PURPOSE: To provide a handy thermal printer which does not generate paper jam even after the printer has not been used for a long time.

CONSTITUTION: The title thermal printer is provided with a thermal head 3 printing paper 2 for a long-sized label, a platen roller 9 arranged facing the thermal head 3 and carries the paper 2 for the label in a forward and reverse directions while pinching and holding the same together with the thermal head 3 and the second RAM 25 backed up by a battery 24 storing that the paper 2 for the label is carried unidirectionally by a fixed length by transmission data from a host computer showing an unused state. This is a label printer provided further with a CPU 20 which carries the paper 2 for the label unidirectionally by a fixed length by the transmission data and performs control of carrying of the paper for the label by the fixed length by the platen roller 9 in one direction and reverse direction stored in the second RAM 2 through making of an electric power source of the printer of a usage starting signal.