Calculator ribbons

[BLACK BART]

Solved a mystery this weekend that's been buggin' me for about a year.  Couldn't find any good ribbons for my calculators; everything I tried was maddeningly light, illegible, gray, or faint to the point of non-existence (like some of the unreadable gas tickets customers bring in).  I ordered two new Canons from Quill and when the starter ribbons played out I bought new ones from Office Max/Depot -- they were gray starting out and faded quickly.  Bought a second new package; same story--began to wonder if Canons were no longer a quality brand and considered switching machines. 

This weekend I went by a small out-of-town office supplies store (mom and pop shop) and explained my problem.  The nice lady laughed and said "No, you're not crazy. The story is that Max used to buy from Burroughs Corp, but they dropped them and went to a cheaper, low-ink overseas supplier." She had an alternate ribbon (no box/just in a cellophane package) which she said was good, but not jet black like we used to get.  I've tried it and yes, it IS good, if not real dark.  Think she said it was made by Data Products or Data Supply (something like that); she had four left and I'm going back this weekend and get the rest.         

Just in case, anybody know a good quality mail-order supplier? Thanx.  BB

[NECPA in NEBRASKA]

I've had good luck with Amazon in finding supplies for my old Sharp calculator and HP 4000 Laserjet.

[Abby Normal]

I use an onscreen calculator with a tape:

             4,545     +    
             1,668     -    
             2,877     T    

             4,676     +    
             923     -    
             3,753     T    

We copy and paste the tapes into PDFs of the records. Scans of calculator tapes were usually unreadable.

My desktop calculator rarely gets turned on anymore.

[mcbreck]

8 minutes ago, Abby Normal said:

My desktop calculator rarely gets turned on anymore.

Yep - I don't even have a desktop adding machine anymore and haven't for 6-7 years.

[easytax]

So you are saying I should get a newer model????  

 

[jklcpa]

3 minutes ago, easytax said:

So you are saying I should get a newer model????  

 

 

Yes, this model:  
Edit to say - sorry this is so large!!!!
 

[Abby Normal]

Abacus consumes no energy or paper and requires no ribbon. <mind blown>

[SaraEA]

I work with CPAs, and I believe no one with this credential can imagine working without one of those big, noisy machines on their desk.  Maybe the noise has the satisfying sound of work getting done.  They even make fun of my little solar powered Casio that I use for quickie calcs.  Hey, it has perfect sized keys, a change sign key, and retains numbers in the memory even when the machine is off.  No ribbon, no battery, and it's quiet.  Cost about $10.

I can't imagine why they don't use Excel for serious calculator work.  I add up piles of receipts in one column, move to the next to verify, and if the totals don't match it's easy to scan to find the culprits.  If you have a zillion numbers, you can write a little formula for column 1 - column 2 and instantly pick out the mismatches.  So why is it that CPAs are wedded to their desk calculators?  Luddites?

[kcjenkins]

IT'S JUST SO EASY TO STAPLE YOUR TAPE TO A PILE OF RECEIPTS, AND IN AN AUDIT, THERE IT IS, IF YOU HAND THE AUDITOR A BOX WITH 15 PILES WITH THE TAPE ATTACHED, ALMOST ALWAYS THEY CHECK THREE PILES AND IF THEY ALL MATCH, THEY ACCEPT THEM ALL.  

That said, I gave up mine around 05.  Went to Judy's 10 Key and never regretted it.  http://www.judysapps.com/TenKey.htm

Easy to print out the tapes, if you wish, or save as pdf in the client's file.  

 

[ILLMAS]

I know of a CPA that has an adding machine with worn out numbers, calc you later.

[Abby Normal]

11 hours ago, kcjenkins said:

Judy's 10 Key and never regretted it.  http://www.judysapps.com/TenKey.htm

Thanks for that. That's a whole lot better than the one I've been using.

[NECPA in NEBRASKA]

I will try Judy's 10 Key. I am just so fast with my actual 10 key that I'm not sure if I will ever give it up. I guess I'm just old.

[Catherine]

15 hours ago, kcjenkins said:

That said, I gave up mine around 05.

I had one from a small set of utilities (no longer around, doggone it) called Desktop Dozen.

If you use Adobe Acrobat, the Tic, Tic, and Calculate plug-in (from cPaperless) does paper tape calculators right there in your pdf and saves them on the page for you.

[Abby Normal]

34 minutes ago, Catherine said:

If you use Adobe Acrobat, the Tic, Tic, and Calculate plug-in (from cPaperless) does paper tape calculators right there in your pdf

I just use Foxit PDF viewer's typewriter feature to paste tapes into my PDFs. Free Acrobat reader has a tool to add text too but you can't right align it to make your tapes look right.

[BLACK BART]

On ‎9‎/‎28‎/‎2016 at 11:03 AM, NECPA in NEBRASKA said:

I've had good luck with Amazon in finding supplies for my old Sharp calculator and HP 4000 Laserjet.

Thanks-I'll give them a shot. If ribbons are discontinued I'll junk the Canons, take the guys' hints, and start shopping for a Foxfire Solar Steamer; Tick-Tack-Dough compliant with Hush-Up capability and dual exhaust.