Notebooks Made From Receipt Paper (United States)?

[johntdavis]

Hello,

 

So, I've discovered the paper used to print receipts in most businesses/eateries really gets shading ink to pop and dries fast.

 

I'd love to get a notebook made of this stuff. Does anyone know what it is? Thermal paper? Something else? Is anyone aware of a bound notebook format?

 

Alternatively, does anyone know if the paper used to print Gideon hotel bibles behaves similarly? For obvious reasons I've never tried to scribble in one, but it looks like it would be interesting.

[ScarletWoodland]

The receit rolls we use at my shop are thermal I think and I know just what you mean. I wrote on there with BSiAR the other day and it looked amazing, better than Tomoe River!

 

Have never come across anything similar in notebook form. Possibly because biros refuse to write on the stuff (the shiny, printing side anyway) which would really limit the user base. You never know though. Googling did come up with some A4 sheet packs so you could fashion your own.

Edited March 8, 2019 by ScarletWoodland

[johntdavis]

Thanks, @ScarletWoodland. I'll look for those A4 sheets. I've been thinking about commissioning some custom notebooks. It'll be good to make the bookbinders boggle a bit.

 

I wonder if the brand makes a difference?

[inkstainedruth]

My best guess would be to ask the store where they get their receipt rolls from; then go online and try to see which paper mills make that sort of paper, and then see if you can get it in a size other than the rolls that are used for store receipts. It might take some digging and a lot of phone calls/emails to the company/companies. I can easily see where you'd have to really explain what you want it for, because someone who isn't a business asking about that sort of thing might raise some red flags (somewhat similar to how some hotels won't take cash payments to rent a room -- or charge a premium -- because it's safer for them to track the credit card transactions); I could very easily see a paper company seeing your request and going "Why does he want rolls of cash register receipt paper?" -- even when that's not what you actually want, and even when you don't have any nefarious intent.

Explaining your true purpose is often really difficult. Like the times my husband and I went to a place to buy magnetite (a type of ferrous oxide). That's usually sold by the truckload to use as scrubber material in smokestacks. We wanted a small amount (a couple of hundred pounds), because someone was going to run a demo in our backyard on a medieval way to smelt iron. The first time, the guy running the place thought we were off our rockers. I went another time (and couldn't call my husband because I wasn't getting a signal on my cellphone) and the guy said "Are you making *fireworks*?" (At the time, most fireworks were illegal to buy in PA unless you were a professional company doing big shows -- they've only changed the law in the past year or two.) And I said "DEFINITELY NOT!" If I knew whatever happened to the "muck bar" they got one year as a yield (about the size of a bread loaf pan) I'd have taken it up there to show the guy what we were doing with all that "rust".

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Inkysloth]

One thing to bear in mind is the acid content of the paper - receipts only have to last for a few years, and Ive noticed some of my old receipts going quite yellow in 2-3 years.

 

Fine for short term use, but for anything you want to keep, probably best avoided.

 

Edit to add: if you want to read all about thermal paper conservation, heres some interesting info! http://www.naa.gov.au/information-management/managing-information-and-records/preserving/thermal-papers.aspx

Edited March 14, 2019 by Inkysloth

[tubular]

Cash register receipts contain BPA, which is an endocrine-disruptor and a carcinogen. It is recommended that people avoid touching it unnecessarily and wash their hands thoroughly if they have to handle it.

[XYZZY]

Cash register receipts contain BPA, which is an endocrine-disruptor and a carcinogen. It is recommended that people avoid touching it unnecessarily and wash their hands thoroughly if they have to handle it.

 

I thought that was a bad joke until I looked it up. Thanks for pointing that out.

[tubular]

 

I thought that was a bad joke until I looked it up. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

I know: what could be more trivial and innocent than a grocery store receipt?

 

I don't even recycle them. I don't want anybody unwittingly exposed to the stuff.

Edited April 11, 2019 by tubular

[Inkysloth]

 

I don't even recycle them. I don't want anybody unwittingly exposed to the stuff.

You're right not to recycle them - they're not actually recyclable!

 

https://www.countryliving.com/uk/news/a24837096/shopping-receipts-bpa-receipts-recycling/

[Studio97]

Cash register receipts contain BPA, which is an endocrine-disruptor and a carcinogen. It is recommended that people avoid touching it unnecessarily and wash their hands thoroughly if they have to handle it.

And cashiers handle them a thousand times a day as they hand the receipts to customers. Especially true in grocery store chains and major discount stores.