers

Point of sale (POS) or checkout is the location where a transaction occurs. A "checkout" refers to a POS terminal or more generally to the hardware and software used for checkouts, the equivalent of an electronic cash register. Point-of-sale (POS) printers are interwoven into the fabric of culture and commerce in cities and towns the world over. Virtually anywhere business is transacted—from subways and supermarkets to restaurants and rental cars—with cash, debit or credit—there’s a POS printer reliably documenting the transaction with printed hardcopy receipts.

Because consumers sometimes discard receipts, it may be tempting to dismiss their value. The fact is that receipts, and the receipt printers that produce them, play a vitally important role in business. In retail, for example, receipts empower floor staff to efficiently handle returns and exchanges, which in turn fosters good will with customers. Without POS printers, today’s efficient, streamlined style of commerce would simply cease to exist.

The key requirements that must be met by modern POS systems include: high and consistent operating speed, reliability, ease of use, remote supportability, low cost, and rich functionality. Retailers can reasonably expect to acquire such systems (including hardware) for about $4000 US (2009) per lane.

Most POS peripherals, such as displays and printers, support several of these command protocols in order to work with many different brands of POS terminals and computers. During the POS peripherals, the most important one is the thermal printer mechanism. With the advantages of high printing speed, durable, quiet, the thermal printer mechanism is the ideal application for POS printers.