Printing barcode labels is critical for tracking inventory, assets and shipments, but it also costs money.

Your costs can easily add up when you’re printing hundreds or thousands of labels per day, per week, or per year. In fact, in just one year, companies typically spend three to 10 times more on their barcode printing supplies than they do on the original cost of their printers.

Many companies respond by buying cheaper supplies, thinking that this will save them money. But often it leads to the exact opposite.

The long-term costs of buying cheaper barcode printing supplies often far exceeds the short-term gain on your up-front costs. This is because cheaper supplies usually mean they’re lower in quality, and they’re made with inconsistent and substandard materials. In turn, this causes print quality issues, disruptions to labeling processes, and costly printhead replacements.

For example, cheap barcode labels with poor coating are often abrasive and grate on your printhead. This causes premature wear that requires replacements costing hundreds of dollars per printhead.

If you’re buying low-cost labels but need pre-printed colors on them, this is another problem. Often these labels are produced with substandard quality, causing pre-printed colors to transfer onto your printhead and cause print quality problems. Then you end up needing to reprint labels, costing you more time and money.

Lower quality labels are often too heat sensitive as well, and they require constant print darkness adjustments to compensate for printing problems and barcode scanning issues. More print darkness means you’ll be burning through your printing supplies faster.

Adhesives are frequently a problem with low-cost labels too, since they’re often produced with low-quality adhesives that may cause labels to fall off. In other cases, low-quality labels ooze adhesive into your printer because the label rolls are often wound too tight. This often causes printer jams or labels wrapping around the platen, plus adhesive oozing onto the label liner.

To add to these headaches, if you choose cheap labels and ribbons that aren’t properly designed and matched for the precise conditions of your labeling and scanning environment, you can end up with barcodes and label information fading, getting damaged, or rubbing away.

Each of these headaches adds up to lost time and money, particularly in labeling interruptions, servicing, repair, and replacement costs.

At Tri-State Business Systems, we recommend high-quality and certified Zebra printing supplies for all Zebra label printers.

Why Certified Zebra Printing Supplies Are Better

Zebra uses consistent materials and has ISO 9001:2008 certified processes in place to ensure the highest quality and print performance with all of its labels, ribbons and printing supplies. These quality processes include:

• Pre-testing on Zebra printers
• Assessment of printhead wear
• Verification of adhesive strength
• Pre-tests for environmental factors
• Testing for indoor/outdoor use and high/low temperatures
• Testing for resistance to abrasion, moisture and chemical exposure.

The end result is that you get barcode printing supplies with the right materials for each Zebra printer and application. You get the best possible printing, labeling and scanning results with minimal printhead wear and none of the problems of cheap, low-quality substitutes.

Best of all, if you own Zebra industrial or desktop printers and agree to use genuine Zebra supplies exclusively, Zebra will cover the cost of any printhead if it ever needs to be replaced. That alone could save you hundreds or thousands of dollars on your printing costs.

To learn more about Zebra supplies and request samples and pricing, contact Tri-State Business Systems at 908-359-8001 or email sales@tri-statebussys.com  for more information.

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The world – business and otherwise – is getting increasingly mobile. Stationary is a thing of the past. Mobile devices have made their way from popular culture into business. It’s not surprising, considering the vast number of applications and benefits they offer. Mobile connectivity is a must in today’s business world. Businesses who do not comply may find themselves left behind their competition. Mobile printing is an idea whose time has come. Mobile printing allows you to print from any mobile device to a web-enabled, networked printer. And it’s by your side, all day, printing on demand when and where you need it. This is a good thing.

But mobile is only the first name in the type of printer that will make your life – and productivity – better. The second, and very important name, is rugged. When you get into industries such as Transportation, Retail, Manufacturing, Warehousing, and any market that includes mobile workers, you going to face harsh and unpredictable environments that can really beat up on your compact but productive mobile printer. That’s why you need one that can hold its own. One that can take what the harsh environments have to offer and keep on printing. One such mobile printer that gets the Tri-State Business Systems seal of approval is the Zebra ZQ500 series.

MILITARY STRENGTH

Extreme environments and bangs and bumps are no match for these lightweight, compact receipt and label printers. Zebra’s ZQ510™ and ZQ520™ printers are among the most rugged printers available. Each features a patented military design that meets third-party-verified MIL-STD 810g military standards for shock, vibrations, and temperature exposure. These printers can withstand repeated drops to concrete from up to 6.6’ on multiple sides, and when paired with the optional exoskeleton case, can withstand drops from 10’.

EASY TO USE

The greatest machine in the world is not so great if your workers can’t figure it out. Fear not! ZQ500 printers are designed for intuitive, simple use, from the first shift to the last. The simplified user interface reduces the amount of accidentally changed printer settings, and the large buttons increase accuracy for gloved hands and fingers. Intuitive media loading reduces the time employees spend changing rolls. And with its sleep mode, the printer wakes up when a job is sent and conserves battery power when not in use.

AND MORE

There are a host of other features that make the ZQ500 series the ideal choice for mobile printing across the board. Not the least of which is the fact that the ZQ500 printers are the first Zebra products to support a secondary Bluetooth communication channel. This innovative feature allows one channel to send print jobs to the printer while the second channel performs additional functions such as device management. Just another way to help keep your employees on task, on schedule and more productive.

To get the full story on the Zebra ZQ500 Series of Mobile Rugged Printers, give your partners at Tri-State Business Systems a shout. We can see if they are the right fit for your mobile solution and how you gen benefit from their inclusion. www.tri-statebussys.com or P:908-359-8001

First things first. Not every printer is right for every application. That’s why Zebra offers a full line of barcode printers to meet your specific needs. That’s also why you need Tri-State Business Systems as your partner to help you identify and differentiate your specific needs and get matched up with the right printer and more. That being said, allow us to introduce you to the Zebra ZT400 Series of barcode printers that addresses a broad array of applications throughout manufacturing, transportation and logistics, retail, and more. See for yourself how well it matches up to your requirements.

One thing is certain, and that’s the fact that you need an industrial strength printer that can face the rigors of a tough environment and come out smiling the other end. That’s a perfect introduction for the new 4-inch ZT411. With an all-metal frame and bi-fold door, it’s an evolution within the versatile and reliable ZT400 family of printers. It‘s engineered to meet your business needs today, and evolve to accommodate your needs well into the future. You can tailor it to your own preferences with field-upgradable RFID encoding options for either general purpose UHF RFID tags, or thicker on-metal tags.

The fact that you’re still reading this tells us that you like what you’ve read so far and you’re interested in hearing more. Good. Well, instead of listing out all the features, let us share with you the ZT411’s top customer benefits that we think will be of interest to you.

• It Practically Sets Itself Up

Simply drop it in place, plug it in and use the free Android or Windows Printer setup utility to customize your printer configuration. The large color touch display features an intuitive interface to make quick setting changes, see printer status and create custom shortcuts.

• It Speaks Your Language

The ZT411 supports EPL and ZPL for an easy migration from Zebra printers. And, Print DNA’s Virtual Device software is integrated into the ZT411 to emulate non-Zebra printers.

• Changing Supplies? Easy as 1, 2, 3!

The ZT411’s side-loading print mechanism makes it extremely easy to load ribbons and labels – up to three times faster and easier than other printers!

• It Keeps Going…

The ZT411 delivers proven 24/7 reliability even in the harshest conditions. The durable, all-metal design and expertly-built internal components ensure the longest and most reliable printer life.

• Add What You Need, When You Need It

Set up the ZT411 with the features you need today, and simply add features right on site anytime you need to meet changing needs. Add a cutter or peeler in minutes. Two open slots let you add parallel Ethernet, an applicator interface card and more.

Like we said upfront, not every printer is meant for every application. But clearly, this printer is designed to grow with your business. So if it’s a good fit today, it will continue to be tomorrow. The good news is, you’re not on your own. If you have any questions about the Zebra ZT411 or any other part of your solution, please visit us online at www.tri-statebussys.com or give us a call at 908.359.8001.