How to stop till slips from fading
You mostly cannot. Till slips are thermal paper, the print is a heat-reacted dye rather than ink, and it keeps reacting after the sale: warmth, sunlight, humidity, plastic sleeves and friction all push the print back toward blank. Storage tricks buy months. A scan made on the day of purchase keeps the slip legible for the five years SARS may ask for it.
Why the print disappears
Thermal printers make an image by heating coated paper; the coating darkens where the head touches it. The chemistry does not stop at the till. Leave the slip on a dashboard and the whole sheet darkens; file it in a PVC sleeve and the plasticisers lift the print; keep it in a warm room and it simply pales, evenly and irreversibly.
This is why the oldest slips in a shoebox are the blank ones, and why the slip you most need at tax time, the big equipment purchase from two winters ago, is the one most likely to be gone.
Slipsort keeps every slip legible for as long as SARS can ask.
Scan in about a second, numbers read for you, one pack per month for your accountant.
Get Slipsort free on iPhoneWhat helps, a little
Cool, dark, dry storage in paper envelopes rather than plastic. No sunlight, no heat, no sticky tape across the print, no rubber bands. Photocopying or scanning the moment the slip matters, because a slip that has faded cannot be recovered by any scanner; the information is chemically erased, not hidden.
The actual fix is capture
SARS accepts electronic records, so the scan is the record. The habit that works is scanning on the day of purchase, which means the tool has to be in your pocket and quick enough that you actually use it at the counter or in the car.
Slipsort scans a slip in about a second, straightens it, reads the numbers, and keeps the image at full quality. The paper can do whatever thermal paper does; the record no longer depends on it.
Quick answers
- Can a faded slip be restored?
- Sometimes partially, with careful lighting or gentle heat, but it is unreliable and often makes things worse. Treat restoration as a last resort, not a plan.
- Are laminated slips safe?
- No. Lamination applies heat and plastic, both of which attack thermal print. It is one of the fastest ways to blank a slip.