"Dave Arquati" wrote in message
...

POS system printers are moving away from impact printers (i.e.
dot-matrix) and heading for thermal printers, similar to fax machines.
Unlike impact printers, thermal printers can print anything...
unfortunately they are also a lot slower. Aesthetics over speed (a
pretty till receipt stays with you for longer than a wait at the till -
unless it's a pretty long wait!)

AIUI it was one of the reasons that a certain train operating company in our
area rejected Avantix version 1 as a potential replacement for SPORTIS -
ticket delivery was not deemed to be at an acceptable speed for on-train use
(although some of the National Express TOCs have taken it).