RFID tag maker Avery Dennison RFID has come up with a novel—if potentially costly—way to build a loyal customer base: offer RFID tags for free. Donating thousands of dollars' worth of tags may sound like a costly gambit, but the company could see a big payoff if recipients like the tags and keep coming back for more.

Avery Dennison is handing out the free tags as part of a program it launched in November to assist companies facing 2006 RFID mandates requiring them to affix RIFD tags to cartons and pallets they ship out to customers. Through the program, Avery Dennison will offer RFID tag evaluation assistance at its Atlanta Technical Center. Participants will also receive up to 10,000 free RFID tags (they can choose either Gen 1 or Gen 2 tags) for testing and qualification work or even for making actual shipments to customers.

"The...program gives companies access to our expertise and experience with the challenges surrounding RF tagging in supply chain applications," says Mathew Mellis, vice president of RFID at Avery Dennison. "We are committed to enabling the widespread adoption of RFID by sharing what we have learned about RFID tags and their use."

The program is open to what Avery Dennison calls "qualified" companies facing RFID mandates as well as to retailers that are conducting RFID "proof of concept" pilot tests and OEMs, systems integrators and converters that are working on RFID implementation programs on behalf of end users.