food pantry tracking...handheld scanner?

[vagabond2]

Our church food pantry is trying to figure out the best way to keep track of what is in there. We have several people operating it (the church office goes in during off hours if there is a family in need) and we are trying to come up with a system to give us an alert if we are low on something.

We've thought of using a upc scanner to make an inventory and keep it updated....the church office can scan and send the data to us and we can make purchases as needed (we have some money for this). The techies in our group think this is great......others think its a waste of money. Has anybody had experience with a scanner? We're small but our numbers are growing steadily every week as more and more people tap out their resources.

[CherryPicker]

I never knew that handheld scanners could be purchased by the public...that said, I have had experience using them for a previous job. I used it for INVENTORY....and I'm telling you, it took me only 10 minutes to do inventory, and the numbers were transferred electronically to distribution for the automatic placement of orders. I found it conveinent, and easy to use, so I would say go for it.

[mrprice]

Our church's food pantry is very small. We have a committee of three who are responsible for monitoring stock. Anyone taking food from the pantry completes a sign out sheet listing the date, family size, what food was taken out and by whom.

[BarbaraH]

I used a handheld scanner in my job, t could do many dif. things, but some of the people I tried to show could only do simp. things.
I was always told they were very expensive

[vagabond2]

I've been pricing some basic ones and they come out to about $150 and yes they are available to the public...........we are in a fairly large church 1,200 members and although our group is in charge of the pantry other people have access to the area and while they are generous to give they forget to let us know even if we have large signs and markers available....we think/hope they would use the scanner as its a geeky tool and they seem to love those....my dh would donate it just to be able to play with a new game



Barbara, I'm intrigued what could you do besides basic inventory?

Thanks all!