The Difference Between a Boca Printer and a Regular Printer

The Difference Between a Boca Printer and a Regular Printer

Event ticket printing is necessary for events across the globe, but for quality and appearance, Boca ticket printers are the top of the line choice.

Of course, using a regular printer is always an option for printing tickets, but if you want a more professional appearance and options that enhance the finished product, you may consider using a Boca printer for future needs. 

However, consider the following differences between a regular printer and a Boca printer before making your choice. 

Regular Printers

Although today’s printers can produce decent results because of a range of options and advancements in printing technology, they are still limited to some fairly basic options.

You can generally print a sheet of tickets if the ticket paper isn’t too thick, but you can expect to run into issues with paper jams, smearing, and ink levels if you want to use thicker ticket stock.

This is especially true if you plan to use a standard printer for a large quantity of tickets. 

Standard printers cost, on average, around $100 and can cost up to $50 for ink cartridges. If you plan on printing tickets regularly, you should consider how frequently you must change the ink cartridges and the ability of the printer to hold up to heavy use.

Although it may be a cheaper option initially, over time, it may end up costing you time and money due to malfunctions and printing costs. 

There are also small business printers that can handle higher volumes of printing, but they also carry a hefty price tag in some instances and require more maintenance than their smaller personal printer counterparts.

They may be suitable for occasional printing for marketing materials and tickets, but won’t yield top quality results and have limited customization options. 

With basic printers, you can ONLY print out generic tickets with no identifying serial numbers to be integrated into a ticketing system. So instead of being able to scan tickets at the door, you are forced to only collect them, leading to fraudulent ticket productions. 

PROS:

• Cheaper costs
• Easy to set-up and use

CONS: 

• Slower printing time
• More parts needed to operate
• More room for error
• Requires monthly maintenance
• No QR codes for scanning 

For cheap and quick ticket printing you can rent Purplepass’ receipt printers (see right) for both desktop and wireless iPads and scanners. Plug in or turn on your printer, print receipts and/or barcoded tickets on the fly for general admission events and assigned seating. 

These simple printers are similar to regular ones, however, they print out tickets with QR codes that can be scanned to verify a ticket's validity. 

Boca Thermal Printers

Thermal printers are designed to handle high volumes of printing, especially tickets. They can easily print a million tickets at up to 10”per second and gives the user a wider array of printing options for a more polished appearance.

Although initially, you can expect to spend anywhere from $1500 to $2000 on a single Boca printer, you may get more bang for your buck if you intend on printing tickets and related items frequently. Most companies who purchase them, consider them an investment in their business and realize that they can get more benefit from them than a standard printer. 

In addition, you can ditch the need for ribbons, printer ink, and toner when you use a Boca printer, which cuts operating costs.

There are also a variety of connectivity options available for each model of Boca printer for additional convenience.  You also get free print head replacement for each printer according to the Boca website.

PROS:

• Handles high volumes of printing
• Prints at faster speeds and quantity
• Better quality ticket stock
• Better connectivity options and variations 
• Less needed parts and equipment to operate

CONS: 

• Expensive 

Purplepass offers full support for all Boca printers you might need at your event. You can print barcoded tickets for general admission and assigned seating events at the door or pre-print bulk ticket stock in your own office.

Depending on the amount and frequency of your ticket printing, you may want to consider using a Boca ticket printer.

Standard printers work fine for the occasional ticket printing needs, but if you anticipate the need to print regularly, investing in a Boca printer will help you lower operating expenses and repair costs. For more information about ticket printing, check out Purplepass and the equipment options.