The thin roll looks like the small-shop choice, right up until a PAN, an invoice number and two lines of momo have to share a strip of paper the width of a thumb.
What the two widths actually hold
A 58mm printer, in the Rongta RP58 specification published by Pasal Nepal, prints an effective width of 48mm and 32 characters on a line. That listing was NPR 10,000. An 80mm printer uses paper about 79.5mm wide. The ZKTeco ZKP8016 was NPR 8,500 at Quality Computer. Nepali Cart listed an 80mm machine at NPR 9,000. Total IT Center listed one at NPR 10,500. In this particular week of Kathmandu prices, the narrow printer was not the cheap one.
| Machine | Width | Listed price |
|---|---|---|
| Rongta RP58 | 58mm, 32 characters a line | NPR 10,000 |
| ZKTeco ZKP8016 | 80mm | NPR 8,500 |
| Nepali Cart 80mm | 80mm | NPR 9,000 |
Eighty millimetre paper is what a bill with a shop name, a PAN, an invoice number, two items and a total can survive without wrapping into a ribbon. Fifty-eight is enough for a food stall that prints a name and a total and never a tax invoice. The moment the bill has to be a PAN bill or a VAT bill, buy the wider roll.
Pasal Complete ships an 80mm printer for that reason, inside the Rs 49,999 first-year counter. Rolls for both widths are ordinary New Road stock. Neither width needs ink. Both fade if the roll sits in a hot shutter, so a bill you must keep belongs in the digital copy as well as on the paper. That argument is print or digital.