choosing a shipping label printer

What makes you want to buy a thermal printer?

In my opinion, the cost is more and the benefit less compared to printing the labels out from a standard printer. My printer that I use for my transfers, which uses refillable all black ink, does the job wonderfully. A bit of eco friendly tape and it's on its way.

LaveAuto said:

What makes you want to buy a thermal printer?

In my opinion, the cost is more and the benefit less compared to printing the labels out from a standard printer. My printer that I use for my transfers, which uses refillable all black ink, does the job wonderfully. A bit of eco friendly tape and it's on its way.

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Hi! What size labels do you use with your printer?

I looked at the thermal printers, but decided to just use my laser printer. I use these instead of tape: 7 5" x 5 5" Clear Adhesive Packing List Shipping Label Envelopes Pouches 300 Pcs | eBay

Works well, and looks better than taping the label on.

Vitaman said:

I use these instead of tape

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Whoever you use to ship will give you these free. Including the post office.

splathead said:

Whoever you use to ship will give you these free. Including the post office.

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I've seen the customs envelopes but I haven't seen any that are for normal shipping for free. I'll have to look into those.

GTP30 said:

I've seen the customs envelopes but I haven't seen any that are for normal shipping for free. I'll have to look into those.

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I was referring to the label pouches. Envelopes are given free for priority and above shipping. Not for first class or parcel.

splathead said:

I was referring to the label pouches. Envelopes are given free for priority and above shipping. Not for first class or parcel.

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I was meaning the clear pouches, on the USPS site I believe they call the 1 for customs envelopes because they are big. Those clear sticky things, lol. I hadn't seen them for free.

splathead said:

I was referring to the label pouches. Envelopes are given free for priority and above shipping. Not for first class or parcel.

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Yeah, I mainly use 1st Class on single shirt orders, so I just buy a few hundred.

GTP30 said:

I was meaning the clear pouches, on the USPS site I believe they call the 1 for customs envelopes because they are big. Those clear sticky things, lol. I hadn't seen them for free.

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They are free https://store.usps.com/store/browse...oryId=shipping-labels&productId=P_FORM_2976_E but you're right, they are for mailing labels with custom forms.

Sorry to bump the topic, but i use a Dymo 4XL printer and get off-brand labels from amazon. About 1300 labels is about $40-50.

We use a Zebra 2844. I found one on ebay for around 100 bucks. We use it for usps and ups labels.

I also use a Zebra with thermal labels, so no ribbon to buy. Roll labels seem to be much cheaper to buy than the sheet type used in laser printers. I ship most of my shirts in poly bags via USPS First Class, so a direct-stick label seems it would be better than adding an envelope to the bag.

A note on print quality
I get much better print quality if I download the label PDF and print in in Acrobat than I do when printing directly from a web browser. YMMV depending on where you purchase your postage, your browser, etc.