I've been handed off RFID for hardlines in my store and this is the experience I've had with it:
I've never gotten the scan to say anything above 95% on the Zebra. In the actual report it shows the percentage being much higher than what the Zebra said so I'm not sure if the Zebra is mistakenly counting some product as extra or if selling of the product by the time the report is generated is bumping up the percentage.
For scans on salesfloor, aisles need to be walked multiple times. The RFID training even mentions high density areas will require multiple walk throughs in order to pick up all the tags. So I take my time on the aisles and try to get the gun to scan as many angles as practical. So for stuff on pegs I'll walk through the aisle just with the gun pointed straight at the product, then on my next pass at each section I'll scan from the side of the product, go up to the top, point the gun down above the product, and continue down to the other side. These areas I usually get very high scores on with the Zebra ~99%. For product on shelves I will walk the aisle with the gun pointed one shelf at a time at a leisurely pace. If RFID tags are making contact with metal it will interfere with the gun. So for placemats and rugs I'll lift them up a bit to make sure the tags aren't contacting the shelf. Towels are a nightmare because it's so dense there. After my first few passes I'll actually put the gun on the shelf and let it do its thing for a bit and move it to the next shelf. Hand Towels and washcloths really don't like being picked up with the RFID. Out of pure frustration I actually demerched each handtowel/washcloth shelf on my aisles, put them in a shopping cart, went the next section over that had no RFID product and scanned it there. That actually added quite a bit to the count. Make sure you hit any clearance endcaps because clearance does count towards the scan total. I also walk the front lanes to make sure nothing is hiding in their go back bins as well and quickly walking endcaps in other departments. I also walk the stuffed animals in toys since kids bedding has a habit of finding its way over there.
For the back room scans I've found that the scanner works way better than it does on the floor, but you need to be level with the product for it to be picked up. So I'll climb up the ladder to pickup up product on the very top shelves. The Wacos prevent metal interference and even though some areas are more RFID product dense than the floor, it doesn't seem to be an issue for the scanner. Me walking through back room aisle multiple times usually is negligible in terms of adding counted product (under 10 per additonal pass) but being level with the product does (added a couple hundred for me before). I'll use a wave in receiving to make sure I'm getting the best chance of scanning RFID.
I'm not sure what everyone else's experience with hardlines RFID is like but for me collection bedding, curtains, rugs, and basic bedding usually scan at 98% or higher while soft decor, kids home, and bath miss the most.
