RFID labels--anyone using them?

[Charles Papert]

I find myself in the business more and more of subrenting as well as carrying a large inventory of gear onto jobs that is almost all out of my daily control, and inevitably bits and pieces disappear over time (because doing exhaustive check in and outs is difficult). I'm starting to look into an RFID system of labels and reader, hopefully iPhone based, as it will save time and do a more thorough job. Has anyone implemented this with their own gear?

[Lawrence Karman]

I have to believe that type of system would be prohibitively expensive for a small operation such as yours (and mine). I have the same problem and have gone to small bar code labels which you can have printed up for minimum cost (just google bar code labels) and a cheap barcode scanner I bought from Amazon which comes with some lame inventory software that I am working around/with. At the least my camera gear has my company name on the bar code label which might help it to find it's way home when it is separated from the pile. Ultimately, someone has to scan the gear in and out which is time consuming so I could see the benefit of a RIFD system. It's a constant and frustrating problem, Charles. I like to think I did a better job of keeping gear together back when I was an AC, but there certainly were less pieces back then. One thing I try and do is have a complete case inventory printed out and kept in each case. If the AC's or you have time at wrap it's easier to cross check it that way. If you find a cheap RFID system or some good rental house software let me know!

[Charles Papert]

So far it does seem cost-prohibitive but it looks like there is movement towards reducing things, making it less hardware intensive. It may take a couple more years, I suppose.

[Alan Rencher]

I did a bunch of research on this when I was managing a boutique rental house. Any system under 6,000 was a waste of money. The ones that allowed RFID and iOS apps were upwards of 10,000.

 

I think that Rent Master was the best looking up and comer. They started as party rentals, but a small local house has been using them for a few years. Now they've created a new tailored system for them.

 

Edited July 16, 2013 by Alan Rencher

[Victor Lazaro]

Found this. Don't know how practical this would be... http://www.thetileapp.com/

[Victor Lazaro]

I also found this article that offers many different ways to protect your gear from theft: http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2013/06/protecting-yourself-from-gear-theft

[William Demeritt]

If you don't mind the extra legwork, I think the rental houses that stick with Bar codes on asset tags probably work the best (for now). I would think trying to scan multiple RFID tags at once might reduce the fidelity of "verified" items, so you'd still have to pour through your cases to locate whatever you think is missing. Further, the RFID chips aren't cheap, aren't necessarily small enough to be effectively useful, etc.

 

I would imagine a simple barcode system with wireless scanner and a Mac app to reconcile a checked out inventory against checking in inventory would be most effective.

 

Or hire a slave to do it whenever necessary?

[Brian Freesh]

Or hire a slave to do it whenever necessary?

 

No need, they're free.

[Mark Karavite]

2 shows, 2 different outcomes:

 

Show #1: Bad 2nd AC, $900 L&D (which I ate most of to maintain relationship with a good producer) and missing / broken parts galore.

Show #2: Great 2nd AC, $0 L&D, everything back home at wrap clean and safe.

 

Just sayin'