Recommendation for inventory labels?

W

W. Mark Hellinger

Sophomore
May 16, 2011
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I've come to the conclusion that the time has come to assign inventory numbers to the items in the gear pile... to keep track of the stuff onna spread sheet.

I've seen some really good sticky inventory labels preprinted with inventory numbers... typically used by schools & govt. operations. The good ones seem to be an aluminum tag with an embossed inventory number. I'd like to source fairly small tags... that would work equally well on mics, FX devices, amps, speakers, mic stands, etc...

Maybe like these:

http://www.seton.com/asset-tags/mos...rty-id-plates-for-curved-surfaces-cs4020.html

If anyone has a recommendation, or better idea... ?
 
Re: Recommendation for inventory labels?

I've always wanted to barcode my gear. The equipment isn't that expensive these days. I think some the upper end rhino labelers will even generate barcode labels. How easy would that be to "check" gear in and out and generate a list each time? Aside from the initial outlay and set up I think that would be pretty sweet. I make it sound so easy, but I still haven't done it. :)
 
Re: Recommendation for inventory labels?

RFID would serve as a viable solution. In the initial setup it would take slightly longer. But in the long run it'll take time. Find a program to keep track of certain tags, when you take inventory scan in, and whatever doesnt show up, isn't there. I use RFID constantly for a recent project I've been working on and it's quite nifty and useful.
 
Re: Recommendation for inventory labels?

Rob Timmerman said:
RFID stands for "Radio Frequency IDentification" - basically it's a barcode that doesn't need line of sight to the reader (in its simplest form).

Wikipedia has a decent writeup on the subject. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rfid
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Precisely. I prefer it over barcode because if the code gets lost or slightly damages, then you can no longer use it without making another one, but with RFID you can even take the step of putting it INSIDE your items, so they don't get damaged. and they use the power from the scanner so theres no need for batteries in the RFID Tags.
 
Re: Recommendation for inventory labels?

Michael Quick said:
but with RFID you can even take the step of putting it INSIDE your items, so they don't get damaged.
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Good idea but: I'm envision an eloquent way to kill two birds with one stone.

1) In the past (till now), the equipment list has been basically for tax purposes... date of purchase, item description, purchase price. It's a cumbersome list because of the ID methods: Make, model, and serial number... but the ID method breaks-down when there isn't a serial number available... or the serial number is buried. That's why I was thinking a simple unique inventory number assigned to each durable goods piece of equipment would simplify the record keeping.

2) A few weekends ago I was working a show co-op with another contractor. Came time for tear-down, we had 5 or 6 SM-57's to sort out which were his and which were mine... they all looked virtually the same in the light we had to work in (headlights from my truck)... and neither one of us could remember how many 57's either one of us had brought to the gig. This has happened quite a few times for me in the past. One or two of my mics had some tell-tale signs that I recalled... which helped facilitate the sorting... but it would have been so much better if I had some sort of good ID on my gear. Some kind of tasteful but durable ID label would be nice.
 
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Re: Recommendation for inventory labels?

Hello Mark,
For situations like this, I have simple shrink wrap tags on my cords, and a dot of finger nail polish on the inside of every male XLR, including mics.
One quick peek on the inside confirms my ownership.
I also have spray painted the very bottom little ring on the mic stands on the inside for fast ID.

I doubt I will be heading in the barcode area.

Regards, Jack
 
Re: Recommendation for inventory labels?

W. Mark Hellinger said:
Good idea but: I'm envision an eloquent way to kill two birds with one stone.

1) In the past (till now), the equipment list has been basically for tax purposes... date of purchase, item description, purchase price. It's a cumbersome list because of the ID methods: Make, model, and serial number... but the ID method breaks-down when there isn't a serial number available... or the serial number is buried. That's why I was thinking a simple unique inventory number assigned to each durable goods piece of equipment would simplify the record keeping.

2) A few weekends ago I was working a show co-op with another contractor. Came time for tear-down, we had 5 or 6 SM-57's to sort out which were his and which were mine... they all looked virtually the same in the light we had to work in (headlights from my truck)... and neither one of us could remember how many 57's either one of us had brought to the gig. This has happened quite a few times for me in the past. One or two of my mics had some tell-tale signs that I recalled... which helped facilitate the sorting... but it would have been so much better if I had some sort of good ID on my gear. Some kind of tasteful but durable ID label would be nice.
Click to expand...

As much as I think the idea of barcoding or radio-barcoding every items sounds cool, it will not be practical for me in the real world: In times of many gigs in fewer days many items will often be repacked and redistributed to new trucks or trailers either in the lot outside the warehouse, or even worse - at the gigs.

I also have pages and pages of lists with item, make, model, serial #. Wherever there is no serial number this just gets written in the chart. Items of a certain value that I have many of (think monitor speakers, not mic stands) have a normal labelwriter-made sticker on them with a number on it, just beginning with #1 and ending with however many there are. The only purpose of this is to easily identify, make a mental note of and follow "rotten apples" with intermittent faults, etc, without looking up a long serial number nobody will remember for more than 15 seconds, anyway.

Items of a certain value that are small enough to pocket are engraved with company name or at least company initials. All mics travel to gigs in individual pouches of the same brand. Teardown time: Break out the pouches; empty pouch = go look for mic.

All items big enough to fit even a small sticker get a logo-sticker stuck to them.

Still, things can go missing from time to time. I guess you are never 100% safe. At least without making systems so cumbersome they cost more to implement than just taking the loss of a SM 57 or a few cables every blue moon.
 
Re: Recommendation for inventory labels?

I use a version from these guys:
http://www.mavericklabel.com/asset-tags/

Mine have my name, city, and phone number on them, and a 3-digit serial number. I got the polyester version rather than the metal tag. I bought my order the summer of 2003 and am still using labels from that pile. They have stuck pretty well, but I have had a couple that have given me trouble on rough finishes. I just got the plain adhesive rather than some kind of goopier version, since I figured that if someone really wants to steal something, a little label won't stop them, and periodically I sell gear and wanted to be able to get the labels off without spending an hour with Goo-Gone.

If I had to do it again, I would give try to find Graham and see if he is still printing, as the labels above were pretty expensive for the small quantity I needed.
 
Re: Recommendation for inventory labels?

Jack Arnott said:
Hello Mark,
For situations like this, I have simple shrink wrap tags on my cords, and a dot of finger nail polish on the inside of every male XLR, including mics.
One quick peek on the inside confirms my ownership.
I also have spray painted the very bottom little ring on the mic stands on the inside for fast ID.

I doubt I will be heading in the barcode area.

Regards, Jack
Click to expand...
;)

One of my two grandmother's-in-law... she was a widow at a young age, and the heiress of a fairly sizable (for the day) fruit orchard... which she single-handedly ran for a few decades, and she was no mechanic... but a pretty sharp cookie. When it came time to drive (or tow) some piece of equipment to a mechanic for rehibilitation, she'd dot all the suspect components with a little dot of fingernail polish (in a not very obvious location)... and after the job was finished, she refused to pay for any "changed component" that still sported a dot of fingernail polish. As I understand it, she'd evoked really red faces on more than one mechanic during her tenure. "Trust and verify" was her motto.
 
Re: Recommendation for inventory labels?

We use labels made by a company called Metalcraft - they've got just the kind of foil label you're mentioning, with serial numbers printed. We use them on everything valuable, and a non-numbered version on everything else.
 
Re: Recommendation for inventory labels?

Scott Helmke said:
We use labels made by a company called Metalcraft - they've got just the kind of foil label you're mentioning, with serial numbers printed. We use them on everything valuable, and a non-numbered version on everything else.
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Sounds perfect.

I surfed around on Metalcraft's website for awhile... didn't find what I was shopping for (lots of options there). Do you have a description or model the the stickers you're using?
 
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