>>Considering the cost of portable data collection systems with scanner and/or RF systems and associated additionl programming that would be necessary, I would suggest a dedicated "inexpensive" computer/lan configuration used primarily for scanning.
>
>Hi Dale,
>
>I think a handheld computer with a scanner attached to it would be more practical. After the employee is done with the scanning, they just connect the handheld to the PC and upload all the scanned data.
>
>It can be done for about $1000 including scanner and is far more practical than getting another PC and setting up a LAN where it isn't really necessary.
>

Alex, a good quality laser scanner good to ~36" from the gun to the label is going to cost well over $500 - more in the $750-1000 range for something "industrial grade" (IOW, if you drop it once it is not going to be broken.) A long-distance laser is going to cost considerably more, and the size of tghe bar code is going to need to be larger. In most of these 'bar coded' apps, people aren't willing to spend the amount of money for a thermal barcode printer - anything that uses ink is just about ruled out for dry-cleaning applications obviously, DMP print qiuality is very unlikely to be adequate for barcode apps with any realistic degree of reliability (relaize thatg if someone says that their barcode printing is 90% accurate, that means that, assuming no physical damage to the barcode label surface, 1 in 10 scans is going to fail or misread, so you're really looking for "five nines" quality, and realize that the labels will get mangled, the plastic around the garment is refractive and reflective, making non-contact scanning difficut to do. I'd strongly recommend a wand-type scanner for this if it's feasible, since there's less optical interference to deal with.

Unfortunately, the environment he's suggesting is not well-suited to standard barcode approaches.