Explanation:
The printed area from a Direct Thermal printer can potentially fade over time. If the label is exposed to excessive light or heat the material will darken to the point that text may become unreadable and barcodes may lose their ability to be scanned. For this reason, Direct Thermal printing cannot be recommended for “lifetime” applications. While the readability of labels printed with Direct Thermal printing can vary greatly depending upon the environment that the labels are used in, the printing technology still provides enough of a lifespan for common bar code applications such as shipping labels, receipt labels, and nametag labels.