The range of potential applications for labels and stickers is huge, from stickers for labeling objects of all kinds to company ID cards or for procurement in the materials warehouse. For uses such as convention name tags, guest ID cards, or serial number labels for devices, every single copy needs unique content, which is best gleaned from a database. The same principle applies to shipping labels. In other cases, all printouts could contain the same content (e.g., on business cards, sender labels, and article labels). Barcodes or QR codes can be helpful for both variants.

Print Media

Continuous labels offer one decisive advantage: You can avoid the issue of partially used sheets and wasted extra labels. If you can do without graphics, using a dot matrix printer makes a great deal of sense. It may be slow and noisy, but the low operating costs will more than make up for this. You will find laser and inkjet printers that also support continuous printing in specialist shops for commercial users. But if they are not label-only printers, these devices are typically quite expensive.

The vast majority of inkjet and laser printers process sheet material, usually in formats from A6 to A4. Laser printer manuals will typically contain explicit warnings against feeding sheets of labels into the printer more than once. The labels can peel off the backing film if they are run through the device several times. In the best case scenario, they might stick together in the fuser unit area and prevent paper being transported. But, in the worst case, they can cause damage to the mechanical system and paper sensors. Sheets that you couldn't use entirely should only be used in inkjet printers for this reason.

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