It is always risky to sacrifice consistency and quality of the print by making an improper choice of labels at a cheap price. There can be a lot of rework involved, and the cost of reprinting can overrun your intended cost-saving efforts. Further, your printer may need more maintenance due to damage resulted out of an improper selection of printing labels.

Thermal Labels and Its Types

Thermal labels are a type of label that uses heat for creating an excellent quality of the image. There are two types of thermal labels used which are direct thermal and thermal transfer. When you want to buy custom thermal labels, you need to use specific terms for thermal labels to get the right label.

Choosing correct compatible thermal labels can help you to get top quality performance in your printers. For this, you need to understand thermal labels and the types of thermal labels that are discussed in the following paragraphs.

Direct Thermal Printing Labels

If you are trying to find a cost-effective as well as a high-quality printing solution, the choice of direct thermal labels can easily be the best option. Such labels are made for the process of direct thermal printing where the thermal print head is used. The thermal print head heat selected areas of the thermo-chromatic, coated papers.

As the thermal label runs under the thermal printhead, the image gets transferred directly to the label. For the direct type of thermal labels no toner, ink, or ribbons are required and the size of the printers are small due to this. The uses and advantages of such labels are as follows:

Uses of direct thermal printing labels: A few common uses of such labels are:

• Receipts and pick tickets
• Shipping labels and barcode labels for various products
• Event tickets and prescription labels

Advantages of direct thermal printing labels: A few crucial advantages are:

• Simple operation as no ribbon is required to load
• Printer life remains high due to no problems associated with the mechanism for ribbon drive
• Fewer spare parts and inventory required to be maintained
• High productivity due to quick printing time

Thermal Transfer Printing Labels

In the case of thermal transfer, the elements of the thermal printhead, heat the backside of the thermal transfer ribbons. It causes melting and transferring of the wax compounds present on the front portion of the ribbons to thermal transfer labels. Thus, the required image can be created on the labels easily on different types of thermal transfer printing labels.

Such labels can be an excellent choice where you need to print more durable labels and the life of the label is going to be longerverus direct thermal printing labels, which tend of have shorter life span.

Uses for thermal transfer printing labels: A few common uses are:

• Asset tags
• Permanent IDS
• Durable product markings
• Wristbands
• Compliance labels
• Outdoor, wet and cold storage labels

Advantages of thermal transfer printing labels: A few key advantages of such labels are:

• Long life of the printed images and texts
• The printed texts and images do not get faded in direct sunlight
• Have high heat-resistance
• Results in longer life of the printhead
• Wide choice of labels possible
• Good resistance of chemicals in some materials