A long long time ago I worked in an Elverys shop. I can’t remember exactly how it happened, but one day after changing the till role I left it somewhere that it got really hot. It turned black. Blew my mind. I always thought all printers had ink or toner. But it occurred to me this was all heat. Flash forward a lot of years and I realise that heat-based printers are the utlimate ink-printer alternative for me.
Why printers absolutely suck
Printers are the worst piece of technology in everyone’s home. If you have one. Once in a blue moon, you’ll have to print something. Typically, when you are already a little annoyed some clothes you bought have to be returned or some company is insisting on some random printing you have to do for some reason. Because it’s so infrequent, the ink dries up, the printer fails and you end up Googling a new printer purchase.
So you have this bit lump of a device sitting in your home, not doing the one job it’s supposed to do. If you can get the ink for it, it’s super expensive. If you can’t you have to replace another piece of e-waste.
I don’t want to brush over the ink thing either. Ink is the main way printer companies make money. They are the OG Netflix subscription game players. I don’t even feel like I’m writing in my regular writing style because printers suck so much they just make me angry.
That’s when, in the middle of a bit of an AliExpress ordering binge, I remembered the receipt printer in Elverys. I wonder.
Thermal printers are amazing
The technical name for those till receipt printers is “thermal printers”. Instead of spraying ink or using toner cartridges, these printers use heat to activate chemicals in the paper you are printing on. Basically, this is how any commercial receipt or label printer works. And it’s ideal for the infrequent home printer for just that reason too.
All I’ve had to order for my printer, the PeriPage A40, since I bought it was new paper rolls. Because it prints in rolls, you can also print in different sizes, including A4. Once printed, you rip the paper off.
Now, I’ll concede a few points. It’s a little odd to tear off your print when it’s done and sometimes, that rips. This also means you’re not going to br printing a thesis on this thing. I couldn’t even imagine trying it. And you won’t get amazing crisp text – but still perfectly legible text noone would look twice at.
However, as someone who only every prints a single page document, or the odd return label if printerless drop offs aren’t available from time to time, this is the perfect solution. It’s also battery powered so you can use it on the go. In fact, mobile use was the reason I bought the Epson WorkForce WF-110W printer which also died and had a god damn service pack that also needed replacement along with ink increasing ink even further.
I won’t lie, I am smug at the fact that for the forseeable future, I will never buy ink again. All thanks to this €100 AliExpress purchase.
