Top 10 FAQs Answered: Maximizing Your Monroe Calculator's Potential

Here at Monroe, I consider our Business Development Executive, Mike Prasch, and our Customer Service Representatives, Maria Haney and Nicole Rosenblatt, to be three of the busiest people in the whole company.

You love to call, and they love to talk.

But for those of you who don't have the time to call, this article is for you.

I'm going to tackle your most pressing calculator questions.

Without further ado, here are the...

Top 10 Printing Calculator Questions Monroe Users Ask

1) What makes Monroe calculators more expensive than other brand models?

To help answer this question, think of purchasing a printing calculator like purchasing a mattress. The difference in quality between a cheap mattress and a high-quality one can be drastic.

A significant portion of your life is spent on your mattress and has a profound impact on your daily life. It affects your quality of sleep, your health, and your mood. When you purchase a poor mattress, you wake up with aches and pains, groggy throughout the day, and underperform in both your work and personal life. In contrast, a higher-quality mattress can lead to improved sleep, mood, health, and cognitive function.

A lower-quality mattress may make sense for someone's shore house that they’ll only be at periodically, but when purchasing a mattress you plan on using daily, you want to get the best quality you can afford.

A printing calculator can be thought of in the same way. When you’re using it daily, it’s going to have a similar effect on your daily life. You need to be confident in your printing calculator’s ability to consistently perform. The key touch, the printer, functionality, and other key components are critical to achieving optimal results. When a printing calculator isn’t operating at peak performance, it can often turn into a very frustrating tool to use. This frustration leads to more distractions, lower productivity, higher burnout at work, and ultimately, lower job satisfaction.

Our company works very hard to ensure that our loyal Monroe users don’t experience the same frustrations that other brand users go through. A cheaper calculator may make sense for someone who only uses their calculator a handful of times per month, but when you’re using your calculator consistently, you go with a Monroe. That’s why we always say, “Those who know, choose Monroe.”

Our calculators are the highest-quality printing calculators ever created.

That's a BOLD statement, and we stand behind it.

With over 107 years in business, Monroe is the only calculator company actively innovating new features and functions for our calculators. We have always been the driving force behind the major innovations in our industry. When we designed our current line of calculators, we focused meticulously on user experience to design the most comfortable and longest-lasting calculators available today This resulted in a smooth key-touch, high-functionality, and speedy printing that is unmatched by any other printing calculator.

When you purchase a Monroe calculator, you get the peace of mind in knowing that you are getting superior quality, for the full life of the printing calculator. That fact is why people choose Monroe calculators over the competition.

2) How long will Monroe printing calculators last?

This question goes in conjunction with the previous one. The superior quality of our calculators leads them to have a significantly longer lifespan than competitor models. The lifespan of our calculators can vary significantly depending on general care and the quality of supplies used.

Performing a regular cleaning of your calculator is critical to extending its lifespan. We take an in-depth dive into maintaining your calculator in our blog entry called “How to Clean and Preserve Your Monroe Printing Calculator”.

Now and then we get calls from customers who use low-quality, generic supplies that create paper dust and debris within their printers. Dust and debris found in calculators can mix with ink from lower-quality ink ribbons and create a glue-like substance that slows the printer and makes it work harder, which leads to it burning out faster. This is what we call premature printer failure.

By providing regular care and using high-quality Monroe supplies you can significantly extend the life of your printing calculator. Depending on the setting, a user will typically get around 8+ years of usage out of a well-maintained heavy-duty Monroe printing calculator. We've even had customers report using the same Monroe calculator for 30+ years.

3) Why doesn’t Monroe supply its calculators through big box stores?

Big box stores such as Staples, Office Depot, etc., have approached us many times about stocking our calculators. Our response every time has been a resounding "NO!"

Why?

They can't provide the level of support and education that our customers need to make an informed decision. Monroe calculators are packed with functionality and programs that many users may or may not need. Each customer often needs different functions, depending on the type of work they do. Our salespeople at Monroe are well versed on each machine, its functionality, and matching the right calculator to each customer’s specific needs.

This is not a level of support that a big box store can provide, but it is a necessary one for a customer to make an informed decision on which machine to purchase. Our company has always had an obsessive focus on the customer experience, which is why we maintain an in-house team dedicated to customer service and sales. We are the only printing calculator company that offers this.

4) What ribbon does my printing calculator take?

The model of your calculator is going to determine which ribbon(s) your calculator takes. All of our current "X" series calculators are compatible with the M33X ribbon cartridge or the P65M ribbon spool. We always recommend the M33X ribbon cartridge because it can be installed in seconds (if done right) and is mess-free. We even created videos for Installing the Monroe M33X Ribbon for your convenience.

The P65M is our universally compatible ribbon that can be used with most printing calculators made today, as well as calculators that are decades old. However, some do require a special ribbon. Before purchasing, we recommend checking out our handy ribbon compatibility chart to make sure you’re ordering the correct ribbons. You can also give us a call at 267-580-2600 and a member of our team will be happy to help.

5) How long do the ribbons for the calculators last?

The answer to this question varies greatly based on your usage, but a good rule of thumb is that you should change your ribbon every 2 rolls of paper you go through. This will ensure that your print remains dark and legible, however, some users may get more use out of each spool based on their ink usage (fewer digits per line = less ink).

For the average heavy-duty calculator user, you will go through about a dozen ribbons per year. Many of our customers set a reminder in their calendar for the 1st of every month to change their ribbons.

The longer the ribbon is left installed in the printing calculator, especially in hot and dry environments, the more the ribbon dries out and the print begins to fade. If you are going to keep ribbons in storage, we recommend keeping them in their original packaging and storing them in a cool, dry place. This will give the unopened ribbons a 5-year shelf-life or longer.

6) Can my Monroe use generic ribbons?

While we always recommend using Monroe supplies, other spool ribbons can work in our calculators. However, we do not recommend doing so as the quality can vary drastically. We recommend Monroe ribbons because they are the most heavily inked ribbons on the market today, so they will print darker than any other ribbon. They also use our own Monroe True Red color, which is the deepest and truest red available.

7) Why doesn't my calculator print as dark as it used to?

The print of your calculator is influenced by the quality of the ribbon you are using. Monroe ribbons have the darkest print in the industry and can be expected to be produced at a high level. However, as mentioned above, any ribbon that has been in storage for a long time will begin to dry out and cause the print to fade.

To properly diagnose this issue, we first recommend testing your calculator after installing new ribbons in your calculator. Sometimes it may just be a matter of replacing the ribbon and cycling through a few lines of entries to get fresh ink on your print wheel. If that does not remedy your issue your calculator has another issue which can be one (or a combination) of three things:

1. You're using low-quality (thin) paper
2. Your print wheel is worn down
3. Your platen has hardened

You can read more about diagnosing these issues in our article called "Why choose a Monroe printing calculator ribbon?"

8) Will Monroe paper rolls fit in other brands' printing calculators?

Yes, both our 15lb. and 20lb. paper rolls will fit in most other brands’ printing calculators. To be certain, you'll want to double-check what size paper your calculator requires. As long as your calculator takes 2.25" wide paper, our paper will work in it. The dimensions of our paper are 2.25" wide x 150 feet long, the maximum length we can fit on a roll that will function in printing calculators.

9) How can I reduce the amount of paper my printing calculator uses?

Our heavy-duty printing calculators are designed to be as quick and efficient as possible, which is why they default to print above the tear-off knife when you press the total key. This feature is great for users who tear off the tape after each entry. For users who consistently let their tape run, they have an option to not have their totals printed above the tear-off knife so they can reduce the paper being used.

If you are like the second user mentioned above, there are two solutions to reducing your paper usage.

First, you can put your calculator in digital mode, which will completely shut off the calculator's printing functionality. All of your current calculations will still show on the display, but the results will not print, and you will not be able to see prior calculations. This can be done by toggling your Print Selection Slide-Switch to the "d" position. Doing this will eliminate all paper usage.

The second option is to put the calculator in Paper Saver mode. This feature is made for the users who let their tape run and don't tear it off after each entry. It changes the default setting to start the next entry directly below the previous one. This can be turned on by pressing the defined key twice (once on calculators before the current "X" series) and then pressing the paper advance key (adv key on the top left). If you wish to clear this setting for any reason, you will need to press the defined key twice, then press the clear button (c/ce button).

10) How do you turn on the running subtotal display?

The running subtotal display is great for users who want to view the subtotal of their calculations on the display screen instead of the most recent number they entered. This can be turned on by toggling the top right slide switch to the diamond symbol.

And there you have it! The answers to our top 10 most commonly asked calculator questions. If you have any further questions, you can call our team at 267-580-2600 Monday - Friday from 8 am to 5 pm EST and we’ll be happy to help.