Pinfed labels continue to hold steady in an evolving market
By Ken Mandel
Once the label industry standard, used by shipping warehouses and nearly every business within reach of a dot-matrix printer, the continuous pinfed label market lost ground to the ease and clarity of laser and thermal transfer labels.
Despite the growing use of laser products, manufacturers point out that the death of the continuous pinfed label is not in the near future. There is still a wealth of applications for the old standard.
"They are still the standard for some of the large shipping houses and the electronic data processing market and should be for the foreseeable future," said Todd Davis, vice president of sales at Continen-tal Datalabel, Elgin, Ill. "It will take a while for them to diminish completely."
Still in the Game
Jerry Weidner, vice president and general manager of Atlas Tag & Label, Neenah, Wis., added that pinfed labels still have a place with long runs, general market business forms and in places that do mass mailings and shipping. "[Even though] that market is diminishing, there will always be a need for the continuous pinfed label," he said.
"We still have over 500 types of pinfed labels, but we also have about 60 laser items and 30 thermal transfer items. The latter two businesses have increased by about 30 percent each year over the last few years, while the pinfed demand has been gradually declining," said Davis.
"I think the continuous pinfed label market will stay where it is or gradually decline over the next few years," he continued. "It depends on how industrial these corporations want to become and how much they want to spend to upgrade. The new technology is out there, so the people have to weigh whether it is economically feasible to change."
One area where label manufacturers have seen growth is the thermal label market.
"Thermal labels have always been in grocery store deli counters, but now it's being used more in warehouses and manufacturers," Davis said. "The need for bar codes has forced the explosion in the thermal and laser market."
Bar codes printed with pinfed technology often had light/dark images and blurry lines, but were accepted because they were state-of-the-art at the time.
But retail chains like Wal-Mart and Kmart began to expect greater efficiency in scanning UPC codes, something on which the laser labels have improved.
"We deal with major business forms companies throughout the country and they're getting more into thermal because pinfed labels aren't up to speed with the bar code requirements," said Tony Heinl, vice president of sales and marketing for Repacorp Label Products, Tipp City, Ohio. "Every package sent from a shipping warehouse needs a bar code and it's clearer with the thermal transfer label. It's a quality issue."
In the mid-'80s, with the laser thermal market in its infancy, the upgrading curve was small. But as with most technology, the price came down to the point where those who don't upgrade are slipping into the minority.