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E-Tickets are the Thermal Roll Tickets that Police Vehicles are now using for issuing Violations, Information, and Directions.
This is a relatively new market, which means for Print Distributors, that your primary competition is the hardware and software providers.
What size paper is used for e-Citation printers?
These are the most common e-ticket paper products used by law enforcement:
1. 8.5" x 92' Thermal Roll with a Perf and Sense Mark every 11"
2. 8.5" x 100' Thermal Roll, Blank and without the Perfs
3. 4' x 80' Thermal Rolls, Blank.
How do we identify the printers used for e-Tickets?
The Brother PocketJet seems the most common 8.5” wide printer used for traffic citations. These Brother PocketJet printers use the 8.5″ x 92′ Thermal Roll with a Perf and Sense Mark. Zebra, Brother, Printek and others do make printers for traffic citations and parking citations that are around 4” wide. These printers use the 4′ x 80′ Thermal Paper Rolls.
How do we estimate the amount of e-Ticket paper rolls that a police department will use in one month?
We can estimate the number of e-Ticket paper rolls depending on the ticket output of the police department.
The first step is to look at past weeks and count the number of tickets issued by one police car per day. To be more accurate we can take the average number of tickets issued by 4 police cars in one day.
Then we multiply this number by the number of police cars. Then multiply by 30. This number is the number of tickets issued in a month.
Finally, divide this number by 100 to see the number of e-ticket paper rolls without the perfs needed per month. For paper rolls with a Perf and Sense Mark, divide the monthly number of tickets by 92 to decide the number of thermal paper rolls needed per month.
For the larger 8.5 inch wide printers we can assume we’ll get 100 tickets out of each roll of paper. From actual police departments we’ve seen numbers ranging from 1 roll every 10 days, per car (10 tickets per day), to 1 roll every 3 days per car(33 tickets per day). For larger police departments or larger cities we may see more tickets printed and more rolls needed per car.
How often should police departments order new e-Ticket paper rolls?
Most police departments want to strike a balance between their budget for e-citation printers and paper versus running out of paper before the next budget period. You need to order enough paper to supply all your cars and officers with enough paper for their daily average of citations printed. The shelf life of e-citation paper is 2 years, so you could order up to a 2 year supply if budgets allow.
How can paper distributors know how often to contact police departments for re-orders?
You need to contact police departments well before they run out of paper, or they’ll think you have forgotten them. You’ll need to ask how long the order is expected to last. This may be based on budget periods being renewed monthly or yearly.
