RFID bandwagon rolls on

HEADNOTE

With Wal-Mart's deadline fast approaching, shippers are learning to adapt

The RFID bandwagon is picking up speed now that other major retailing chains are echoing Wal-Mart Stores Inc. 's (vvww.walmai1.com)

demand to its suppliers that they put RFID tags on shipping cases in an effort to improve shipping logistics and inventory control. But vendors are quickly finding out - and Wal-Mart is beginning to acknowledgethat radio frequency identification (RFID) tags are generating a good bit of "static."

The limited functionality and expense of the passive Class O and Class 1 RFID tags (they use different protocols and frequencies) and readers that are available right now explain these emerging reservations. There is almost no possibility - because of data and network limitations - for the shipper to get any kind of return on investment on the tags. And once implemented, the tags and readers may be quickly outmoded given the lightning speed with which technology is moving.