Citizen CT-S601 speeds up service at fuel stations

Citizen Systems Europe has provided a fast, efficient means of on-the-spot printing to help Greek retail solutions provider ICS (Intelligent Cash Systems) win new business. Citizen's CT‑S601 met the need for robust, speedy printing in a system designed by ICS for fuel stations, which has improved service for customers and kept maintenance to a minimum for busy staff.

"A new regulation has been introduced into the Greek market stating that gas stations must provide receipts for fuel," says John Koulis, Operations Manager, ICS. "This requires a high-speed printing solution at the pump because gas station owners want to avoid making customers get out of the car, come into the store, pay, pick up the receipt and get back into the car to drive off. So, we worked with a software company who created an automated process that was triggered by the pump itself; once the customer fills the car the system handles the payment and creates a receipt on-the-spot from a terminal beside the pump. For the printers that were integrated into this terminal we came to Citizen because they offer high-speed machines with tough overall build quality."

The Citizen CT‑S601, a full-function, mid-range POS printer, was chosen for its speed, ease of use and print quality. Capable of print speeds of up to 200mm/sec, with high resolution from a tough, long-life thermal printhead, the CT‑S601 incorporates a number of special features including a self-retracting cutter, one of many factors that made it the ideal choice for ICS.

"This solution needed to be as low maintenance as possible," explained John Koulis. "Citizen offered not only speed and durability in the printers but other key features, such as retractable cutters. People working in gas stations may not have the skill to perform printer maintenance so we need to offer machinery that functions over long periods with very little chance of a problem occurring. We also need to supply machinery that, should a problem develop, provides a fast and easy means to solve it. The retractable cutter is a good example; if ever there is a paper jam, the cutters release the paper quickly and easily so that business can be resumed."

"We've used Citizen before and the feedback we get is so good that we use them again and again." John Koulis said. "Even when printers from another supplier are cheaper we still go with Citizen because the added value they offer easily outweighs any short term saving by providing long term efficiency. For example, we've introduced Citizen front exit printers into Greek bakeries. Before we did that, our customers found that flour and breadcrumbs contaminated a top exit printer and caused problems, so the front exit printer was embraced by the Greek bakery market.

We also built a fiscal printer around the CT‑S601 unit. For that project we had to ensure the equipment would be able to deliver fiscal printing, with capacity to maintain a fiscal memory containing all the necessary information that the business is required to present to the tax authorities. Also, by law, the printer has to last at list 5 years with a minimum of maintenance and the Citizen printer masters at this. The CT‑S601 for this project easily out weighted any other pos printer, in any aspect."

"We find Citizen extremely good partners because they offer not only great printers but excellent technical support. It's not easy introducing a high-end solution to a troubled economic market such as Greece but Citizen delivers the best result for our customers. This is because a quality printer is more efficient than a low end printer, which means that our customers get better performance, greater reliability and fantastic return on investment with a Citizen printer."