Feature request Square to support the L90

[Kaveh]

Hey Square community —

I run a specialty coffee shop and I'm in the process of building out my café. I've been researching sticky label printers and keep running into the same wall: the Epson TM-L90 is not supported by Square.

This is frustrating because the L90 is arguably the industry standard for drink labeling — Starbucks uses a custom version of it, and it's the only printer Toast supports natively for item labels. It's widely available new and refurbished, often significantly cheaper than the Star TSP143 IV SK, and uses the same linerless thermal label rolls.

For small coffee shops and cafes using Square, the current options (Star TSP143 IV SK, TSP654IISK) are solid but expensive and harder to find used. The L90 has a massive install base and would give Square sellers a much more affordable and accessible path to drink labeling.

Would love to see the Epson TM-L90 added to Square's certified printer list. Has anyone else run into this? Would be curious if there's been any movement on this from the Square product team.

[tomven]

Hey Kaveh, I feel this one.

You’re absolutely right about the Epson TM‑L90 being a de‑facto standard in coffee, especially for drink labels. A lot of cafés come into Square after using Toast or legacy POS setups and hit this exact wall. From a Seller point of view, it’s frustrating when the most common, affordable piece of hardware in your industry isn’t an option.

Current reality with Square

At the moment, Square only certifies a small number of linerless sticky label printers, and the TM‑L90 isn’t on that list. Square’s supported models for drink labels are currently:

• Star Micronics TSP143IV SK
• Star Micronics TSP654IISK

You can see the live, official list here
Square printer compatibility

Square generally won’t connect to unsupported printers even if they use similar media or drivers, so unfortunately the TM‑L90 can’t be added manually or “forced” to work reliably.

Practical workarounds cafés are using

Not perfect, but these are the most common paths I see working in real cafés:

1. Buy refurbished Star hardware

If price and availability are the main blockers, refurbished or ex‑lease TSP654IISK units are usually much easier to find than new stock, and they hold up well in busy coffee environments

2. Use a Zebra label printer for prep labels

If you’re flexible on label format:

• Zebra ZD410 or ZD411 are Square‑supported for barcode and prep labels
• Works well for batch labels, fridge labels, allergen labels, etc
• Not a true linerless cup label replacement, but it can cover part of the workflow
Also listed on Square’s compatibility page [squareup.com]

3. Separate drink labels from Square Some cafés keep Square for POS and run drink labels from:

• An online ordering platform
• A kitchen display system that supports TM‑L90
This avoids re‑buying hardware but does mean an extra system at the bar

[Kaveh]

Completely get that — We have a bunch of LM90s

We use Toast in our Brick and Mortar

And debating to keep using Toast via an extended system for popups or just use square since we also have leftover square gear.

We’ve found our popups, farmer markets, to be super busy and the sticker printer is super important.

Anyone from Square Support team — are there plans at all to get the LM-90 into the system? Or is this an Exclusivity situation with Star Micronics? It’s the debate of getting a $500 printer or just utilizing what we already have and figure something out with our Toast people