Today there is a wide choice of printers available to prospective buyers and at affordable prices too.Printers are now available everywhere,walk into any retail outlet or business establishment and chances are that printers will be available in one form or another.Laser and Deskjet Printers are now extensively used in offices ,business establishments and even in homes.Their print quality is better than DMPs, they do not make noise while printing,are faster in graphics printing,can print in colour and also occupy less shelf space.
So when there are many options of printers available ,are DMPs still relevant today?

Low cost of printing
Some retail outlets have about 1000 customers walking in each day,making a purchase .Is it really feasible to print the bill on laser or inkjets?The cost of printing a bill on a DMP would average about 5 paise or even less,while a laser or inkjet would cost atleast 10 times or more.In such a case ,the cost savings on a DMP is Rs 450 per day or Rs 13,500 a month.This is true even for business establishments where the printing requirements run into hundreds of pages a day,making the per cost of printing more critical.

Multiple Copies
Most business establishments require multiple copies for records and statuary purposes .For example ,warehouses need to print invoices or gates passes in multiple copies for transporter’s copies and own records ,etc .In such a case ,it would be unfeasible to take out 4 printouts of the same page in laser or inkjet printer.With a dot matrix printer ,however one can print multiple copies ,for eg.Original +3 or Original+6 ,making it much suitable for such applications.

Ruggedness and Reliability
Many environments especially in non-corporates and non-metros still continue to be without the luxury of ACs .Some of these environments can be rather harsh and heat and dust might play a havoc on sensitive equipments like inkjets and lasers.Thats not so with DMPs.Because of the relatively simple technology impact dot matrix printers can withstand heat and dust much better than other printers.
Also because of the relatively tougher build ,DMPs are more reliable and encounter less failures.

Low cost of Ownership
The buying cost of printer is not the only cost one incurs when buying a printer .Once one starts using a printer the cost of the consumables like ribbons and printheads,the regular maintenance and replacement of parts constitute the various costs .When compared to other printers ,DMPs have the lowest cost in all parameters resulting in the lowest cost of ownership.As an example the cost of printing a single page on a DMP can be as low as 5 paise while that of an inkjet or laser would be at least 10 times the cost .

Wide stationary printing
For certain applications eg financial records wide continuous stationary printing is still the preffered norm.For this DMPs are the most suited.

Life of a Printer
Most inkjet and laser printers would be hard pressed to service for longer than 5 years .DMPs on the other hand with regular maintenance have been known to easily service for 8 years or more.

Ready availability of spare parts and wide spread service
While ,most laser and inkjet printers are imported ,DMPs are manufactured in India.There fore spares are readily available and hence reduce downtime

Customisations
DMP hardware and firmware technology is relatively easy to alter and customize It is possible to customize printers for security ,for air ticket printing ,for battery operations at 12 v DC ,for thicker stationary printing ,for language applications etc.

As evident there are various reasons why the market for dot matrix printers still continues to grow today.