Method and system for tracking items in a shipping facility

A system for trackingitems, comprising:

• (a) a turntable for receiving a plurality of articles, at least some of said plurality of articles each having an RFID device thereon;
• (b) a column adjacent to the turntable for supporting a spool, the spool moveable up and down on the column, the spool having a roll of resilient film thereon;
• (c) at least one RF transceiver mounted on said column, the transceiver configured to transmit a signal to transmit a signal to a plurality of RFID devices and receive return signals from the plurality of RFID devices while said turntable is rotating and wrapping the articles, each of said return signals containing data related to the articles having the RFID device thereon;
• and
• (d) a processor for processing the data related to the articles having the RFID devices thereon.

A method for tracking items, comprising:

• (a) loading a plurality of articles on a pallet, at least one of said articles having an RFID device thereon;
• (b) loading the pallet on a turntable,
• (c) providing a wrap dispenser adjacent the turntable;
• (d) mounting a RE transceiver on said wrap dispenser;
• (e) attaching an end of a wrap to at least one of the articles or pallet;
• (f) rotating the turntable to cause the wrap to encircle the articles on the pallet and continuing to rotate the turntable until substantially all of the articles are generally constrained in position by the wrap;
• (g) transmitting a signal from said transceiver to the at least one RFID device to cause each RFID device to emit a signal back to the transceiver while the turntable is rotating and wrapping the articles;
• and
• (f) reading the signal from the RFID device to obtain information contained in the signal during the wrapping operation.