RFID for Dummies: A True Story

An entrepreneurial businesswoman who won a $100,000 technology buying spree contest, courtesy of Intel and the Small Business Institute, is using the money in a way you'll find interesting. She's tagging dummies. Her name is Judi Henderson-Townsend and she is president and CEO of Mannequin Madness, an Oakland, Calif.-based mannequin liquidator. You can read her whole long quest for the $100,000,but here's the relevant RFID part:

As part of the research she did on her own during the contest, Henderson-Townsend attended a seminar on RFID technology. She plans to use Intel RFID tags to speed and simplify inventory tracking. The embedded chip technology, based on radio frequency, is faster than bar code scanning, holds more descriptive data and will let them scan inventory on high shelves in the warehouse without climbing up to it.... "I'm truly excited about using RFID, because I can see how it will help us be more productive," she said. "We'll be able to link the RFID tags to customer requests, so that the system sends e-mail to customers telling them the item they want is now available." She also plans to embed tags in rental stock in order to track them. "Basically, we'll be giving our dummies a brain."
She pointed out that the $1-per-tag cost of RFID might not make economic sense for a company selling inexpensive items, like bags of chips, for instance. "But the price of our inventory is high enough to make it worthwhile for us."

I love it when smart business people get it.