RFID in Yellow Dog Inventory

RFID unlocks faster inventories, higher accuracy, and better visibility across your merchandise. Before getting started, there are a few important things to know so your rollout is smooth, successful, and frustration-free. Think of the sections below as your roadmap to getting the most value from RFID right out of the gate.

What’s Required for a Successful RFID Setup

To ensure reliability, accuracy, and supportability, RFID implementations follow a few non-negotiable standards:

  • RFID printers and handhelds are provided by Yellow Dog
    This ensures everything is fully tested, supported, and optimized. Any third-party hardware requires an SOW for confirmation and labor services.

  • RFID printers must connect via Ethernet
    Printers must be on the same network as your workstations for seamless communication.

  • Hosting or API connectivity is required
    All clients must either:

    • Be hosted by Yellow Dog, or

    • Have API connections fully established

  • SKUs must support a 12-digit UPC format
    RFID does not support alphas or non-numeric characters. Yellow Dog will confirm your SKU readiness and provide required changes before implementation begins.

  • Label configuration is standardized
    Label format, font, and appearance are fixed to ensure consistency and performance.

RFID Tags and Setups That Work Extremely Well

These configurations deliver the most reliable scans and are ideal for RFID success:

  • Paper hang tags on apparel

  • Paper neck tags on wine and liquor bottles

  • Tags applied directly to non-dense packaging or merchandise, such as:

    • Hats

    • Shoe boxes

    • Cardboard packaging

  • Flag tags that allow unobstructed antenna scanning

  • Jewelry tags for jewelry, key chains, and small wrapped items

  • On-metal tags designed specifically for dense or metal items

    • These thicker tags allow the signal to reflect correctly

These things are helpful to have on hand:

  • A metal document box to store encoded RFID labels for future use

    • This prevents accidental scanning during physical counts

  • Alternatively, a metal file cabinet, sheet, or enclosure to block RFID signals

What Does Not Work (at all or reliably)

Materials that block RFID signals:

  • Hologram tags, foil tags, or foil wrappers
    This means tags cannot be on or on the back side of these tags or wrappers. Example: Golf ball sleeves, Licensed holograms.

  • Metal
    Example: Metal Tumblers. Golf clubs/putters.

  • Water
    Example: Tag ON the Wine bottle

  • Concrete

  • Carbon-Based Materials
    Example: Graphite golf club shafts.

  • Ceramics
    Example: Poker Chips

  • Glass
    Example: Glass Picture Frames

  • Obstructed Items
    Items that are stored or displayed in dense containers, displays, or other physical environments where a “clear, unobstructed scan may not be reliable”.

Materials that partially block RFID signals:

  • Plastics

  • Rubber

Configurations that may block RFID signals:

  • Metal shelving

  • Displays that may block the unobstructed scanning of RFID tags

Getting Started

Implementation Process

  1. Review the information fully on this webpage.

  2. Reach out to clientaccounts@yellowdogsoftware.com to inquire about RFID.

  3. Sign the proposal and return it to Yellow Dog Software.

  4. A Yellow Dog team member will:

    • Confirm all requirements are met

    • Identify any needed configuration changes

  5. Required changes must be completed before proceeding.

Test First. Always.

Testing is critical to a successful RFID rollout.

  • Test 100 percent of tags and item configurations before your first physical count

  • We strongly recommend ordering small batches of each tag type from Yellow Dog using the RFID Batch in Yellow Dog Inventory

  • Test thoroughly before tagging all merchandise

Important note: Yellow Dog Software does not accept returns for used hardware or partially used RFID media.

Recommended Tagging Workflow

Following this process ensures accuracy and confidence at every step:

  1. Use Count XL on a handheld to scan each section by barcode.

  2. Add items to a session and name the session by section.

  3. Finalize the session when the section is complete.

  4. Import the session into an RFID Tag Queue.

  5. Generate RFID for those items.

  6. Print the RFID batch or send it to Yellow Dog for printing.

  7. Attach RFID tags to the items in that section

  8. Perform an RFID-based Count XL session to confirm:

    • All items are read

    • Quantities are correct

  9. Repeat for all sections until complete.