Quit using pinfed paper

[Vladislav S. Davidzon]

I did not see anything regarding paper jams.  This is probably the main
reason pin printers waste more paper than lasers, and especially inkjets
which very rarely jam.  Considering that many people, will try to get the
printer to print by hitting the feet button over and over, until they have
20+ sheets of paper inside the printer, all jammed up.  Inkets / Lasers
really do save money on paper because of their use of non-perforated
paper.

.......................................................................... 
Vladislav S. Davidzon                     davidzon at tech-center.com 
Technology Assistant                      Farmington Community Library 
Phone: (248) 553-0300                     Fax: (248) 553-3228
32737 W. 12 Mile Road                     Farmington Hills, MI 48334

"It is the province of knowledge to speak, and its a privilege of wisdom
to listen."  - Oliver Wendell Homes
          
All opinions are my opinions only, and not those of any organizations I
am associated with, unless otherwise specified.  
..........................................................................

On Mon, 20 Oct 1997, Dan Lester wrote:

> Sorry for belated reply.
> 
> At 11:03 PM 10/9/97 -0700, Jian Liu wrote:
> >Finally, with more and more of our dos based computers going windows 95
> >based, the dot matrix printers become more and more annoying (noisy and
> >slow), but we can't just put laser printers out there, for we still want
> >to use the continuous printing, to save paper. I know there have been
> >several rounds of discussions about printers on this list, but would like
> >to know if you have some recent experiences with some printers that are:
> >
> >1. using continuous paper
> >2. fast and quiet
> >3. easy to maintain
> >4. relatively inexpensive
> 
> Excuse me, but I'll disagree with some of the above.  Continuous printing
> doesn't save paper at all.  Several reasons come to mind.
> 
> 1. The paper is actually wider, so any twigs saved from printing to bottom
> of page are wasted in printing the carriage strips.  
> 
> 2. There is essentially no waste in sheet fed laser printing.  
> 
> 3. On most pinfed printers I've used with the public (we've used a bunch,
> and now are using ONLY  Epson LX300 as cheap ($170), incredibly durable
> (some over six years of daily usage), and pretty quiet), people TRY to save
> paper by ripping off a  half sheet, end up tearing the feed strips in the
> tractor, thus requiring waste of several pages to get it restarted.  So, we
> try to tell our TreeHuggers to NOT tear off in middle of sheet.
> 
> Also, if you check the economics, you'll undoubtedly find as we did:  
> 
> Pinfed paper is MUCH more expensive to purchase.  Our pinfed 9.5x11 costs
> 54 percent MORE per sheet than the 8.5x11 sheets of standard printer/copy
> paper.  Even if you need to use banner sheets on network printed output,
> you're still money ahead to get away from the pinfed.  Also, as dotmatrix
> printers die out, as they will quite soon, the pinfed paper will increase
> even more in relation to the sheet paper.  There will be lower demand, and
> the costs to produce it, which are already higher due to the equipment
> needed, will increase further. 
> 
> So, check out your local costs with your supply clerk, and I'll bet that
> you find the same thing.
> 
> cheers
> 
> dan
> 
> 
> 
> Dan Lester
> dan at 84.com
> In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.  Erasmus, 1534
>