A method for operating more than one thermal printer adapted to print images by transferring donor material from patches of donor material from a donor ribbon onto a receiver medium, each printer being operable to print images in a manner that exhausts a full donor patch or a fractional donor patch during printing. In accordance with the method, a print order is received and it is determined whether a fractional donor patch set is available for printing at each printer. Portions of the print order are directed to the printers in a pattern that minimizes the number of printers having donor ribbon with a fractional donor patch set available after the printing order has been executed.