With news that major retailers will soon (by mid-year 2024) require all merchandise tags/labels to incorporate RFID tags, the commercial printers are presented with an opportunity to grow by incorporating RFID technology into their workflows. Manufacturers of products offered for sale by major retailers will also be looking for commercial printers to add RFID to their product lines for the U.S. market.
What is RFID?
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology has been around for several years now. It is comprised of two parts: 1) a reading device with one or more antennas that emits and receives/reads radio signals; 2) the RFID tag that contains information that can be read by the radio device. Like barcodes, RFID tags can be programmed to contain pricing and other information.
What’s the Advantage of Using RFID?
Unlike products with barcodes that have to be read individually by a scanning device, RFID tags can be read en massed by the RFID reading device. Meaning, for example, instead of removing products one-by-one from a shopping cart to be scanned individually, all of the products in the cart with RFID tags can be read in a single scan. Widespread adaptation of RFID technology will speed-up the check-out process and eliminate long check-out lines.
If you have any questions about RFID Tags, give us a call at 330-597-8560. We’re happy to help you get the most out of your printing project.
Photo by Mika Baumeister
