Would It Be Feasible to Track Mail Via RFID?

Published: March 15, 2012

I do advertising, and have had serious issues with direct mail. I send flyers 50 miles out from a set zip code. Could I use RFID to monitor the mailings in real time from any location?

—Name withheld

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It would be impossible to track your flyers via radio frequency identification. RFID is a short-range identification and tracking technology. Tags can be read from a distance of only a few inches to a few thousand yards. There are active tags that combine RFID and GPS functions, but these are expensive and bulky (a little larger than a cell phone), so they would be inappropriate for use on flyers.

—Mark Roberti, Founder and Editor, RFID Journal