ITEM 114: Star TSP100ECO Thermal Receipt Printer
Found on: 7/5/15
Materials: plastic, metal
Damage/wear: burned and/or melted
Provenance: (likely) Star Micronics Co., Ltd., 289/23 Moo 13, Soi Kingkaew 25/1, Kingkaew Rd, Rachathewa, Bang Phli, Samut Prakarn, Thailand (approximate area looks like this)
Production details: Star Micronics (originally Star Manufacturing Co. Ltd) was founded in 1950 in Shizuoka, Japan and originally produced wristwatches and camera parts. It began producing POS (point of sale) printers in 1979. After 2001, it began to establish plants in other Asian countries. It now has four manufacturing facilities in China, and two manufacturing and two distribution centers in Thailand. It’s unclear which plant this unit was made at, especially since the company -- in the time since this was produced -- seems to have changed what gets produced where. The unit’s label says it was produced in Thailand, but “special products” (the division of the company that handles POS printers) are now manufactured at its Kowloon, Hong Kong facility. The Thailand plants now appear to manufacture and distribute primarily machine tools (such as lathes) and precision components (for watches, etc.).
The plant in Thailand where this was most likely made, given the label “Star Micronics Co., Ltd.” (all of the plants have slightly different names), is on a narrow street in Samut Prakan, in one of a block of gray buildings and across the street from several piles of unwanted objects (not unlike the objects found here at the dump). Buildings in this area manufacture biotech and engineering products.
Date or date range: 2010-2014
Still in production: no
Rare: no
Still attainable from: eBay
Value: current models $200-210 new; this model $40-50 used
Use: This was used to print receipts (alongside Item 115, Vx570 credit card payment terminal) in a store. It was capable of printing 28 receipts per minute. The unit is designed to save paper and energy as compared to other Star printers. In general, thermal printing (in which the printer uses heat instead of ink to print onto heat-sensitive paper) is commonly used in retail locations and information kiosks because the printers are smaller, faster, and quieter than dot-matrix printers, and because they work well with long rolls of paper. Thermal printing is also used in seafloor exploration and engineering geology, again because of portability and the ability to print continuously on a roll.
