DOT MATRIX PRINTERS
Cheap and reliable Dot matrix printers are also popular in the finance and governance sector. If you receive a statement, invoice or financial record from a bank, it will most likely be printed by a dot matrix printer. They are fantastic for financial logs, as well as multi-part documents – think carbonless copy paper – for companies that need to print triplicate forms simultaneously, sometimes thousands of times a day. It might be easy to dismiss these analogue files as anachronisms, but in the UK at least, more than a quarter of younger people in some financial institutions still carry a passbook to manage their accounts. According to a study by the Yorkshire Building Society, 16% of their members still hold passbooks, but that rises to 27% for people between 18 and 34. Despite the trend to modernise and digitise, some technologies remain in their analogue alongside the digital. “As these printers are incredibly reliable and extremely cheap to run, they are the perfect printer for all these locations, and more,” adds Kevin. “With this in mind, Epson will continue to manufacture the SIDM range, which contains over 25 different dot matrix printers, for the foreseeable future.”
SIDM (serial impact dot matrix) printers going into airport installations,” says Kevin Dobson, product manager for SIDM at Epson UK. “Our LX-350 and FX-890II dot-matrix printers are installed in the unmanned self-check-in kiosks in airport departures to allow the printing of boarding passes for passengers who do not have electronic versions and no ability to print their own boarding pass prior to arriving at the airport.” Additionally, anywhere where printing is needed in harsh conditions, dot matrix printers can be found. British fire stations use them for turnout sheets, for example. They are the go-to printer for rugged, hot, dusty and rough conditions, such as manufacturing plants.
Kevin Dobson product manager for SDIM
epson.co.uk
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Those working in logistics, shipping or air travel often want a printer that can run for 10,000 hours at a cost- effective price.
In 1995, PC Magazine did a review of dot matrix printers, saying that they are still "hammering on". Now, nearly 30 years later, the fact that they come with an option for USB
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input should be a sign of their continued impact. Back then, it was mentioned how the future of dot matrix printers was locked in their niches, being high-speed and thus any competing technology would have to beat that speed at an even more cost-effective price. Here we are, all these years later, still talking about the same machines that know what they are and do their job well. On page 28, you will see the search terms that Stock in the Channel users use when searching for dot matrix printers. In these searches, passbooks interestingly appear, solidifying the belief from 30 years ago that the niche of hard account books and multipart forms will still be ruled by the dot matrix. Although not being an industry witnessing the largest amount of growth in the channel it still has an active search base for the niches it is in.
For now, I will wait until 2052 to read an article where dot matrix printers will most likely still be hammering on. WB
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