Barcoding your inventory is one of those things every event company knows they should do—but figuring out where to start can feel overwhelming. In a recent strategy session inside The Loop, LASSO’s Mel Baglio broke down the full barcoding landscape: when to start, what equipment to consider, and how to roll it out without losing your mind.
Here’s what you need to know.
First Question: Are You Ready for Barcodes?
Not every company needs to jump straight into barcoding. But if your team is spending time manually counting gear, chasing down missing assets, or struggling to keep inventory counts accurate across multiple events, barcodes are the next step.
The real question isn’t whether you need them—it’s how to start without overcomplicating it. Mel’s advice: start small and build from there.
Know Your Options: Barcode Printers vs. Pre-Made Barcodes
There are two main paths, and each comes with trade-offs.
Barcode printers (like Zebra printers) give you maximum flexibility. You can print barcodes on demand in whatever size and format you need—one layout for road cases, another for cables, another for fixtures. You can design custom templates using ZPL editors, save multiple layouts in LASSO, and print replacements instantly when a label falls off or gets damaged. For larger warehouses with high asset volume, this is the way to go.
The trade-off: printers aren’t plug-and-play. There’s setup involved, a learning curve, and ongoing maintenance. You’ll need to factor in calibration, cleaning, and potentially working with your IT team on network configuration. It’s an investment in time and resources upfront, but it pays off at scale.
Pre-made barcodes are Mel’s go-to recommendation for companies just getting started. Services like MyAssetTag.com and Case Labels USA let you order professional-quality barcode labels in bulk—with your logo, custom numbering, and a variety of materials (metal, paper, tamper-proof, fabric) depending on where the barcode will live.
The upside: zero setup, no maintenance, and you can be up and running fast. The downside: if a barcode falls off, you can’t reprint the same number—you’ll need to assign a new one. And once you run out of a batch, you’re waiting on a new order. During busy season, that can leave you stuck.
Planning Your Rollout: Start Big, Then Get Granular
This is where Mel’s warehouse operations background really shines. Her rollout advice is practical and sequenced for real-world warehouse teams.
Start with one barcode size. Don’t overthink it. A standard 2×1 label works for most large assets. You can always add specialized sizes later for cables, mics, and other small gear.
Start with your biggest assets. Cases, truss, motors—the items that are easiest to label and most impactful to track. Get those into the system first, build the muscle memory with your warehouse team, and expand from there.
Then layer in containers and kits. Once your team is comfortable scanning individual assets, you can start thinking about locked containers and kits—where instead of scanning every item inside a case, you scan the case itself and LASSO knows what’s inside. This is where barcoding and LASSO’s container features work together to dramatically speed up check-in, check-out, and returns.
Think about placement before you print. Where the barcode lives on the asset matters. If a fixture ships inside a case, does your team need to open the case to scan it? Or can you barcode the case and track the contents through container restoring? Planning this upfront avoids rework later.
Barcode Printer Setup: What You’ll Need
If you do go the printer route, there are a few things your team will need to have in place before LASSO can help you configure it. Mel touched on the key questions your Customer Success Manager will ask: Do you have a Zebra network-enabled printer that accepts ZPL? Do you have a static IP? Do you have internal IT support for firewall and router configuration?
The full setup walkthrough is available in The Loop, and your CSM can walk you through the specifics for your environment.
Want the Full Walkthrough?
This blog covers the highlights, but the full strategy session goes deeper—with live demos, real-world Q&A, vendor recommendations from LASSO customers, and a full breakdown of printer setup. It’s all available inside The Loop, LASSO’s customer community.
Join The Loop to watch the full session and connect with other LASSO customers who are optimizing their Inventory workflows every day. Not a LASSO customer yet? Schedule a 1:1 call with our team to walk through what’s possible.
Mel Baglio is an Industry Engineer at LASSO with 22 years of experience in the live events industry, including 10 years running warehouse operations.
