Are You Overspending on Receipt Paper? Here’s What Every Retailer Should Know

 

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why should my business care about receipt printing costs?

Every day, retail businesses print thousands — even millions — of receipts. But behind each slip of thermal paper is a hidden cost that adds up fast. From paper usage and branding clarity to environmental concerns and financial impact, receipt printing can quietly eat into your margins — especially across a large fleet of registers.

2. How much do U.S. businesses spend on receipt paper each year?

U.S. businesses are projected to spend $540+ million¹ on receipt paper this year. That’s not just paper — that’s time, labor, storage, and waste.

3. What’s the environmental impact of receipt printing?

Americans use 620 million pounds² of receipt paper annually. It’s easy to overlook a six-inch receipt here or a foot-long one there. But nationally, it adds up to a heavy load for businesses focused on reducing waste.

4. Can I actually reduce the amount of paper my receipts use?

Yes. Epson point-of-sale receipt printers offer built-in paper-saving features that can shrink receipt length by up to 49%³ through smart adjustments like reducing margins, barcode height, line spacing, and character size — all while maintaining readability. Find out how Epson does it.

 

 

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5. Does the paper saving feature affect receipt proportions or clarity?

Not with Epson. Some printers reduce receipt size by shrinking everything, including your logo — resulting in logos that are illegible or don’t properly represent your brand. Epson’s patented technology preserves layout and brand integrity while trimming excess paper.

6. What’s the difference between paper saving for text receipts and image receipts?

Epson’s full paper saving features are available for text-based receipts. These include reducing white space between lines, tightening section spacing, and trimming top and bottom margins, all without distorting text or images.

For image-based receipts (such as logos, coupons, or graphic heavy layouts), paper saving removes only the unused white space at the top and bottom of the receipt. The actual images remain unchanged to preserve clarity and branding.

7. How much money could I save by optimizing receipt printing?

If you’re printing 100 receipts per printer per day, you could be spending about $204 annually on receipt paper per printer. A fleet of 10,000? That’s more than $2 million in paper spend — or $1 million in savings³ if you cut usage by 49%.

8. What printer is recommended for businesses that want to reduce receipt paper usage?

Designed for today’s fast-moving retailers, the OmniLink™ TM-T88VII combines a sleek design with industry-leading print speeds. It’s compact, modern, and built for easy integration with multiple connectivity options so the printer can be dynamically shared by PC-POS terminals, tablets, mobile devices, and cloud servers. And with built-in tools that help reduce paper usage without compromising performance or appearance, it’s a smart upgrade that can help your business save money, time, and paper.

9. How can I estimate my potential savings?

Use the Epson Interactive Paper-Saving Estimator to find out how much paper and money your business could save.