The receipt printer

After paying, the customer gets a receipt. It comes out of a receipt printer: a small box next to the register with a roll of paper in it.

Printing without ink

A receipt printer is thermal, just like a label printer. The paper turns black where the printer heats it. So you never need ink. You only buy new rolls.

A roll has a shiny side. That side has to face the print head. If the roll is in the wrong way around, a blank receipt comes out. That happens to everyone once.

58 or 80 millimeters

Receipt rolls come in two widths:

• 80 mm: the usual receipt printer you see in most shops. Fast, the receipt is out in a second, and it cuts the receipt itself.
• 58 mm: a smaller printer. Cheaper, but slower, and usually you tear the receipt off yourself.

For a shop we recommend 80 mm. A small printer is fine if you don't print many receipts. When you buy rolls, pick the same width as your printer. For a 58 mm printer you buy 57 mm rolls.

USB or Bluetooth

You connect a receipt printer to the register's computer. A USB cable is the most reliable. The computer simply sees the printer as a printer, and it stays on as long as it's plugged in.

Bluetooth printers often run on a battery. They switch off after a few minutes to save power, or the computer loses the connection. Then a customer misses the receipt, right when it's busy. So pick a printer with USB and its own power adapter.

Watch out: a USB cable in the box doesn't always mean the printer prints over USB. With some printers that cable is only for charging the battery.

Printing without pressing a button

Normally a computer asks which printer and which settings for every print. At the register you don't want that: the receipt should come out right away. So you set up the register's computer once to print without asking. How that works is in the guide below.