If you are a funeral home user currently using hardware labels and are looking for guidance switching to printable labels, this is the guide for you! Printable labels are the preferred KeepTrack™ tracking method for many of our users because of the lower costs, ease of use, and simple onboarding.

With hardware tracking, your team requests hardware labels from our Gather team for $10 a label, and we will send you a set number of unused labels that can be used for future cases. You can either subscribe to a monthly subscription of labels or receive them on an at-need basis. These labels are metal, designed to survive being in the entrance area of the crematory, and can be attached with a zip tie.

With printable tracking, we are not mailing hardware labels, making this the more inexpensive alternative for your business. The KeepTrack™ label stickers are printed directly onto a sticker that fits onto a plastic wristband, allowing it to be secured to the decedent, easily scanned, and identifiable.

The first option for printable tracking is Avery Label printing.

This is the most inexpensive method of tracking decedents. Print labels from your existing funeral home printer (or home printer!) using Avery 5160 labels. You will load Avery sticker paper into your printer, and our tracking software helps you print the labels onto the next available stickers:

Your team will purchase the material for printing, including your existing printer, normal printer ink, wristbands ($70 for 500 bands on Amazon), and the Avery 5160 labels ($28 for 3,000 labels on Amazon).

Since the Avery method of printing labels can be generated on the spot and only requires a normal printer, you can generate and print the label from home or your facilities before you leave to retrieve the body.

The second method for printable tracking is utilizing a Zebra printer.

This option is the most streamlined method of decedent tracking. This method prints labels using a label printer, meaning you can print directly from the app without reloading sticker paper into your printer or opening additional tabs. Each integrated printer you purchase is $500. These printers do not require ink since they print using heat. Your ongoing costs will include wristbands ($70 for 500 bands on Amazon) and the rolls of sticker labels.

Switching from hardware to printable means you will initialize tracking for your cases slightly differently.

With hardware tracking, after creating the case in Gather, you will navigate to the tracking page and scan the unused tracking label to initialize KeepTrack™ for the case. This means you and your team must have a metal label on hand to initialize KeepTrack™ for a case.

With printable tracking, you will navigate to the tracking page after creating the case in Gather and simply click the Initializing KeepTrack™ button to initialize KeepTrack™ for a case. This means that with printed tracking, you and your team have the option to initialize KeepTrack™ without having a tracking label on hand and instead print and attach the label when you return to your facilities.

While these labels have material differences, the software experience will be the same, no matter which labels you choose. Each method uses the power of QR codes to quickly provide a seamless and secure experience for your team and your families.

With both methods, you assign a unique KeepTrack™ QR code, track every decedent and every step in your care process using our tracking software, where each action is timestamped, verified, and signed by the funeral home director who completed it. Track belongings, create prerequisite steps for your team, and get a quick overview of decedent locations.

We recommend the printable tracking method as it is the most cost-effective and streamlined option compared to hardware tracking.

Whether you utilize Avery Labels or a Zebra label printer will depend on your workflow. The benefits of Avery Labels include a reduced start-up cost and the ability to print from anywhere there is a printer. Utilizing a Zebra printer limits you to only being able to print from one printer, but it also keeps you from having to reload sticker sheets every time you want to print a new case's labels.

For more guidance regarding the various tracking methods, please reach out to your account manager, and we can offer a personalized recommendation based on your business and workflow!