Abstract: A printer using font modification logic for improving the print quality of high speed thermal printing is disclosed. A microprocessor modifies the font by shortening the vertical component of each symbol to account for the retained heat of the individual print elements. This font modification eliminates the vertical tails that are a common problem when using thermal technology. A method of high speed printing is also disclosed consisting of redefining the set of symbols to be printed by subtracting part of the vertical element in the print instruction, selectively printing the symbols, moving the paper, and printing another row of information. This process is repeated until all of the information is printed on the paper.