RFID Journal Staff asked 8 years ago If items were scanned into inventory with tags not actually attached to them—just in a roll—and the items were not actually in stock, would the RFID tags no longer be usable? Or is there a way to rectify this problem by removing the roll from the next report, by simply not scanning them and just using the stickers as needed for actual items thereafter?
—Jessie
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Jessie,
If you were to interrogate a group of tags unassociated with any items in a database, then the tag reads would be meaningless. You should still be able to place each tag on an item and associate its ID number with that specific item, however. The next time you read the tag, assuming you have set up the system correctly, the tag read will be stored in the database.
It is sort of like using a camera to read license plates on cars. If you are testing the system and reading a bunch of plates in a stack, then all you'd know would be that you had read the license plate correctly. If you were to associate a plate with a particular car and then read that plate at an intersection, you'd know that the car was in that specific intersection.
I hope that clarifies things.
—Mark Roberti, Founder and Editor, RFID Journal
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