ADV: Pre-eBay auction for filePro listers. SATO 5900Rve Bar Code Printer

[John Esak]

Hello file-Pro-ers,

Often it becomes desirable or even necessary to implement some kind of bar
code reading and printing with most filePro data base applications.  They
just lend themselves to it. Can't help at this moment with the reader
aspect, but I can do someone a great favor on the printing side of things.
If you need a bar code printer... A really great network ready one.... The
BEST... Read on.

When Nexus bought all its bar code printers for the huge production of boxes
they do daily, monthly and yearly... I thought it would be a good time to
get one for The Valar Group as well.  After a good bit of testing way back
in the 90's, and then further testing in the early 2000's, yes *after* I
lost my sight!  And yes, it was extremely difficult.  But all that aside. I
finally ended up choosing the SATA 5900Rve printer.  Things are often
described as being a workhorse if they work hard and keep going and going.
This then would have to be called a work elephant.  They print single label
after label in batches of 10, 100, 1000 or 10,000 non-stop for years.  Still
I'm not telling you the whole story. They do it in any kind of environment.
The plant floor at Nexus is measured at 130 degrees Fahrenheit during any
day in the summer. In the winter, the temp goes down to 40 degrees in some
places and a little hotter in others.  None of this bothers these printers
at all. They work continuously, 24 hour a day 365 days a year. They run 3
eight hour shifts at Nexus.  Well, I don't know about now with the economy
in the shape it's in. But they always had for the 20 years I worked there.
Every SATO printer they had printed hundreds of thousands and even millions
of labels a year without complaint. Occasionally, we would change a print
head through regular PM.

Okay, enough bullshit.... True bullshit but enough anyway. The printer I
bought for Valar Group had considerably less duties to perform in a nicer
atmosphere... My recording studio.  I put out 3 or 4 projects, let's see the
conference stuff one year, the Survivor Series CD's, the Survivor Accounting
and a couple other piddly things.  I would say this printer is  really
NEW... But I can't. It has actually printed about 400 labels. Little 4 x 4
labels.  You may have seen one if you bought anything from me. They had a
little outlined Wizard thanks to Jim Asman's help to print the picture. We
did lots of miracles on these printers for Nexus. For this printer, it only
did some address labels maybe 3 or 4 times and the rest of the time it's
just sat there smiling at me.  

I'm going to put it up on eBay in a week or so, but I figured I give the
group of you a chance to buy it first here. I will help whoever buys it set
it up (means plugging it in pretty much) and help you make a couple bar code
labels out of filePro.  By using what I show you and the manuals, it is dead
easy to make very nice labels from simple to extremely complicated. I have a
small roll of the 4" x 4" labels I'll throw in as well.  It will print up to
any size label very easily.  Well, the limit may be 7" long?  I'm not sure,
I don't remember. I just know that it is as much or more than any other
printer in its class.  It is also faster at 6" second.  And it is made out
of steel not plastic. Hence, the first two paragraphs above.  

You just connect this printer up to a network switch  (or hub, if you're
very old-timey) and you can print to it from SCO, *nix, or Windows. If you
do a major amount of printing labels, I can tell you where we got our GIANT
ROLL holders  both for intake and outflow. I can put you in touch with a guy
who has the best label prices in the country and get a conference call going
so you can buy direct from his factory.  He is a very nice guy.  

There are lots of bennies to buying this thing from me before I have to put
it up on eBay.  First of all should be price. So I'll be selling it this
way.  If you go to NextTag.com and compare prices for new 5900Rve printers,
they will range from $1,100 to $1,700, and then of course there is shipping.


I will run this as an auction, start the bidding at $800 and I'll pay the
shipping.  If you live in the Pennsylvania area and want to drop by my
little studio I'll have it ready to demonstrate and give you a quick lesson
or two before you go away happy.

If you were to get this printer for $1,100 it would be a great deal.... We
paid up to $1,600 for most of the ones at Nexus, and when they get scarce,
people pay that for them now, too.  So, jump in and make a bid.  Obviously
an auction has no starting time until people get worried they might "miss"
it and lose to someone else.  So, the ending time of this bidding is
critically IMPORTANT. It will be 12 noon on Friday, September 10th. If
things go like they do on eBay, everyone will wait until the last minute to
bid.  Don't get burned.  Either place your bid up here... And we can all see
who is the highest and what has to be bid to beat it. $5 minimum bid okay?
If you want to bid by phone, and you can reach me, I'll accept bids at (717)
889-4689 any time of the day. Normal hours are obviously better (6am to 12
midnight are normal hours). As soon as I get a higher bid, I'll post it in
the bidder's name.

I think I'm going to turn the phone off at some point a couple hours just
before the end of the auction to be fair.  Although, I don't know *why* that
would be fair... And actually I would like to entertain OffTopic ideas on
how to end the auction a better way. Only through the mailing list... Only
on the phone... Only some kind of combo keep both going. Turn off list. All
ideas accepted.

It might not have a big turnout... And then I'll go to eBay with it, charge
for shipping, not offer any training, etc.  Or, it might be only you
bidding, and you'll get it on your first $805 try.  You'd be getting a hell
of a deal.

John
(717) 889-4689

P.S. Hey did I mention this is a thermal direct printer... No ribbons. You
just buy the right kind of label stock on 3" core rolls rolled inward.