Seeking right laser printer for small food business

[demiurgic]

Aloha,
In my search for a the best color laser printer for our needs, I've been able to understand only 1/10 of the technical lingo I have read on this forum so far

so, Please bear with this overly simple request...I'll try to be as specifc as I can.

We need a printer to print full color labels (with graphics) for our upcoming food product (goes in grocery stores refrigerated secion, and must be hearty to withstand 20 days of moisture fluctuations).

It's important to have low cost per page and a fairly professional looking label at this point.

We tried asking around for outsourcing the label printing job but were faced with several problems like Plate fees(-one plate per color), minimum and inflexible requirements of 10k pieces to make it affordable, etc, etc. Dont get me wrong, the product they were offering was AMAZING! weather proof plastic labels with awesome graphic prints.

Since we are just starting, we need labels we can continously improve over time.

Ideally, I'd like a printer to take blank weatherproof pages from onlinelabels.com (unless you have a better idea), align the document to print exactly on the part that peels off. I'm hoping to end up with a water proof, label that looks great.

We will probably print 1000-2000 pages a month (high approximation) .

How many come out in a minute means nothing to me (I dont understand if there is another down side besides the wait time, which is fine)

Please recommend a good work horse that our little start up food business can afford. thanks a lot!

demi

 

[RichardK]

Buying a laser isn't the issue - most will do the job you ask as long as you buy the correct weatherproof label material.

The cost of the consumables (toners fuser oil etc) can be high. Have you considered an inkjet? They can be as good if not better than laser.

here's a link to a supplier of base material.

Labels

One thing you mention is a 'page' count of 1000 - 200 per month...depends on the size of label as to how many you get out of a page. Say you get 20 out of a A4 sheet, that runs to 20,000 labels for 1000 page run.

You can download various templates for use in your favourite layout package. You can even do it in Word but my opinion is you'll get better results from Adobe InDesign.

 

[demiurgic]

Hi Richard,
Yes, inkjets are an option but their color runs, from what I have read. We need a label to withstand heavy fluctuations in humidity/cold storage, thus laser was the only choice.

I searched pretty hard for weather proof labels and found onlinelabels.com to have god discounts, but I will compare them to your recommendation, worldlabel

thanks!
Demi

 

[RichardK]

You're thinking about water based inks...pigment based inks don't have the same characteristics. Read the world label section on weatherproof labels for inkjet.

 

[richardcliffe]

I run a label printing business based in the uk, we could definitely print the right type of labels no worries at all, if you need any further help with this let me know
http://printedlabels-oxford.co.uk