wireless barcode readers for inventory

Even the simplest data collection devices cost several hundred dollars. every one that I've ever seen will produce a comma separated vales file (CSV) that can be imported into Excel, or into the Physical Inventory function of RMS. Renting them is not really that much less expensive, but you should be able to find places to rent online - look for "portable data terminal" or "data collection device".

You should work with your reseller for advice on how to best count your inventory, at least the first time that you do it - or do a lot of practice on a test system before running your first real inventory. The Physical Inventory system can be a little confusing until you get used to it.

Also, check back in the newsgroup for advice on opening CSV in Excel - you can easily lose leading zeros on SKUs if you do it incorrectly....

Glenn Adams Tiber Creek C> Is anyone here familiar with any type of wireless barcode reader that can be

RMS Thanks for that input. That's pretty much what I was finding about the devices.

I have had a little experience creating CSV files and converting them into Excel. I do that to upload my RMS inventory to my online store provider. It has been easier to send it to them in Notepad than deal with the numbers issues, but that apparently won't work for this purpose. I have seen the leading zero issue and also a problem where the SKUs show up in scientific format in Excel. Are there existing board posts about this that you know of? If not what's the best source to learn how to deal with this?

Hot to keep your leading zeroes and avoid scientific notation for long numeric ILCs when importing .csv files into Excel:

Open your CSV file with Word (or Wordpad, Notepad, WordPerfect or any other text editor/word processor).

Select All. Copy.

Open a new Excel worksheet. In cell A1, Edit|Paste Special... Text

Select Column A. Data|Text to Columns... a wizard apears.

Step One: Delimited Step Two: Delimiters = Comma (Text qualifier & consecutive delimiters are up to you) Step Three: Make sure that the ILC column is formatted as Text. This will preserve leading zeroes and prevent scientific notation.

HTH, Tom

Is anyone here familiar with any type of wireless barcode reader that can be used for taking inventory BUT doesn't cost several hundred dollars(US) OR that might be rentable? I guess the big issues, beyond cost, would be that it work well and that the data gathered be easily accessible and integratable into some common software like Excel.

Thanks for any ideas. -- WineGuy