Wasp Barcode Technologies: The Barcode Solution People

Asset Tracking Saved Thousands in Repairs & Taxes: A Personal Story

Written by Christal Lane, System ID Account Manager Five years ago, I would have laughed if someone told me that today I would be a barcode consultant. Worse, is that I would use barcodes in my personal life and become dependent on them as much as I am on my cell phone.  Prior to working at SystemID, my expertise of barcodes was the “self check out line” of Wal-mart where I would try multiple times to scan my groceries before the system allowed me to bag them. I often dreamt of chunking a giant ham at the system just to make it stop asking me if I wanted to “skip bagging”. I have deemed that the self check out line hates me. Now years later, not only am I well versed in barcodes and help many companies find ways to track their assets and inventory, but I use them for pricing checking, keeping track of my movie library at home, tracking my repairs on my vehicles, and monitoring my calories through a simple app on my phone. Last year, I wrote off $10K in personal assets tracked through my Wasp MobileAsset software that I use at home. I was able to track each vehicle by VIN number, attach contracts to them, and even log repairs. It came in real handy one year when I began to have a ton of issues with my car. I took my car into the dealership with an inclination that the alternator was bad. Being a “car girl” has helped me quite a bit and most service centers don’t see it coming. I look like the typical girly girl but underneath I’m just a “gear head”. So I wasn't surprised when the dealership came back with a laundry list of issues that totaled up to over $5K in repairs. Once the bill was presented to me, I reminded them that I still had one month left on my warranty. All of the sudden, the dealership felt that only the alternator needed to be repaired. Since they had suggested so many other problems though, I insisted that we get it all done. I thought I was pretty clever until days later the service manager called me to tell me that I would be responsible for the bill since I had not kept proper maintenance on my vehicle which would void all of my warranty. He said that the manufacturer did not have records of my oil changes and tune ups. To say that I was livid would be an understatement. I immediately went home and pulled up my asset software. I had tracked every repair, oil change, and tune up from every year on my software. I pulled a report and hauled it back to the dealership. Days later, I went home with a new alternator, water pump, O2 sensor (and much more) and a HUGE smile on my face! If you’re not tracking your company’s assets, I would dare you to take the time to pull up a list of items that have been “lost or stolen”, items you threw away without proper depreciation, or assets you think might still be covered under a warranty but you just aren't sure. The money you’ve lost will triple the cost to implement a simple asset solution. Christal is a senior account manager for System ID. She has helped set up systems for RFID tracking, asset solutions, mobile wireless solutions, proof of signature solutions, inventory tracking in freezers, patient tracking, and much more.