Almost every business that sells things to consumers from a physical point of sale has something in common. They use thermal paper. Thermal paper is in a wide variety of POS machines and is used for printed receipts and copies of receipts for the merchant’s records.
Among the different machines that use thermal paper rolls are such things as gas pumps, ATM machines, credit card machines, cash registers, and even the newer slot machines that give you your winnings in the form of a printed ticket instead of actual coins. Many restaurants even use thermal printers for the customer orders that are transferred from the front of the house back to the kitchen. If you are a retailer with a physical store, you probably use more than one of those POS machines, and need more than one size of thermal paper to keep them stocked and working.
The majority of these receipts get crumpled up and tossed out by the customers for whom they are printed within sixty seconds of receiving them, but if the customer doesn’t get a receipt, they’ll complain anyway. Some customers actually do use them. They may need them to prove a travel expense for a business expense account, or for tax purposes. Some even go over their grocery costs line by line to see if they can save money the next time they go shopping.
Either way, whether they’re used or not, your business needs to provide these POS transaction receipts with every single purchase. In fact, if you run out of thermal paper for these machines, you may have to stop accepting credit cards until you can get replacement paper. That can put a big crimp in your daily sales totals. Nobody wants to have to turn away customers who are ready to make a purchase.
Small things like thermal paper that represent a critical cog in your business machinery, should always have a significant safety stock to see you through just in case your vendor has a backorder situation, your order gets lost in shipping, or some other unforeseen delay occurs. That way, you’ll have enough thermal paper held in reserve to see you through until you can get a replacement order.
It’s also a good idea to have a second vendor on board just in case your first vendor runs out of inventory, goes on vacation, or simply can’t fulfill your order when you need it. The second vendor should be used for regular orders periodically so that you can establish a good working relationship with them as well. Even if your first vendor doesn’t fall down on the job, it doesn’t hurt to let him know that there’s a little competition out there just to make sure you’re getting the best pricing and the best service.