Thanks for getting back to us with those additional details. Have you tried adjusting the material type within the print settings? Moving to a heavier material type like photo, glossy, or labels will typically slow down the feed of the material through the printer. This can often lead to more consistent, better aligned prints in addition to better print quality and durability. If you haven't made this adjustment already it's definitely worth trying. It's possible that it could resolve both of the issues that you mentioned.
The label sheets can move slightly as they feed through the printer. If your design doesn't allow for some movement, slight shifts can be very apparent. As mentioned above, simply changing the material type to a more appropriate, heavier setting may help account for the shift that can occur. Our printer alignment guide provides additional suggestions for overcoming misalignment caused by printer shift, as well as other common issues associated with misaligned print. You can view the printer alignment guide at the link below:
https://www.onlinelabels.com/articles/printer-alignment-guideOf course, over time the fusing units on laser printers can wear down and begin to fail. Seeing the color fade as you get further into a print job could be an indicator that the fusing unit in your printer is going bad. If adjusting the material type setting to a heavier option doesn't improve the print quality, then it may be time to begin shopping for a new printer after all. Based on my history with the brand I'd recommend sticking to HP. I've had a ton of success using printer models from their Color LaserJet Pro series. I've been using both the HP Color LaserJet Pro M252 and the HP Color LaserJet Pro M452 for years and have been very pleased with their performance across all of our laser printable label materials. Both of those models are discontinued at this point, but newer models in the series seem to be reviewed very well online and we've gotten positive feedback from customers using them with our labels.
I hope this helps. If you need any additional information please just let us know.
