Color label printers are one of the latest and most popular advancements in label printing. Today, businesses are using labels to advertise their brand name. Labels can contain photos, graphics, colorful text, illustrations and attractively placed barcodes.
Color label printers make logistics management easier as the labels can be color-coded or designed to suit a particular product. Each label can be coded with a different color by product, location, destination, size, sell-by-date, WIP, private label, mailing, data codes, order references, lot numbers and other categories. This makes product differentiation easier.
Color label printers not only make labels more attractive but also come with several options like: multiple print resolutions, compatibility with Windows or Mac software, ability to read different kinds of fonts, texts and even graphics, word-wrap and shrink-to-fit capabilities for printing any size and kind of font, color coding for different kinds of labels and more. They also have long-term memory storage, intelligent sensors, barcode printing ability, rich vibrant colors of around 600×600 dpi or more (as much as 4800 x 1200 dpi), flexible media sizes and types, ability to print on various kinds of materials like fabric, gloss, semi-gloss, clear and synthetic tags, flexible label widths ranging and web-enabled email support. They are durable, suitable for all kinds of environments, from an office desktop to an industrial location. They can print any number of labels from tens to several thousands per day. Other features include indicator lights, easy controls like pause, stop/cancel and feed, label design software and variable print speeds.
There are hundreds of color label printers available. The minimum requirements are Pentium
Ink is not created equal. Scanning through the isle of pens in your neighboring office supply store will result in a wide selection of ball point and gel ink pens. Ballpoint ink is oil based, thick and pasty. Gel ink is water based and becomes liquefied when the ink is disturbed. The small balls in ballpoint pens are insufficient for gel ink pens. Amazingly, gel pens are gaining notoriety among everyday writing instruments.
You must be extremely careful to use specific types of ink for their intended purposes. For example, the type of ink recommended for use in a fountain pen should be used just for that. If you use ink that is not recommended for your fountain pen, you risk the chance of ruining your pen’s filling system.
The development of ink comes in a variety of textures, weights, intensities and purposes.
Indian ink invented by Chinese Philosopher Tien-Lcheu, was a mixture containing soot and oil of lamps, combined with donkey skin and musk to rectify the scent of the oil. The Chinese perfected this ink for blackening the surfaces of hieroglyphics.
Pigmented ink contains a variety of agents ensuring the adhesiveness of pigments to the surface, through materials referred to as resins or binding agents. Pigments are the main components of ink. This type of ink stays on the surface of paper whereby less ink is needed for creating intensity. Hue, saturation and brightness are inherent qualities of ink.
Walnut ink is made from the shells of walnuts. It is popular for staining paper to mimic aging for that antique appearance. It is available in a liquid or powdered crystallized form. The powdered crystals can be dissolved with hot, not boiling water. Longevity of the shelf life is based on storage in a cool, dark location. This ink may be used primarily with craft projects.
Iron-Gall Nut ink was made from tannic acid and iron salt. This ink was transparent and penetrated the paper leaving permanent markings. When a water soluble thickener was added, the ink flowed better. This allowed it to stay in place on the paper. However, if the mixture was wrong, it could penetrate your paper and cause corrosion to the pen.
Soy ink is made from soybean oil that is environmentally friendly and safe. It became an alternative used by the Newspaper Association of America, replacing the standard petroleum based ink. The rising cost for petroleum in the 1970’s forced the industry to find more reliable and cost effective methods for printing. The color from soy ink creates sharp, bright images on newsprint.
Printers ink was greasy in texture. This type of ink was not the same as writing ink, but it did inspire the type of ink used in ballpoint pens. In order to keep the pen from clogging when not in use, this ink dried slowly and was formulated to avoid leakage around the ball of the pen.
Dye-based ink can produce more color, based on density. While dyes have the tendency to soak into the paper, they can potentially allow the ink to bleed at the edges. To alleviate this problem, dye-based inks contain solvents that dry quickly. They can be more susceptible to fading if exposed to ultraviolet radiation (ie. sunlight).
One brand of ink made by Parker Pens, “Quink,” became known as the world’s first quick drying ink. The name “Quink” is short for the combined words “quick” and “ink.” Besides its marketing success as a quick drying ink, some of its other benefits included water resistancy, non-clogging, quality of ink flow, non-corrosiveness and it did not fade. It was manufactured in shades of China Red, India Black, Pan American Green and Tunis Blue.
Sheaffer avoided using the word “ink” when referring to its name brand called Skrip. Instead, Skrip was called “writing fluid.” The original Skrip came in eleven colors. Since October 1997, Sheaffer has been a part of the BIC Pen Corporation.
Ingredients in ink respond to such conditions as temperature and outdoor weather conditions. The benefits of ink quality, durability and absorption that we enjoy today catapulted through experimenting with chemical compounds, additives and colorants by early inventors and innovators.
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Kym Gordon Moore is a public relations strategist for budget conscious new authors and coordinates creative marketing packages for her clients. She is fascinated with writing instruments, machines and other noteworthy objects that contributed to the progression of the art of writing. Many of her articles, essays, short stories and poems appeared in a variety of magazines, newspapers, ezines and anthologies. http://www.kymgmoore.com. |
Tags: Ink, Types of Ink, Quink, Skrip, Parker ink, Sheaffer, Writing fluid, Pens
As business owners we all know that in a ideal world prospects would just pick up the phone and give us an order - but for most of us sales is not like that! Yes it would be utopia however have you considered the difference between order takers and sales professionals? Firstly they are two completely different animals. Lets face facts order takers are less likely to be skilled in sales technique. This includes the ability to easily up sell, cross sell or add on services. Order takers are by there very nature just waiting for the phone to ring and do not work on a pro active basis. If we left everything to the client then so many additional products would never have been sold.
Before I am told that they probably were sold something that they didn’t want, lets examine the motivation for buying. If you were looking at purchasing software to run on a Windows based platform maybe it would be important to ensure that it worked with every release or version of the software. Some companies still have Windows 98 and have not (for whatever reason) upgraded to XP. If this particular prospect came through and presented the company with an order and found out later that the software was incompatible with Windows XP it is my belief that they would have expected the seller to let them know prior to purchase. The same could be said for printers. Imagine an real estate agency that wanted to print thousands of property particulars. If they bought a bottom of the range ink jet printer as opposed to a colour laser they would possibly be feeling cheated when the printer just didn’t meet expectations.
Salespeople are taught (or should be) to manage expectations and recommend appropriate products and services. Money is tight for everyone (I think it always has been) and I believe that nobody is tricked into buying something that they don’t want by some smooth talking sales person. Unfortunately apart form the very basic advice that may be given at the point of purchase most order takers won’t even recognise an opportunity. That could be an expensive mistake if you were considering the value that the prospect brings over the buying cycle. For many companies this is measured in years. A bookstore can attract buyers whose buying pattern is measured in years (say 5 years at 12 purchases per year). A trained salesperson will recognise this and ensure that they are helped with the current order and try to anticipate future buying habits. Some of the big companies on the internet have employed this - when you order a book another window may popup suggesting other books to purchase thus increasing the order value at the point of purchase.
Lastly remember this, order takers shine when the market is buoyant in a declining market sales people have built solid relationships that they leverage and still make or exceed targets - the choice is yours.
© The Sales Academy 2005.
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Mike Palman, is a Global Master Sales Coach and Author. Mike helps people and businesses do more, do it better and get results that they want. Mike had a successful career in sales for over 25 years and now helps other salespeople get the sales edge. Mike lives in both the UK and South Africa.
For more articles by Mike Palman, visit http://www.thesalesacademy.com
Tags: order takers, sales skill, sales & marketing, sales, sales management, management, selling