As readers around the world enjoy the holidays, I’m pleased to spread a little seasonal joy with a poem from John Rommel, Motorola‘s head of RFID channel development. Enjoy!
A Visit From (RFID-Savvy) Saint Nick
‘Twas the night before Christmas, and up North Pole way,
the elves were all busy preparing the sleigh.
With pallets and case loads of toys pouring in,
the factory floor used to be such a din.
But that was ‘fore Santa, with much contemplation,
equipped his supply chain with new automation.
So now every toy that the elves make with glee
gets marked with a GTIN and RFID.
This to ensure that each toy in the world
is properly sent to the right boy or girl.
So thus, as the sleigh was prepared for the flight,
the elves read each tag so their pack list was right.
The bags were all loaded, a million toys strong,
when Santa soon noticed that something was wrong.
“We’re minus one reindeer,” he said with a chortle.
“Can some elf please check the RFID portal?”
All of the deer had been tagged on the collar.
“Did he go back inside?” ole Saint Nicholas hollered.
An elf checked the screen of the Find-A-Deer server.
“At quarter to twelve, Prancer left in a ferver.
“He passed through the doorway that leads to the stable.”
When they looked, there he was, eating oats off the table.
Santa just smirked as he looked at the mess.
“If he went any further, we’d need RTLS.”
They harnessed young Prancer. Then ready to go,
the sled took to flight with a loud “Ho. Ho. Ho.”
The reindeer sped off, Dasher setting the pace,
and Santa knew all of his toys were in place.
As he raced through the sky toward the good girls and boys,
Santa praised the technology tracking his toys.
“Go Zigbee. Go WiFi. Go UWB.
On LF and HF and ole EPC.
“Track scooters and dolls from Bombay to Fort Worth,
until RFID is all over the Earth.”
Just then, a twinkling display lit the sled.
“The GPS says the first house is ahead.”
They lit on the roof and they got a fixation—
a chimney stack tag that confirmed their location.
Then, knowing that they were where they ought to be,
ol’ Santa slid down through the chimney with glee.
He glanced at the tree, then put down his pack,
and started to empty the gifts from his sack.
He pulled out the toys for the kids of this manor,
and read all their tags with his RFID scanner.
Confirming the toys were all ‘neath the right tree,
he laughed at the way that things once used to be.
“Amazing, I once did all this from a list.
Who knows all the good boys and girlies I missed?
“And how many naughty kids received a toy,
because I confused Tom Mallay with Malloy?”
He then scanned the stockings, all chipped in their sole,
“Oh good,” he exclaimed, “no one here’s getting coal.”
The stockings all filled, ole Saint Nick was now through.
He grabbed up a cookie, then flew up the flue.
He ran to his sleigh, and he hopped in the sled.
“Let’s go,” Santa said. “The next house lies ahead.
“Oh here’s a great gift,” as the sleigh skimmed a fir tree.
“Some metal-mount tags for my friend, Mark Roberti.”
I watched them take flight and soar up through the air,
an active tag stuck to the sleigh’s derrière.
Then I heard him exclaim as he flew ‘ore a tree,
“Merry Christmas to all who use RFID.”