[Stay on top of transportation news: Get TTNews in your inbox.]
Smart Tracking Label Offers New Option for Shipment Monitoring
Samsara’s Single-Use Bluetooth Stickers Provide Continuous Visibility and Help Address Cargo Theft, Tech Vendor Says
Key Takeaways:
- Samsara’s new tracking label uses a Bluetooth network to deliver continuous shipment location updates through connected devices across roads and facilities.
- The disposable label provides a lower-cost alternative to GPS and cellular tracking and more consistent visibility than barcode scanning or RFID.
- Company executives said the technology can help reduce cargo theft risk and enable proactive responses to shipping delays and disruptions.
LAS VEGAS — Samsara has introduced a smart tracking label that creates a new, lower-cost option for continuous shipment monitoring.
The Samsara Tracking Label is a printable, single-use sticker that adheres to a package or pallet and connects with the technology supplier’s ubiquitous Bluetooth network to provide constant location updates.
The flexible, paper-thin label, which contains a small battery with a 45-day life once activated, is designed to be discarded after the shipment arrives.
The Bluetooth-based label provides a constant flow of tracking updates by sending low-energy signals that can be received by the millions of connected Samsara devices installed on trucks, trailers, vehicles and other equipment on virtually all major U.S. roads and at warehouses and worksites across the country.
Samsara said transportation businesses can use this form of shipment tracking to improve customer service, proactively address delays and disruptions.
“This kind of visibility enables us to change the game, going from reactive to proactive. You can make decisions so much earlier,” said David Gal, Samsara’s vice president of connected equipment.
Gal introduced and demonstrated the new tracking label June 24 on stage at the company’s Beyond 2026 customer conference.
The smart labels also can help fight the escalation of cargo theft, a growing industry problem that Samsara said has been compounded by insufficient shipment visibility.
“Cargo theft is a national crisis in the United States, costing the economy more than $35 billion a year,” Gal said.
Just announced at #SamsaraBeyond: dozens of new AI capabilities built to help teams reduce risk, increase efficiency, and digitally transform how their operations run. Explore what's new: https://t.co/jmdvab16oI pic.twitter.com/8B7oOVbNeA — Samsara (@Samsara) June 24, 2026
The new product, which is available now, provides shippers, carriers and logistics providers with a lower-cost option for shipment-level tracking compared with using larger GPS and cellular devices.
At the same time, the smart label offers much more consistent visibility than traditional barcode scanning that only indicates when a package or shipment has departed or arrived at a facility.
It’s also an alternative to RFID, or radio frequency identification, which provides updates when a tagged shipment passes electronic readers at certain facilities or checkpoints.
The disposable labels have no lithium or hazardous materials so they can be used for air, ground and rail shipments.
Businesses can print them using standard, off-the-shelf label printers.
Fulfillment provider DCL Logistics is an early adopter of the smart tracking labels.
Getting started this morning at #SamsaraBeyond 2026 in Las Vegas. @Samsara CEO Sanjit Biswas says AI is transforming workflows for fleet operators. “We can now automate away the grind.” pic.twitter.com/MMfNkgCpXL — Seth Clevenger (@SethClevenger) June 24, 2026
Dave Tu, DCL’s president, hailed the technology as “revolutionary.”
“You have as many tracking updates as you want,” he said. “I think the industry is hungry for this.”
Tu said this capability is particularly applicable for truckload and less-than-truckload shipments, where visibility typically is limited to updates when the freight departs a facility and when it arrives at its destination.
“That’s counterintuitive, because those are your most valuable shipments,” Tu said.
Image
Samsara CEO Sanjit Biswas outlines the company's latest investments in AI-driven efficiency and fleet safety technology at Samsara Beyond 2026 in Las Vegas. (Seth Clevenger/Transport Topics)
During a press conference, Samsara CEO Sanjit Biswas said pricing for the tracking labels varies based on volume but is designed to be in the “single-digit-dollars” range.
The technology provides the clearest value for critical and time-sensitive shipments but could serve as a flexible tracking option across many use cases and types of goods.
“We really are curious to find out where our customers want to take it,” Biswas said.
Customers can manage the tracking labels within Samsara’s new Shipment Center and Shipment App.
Image
Attendees gather in the expo hall at Samsara Beyond 2026 in Las Vegas. (Seth Clevenger/Transport Topics)
Workers can use the app to activate the tracking labels with their mobile phones or scanners. They can scan a bill of lading, carrier tracking number or warehouse license plate number and the app automatically links the tracking label to the existing shipment ID.
After printing out and activating a tracking label, a worker simply sticks it onto a box, pallet or high-value freight such as a copper wire reel to begin tracking it continuously.
From there, businesses can closely monitor location status via the Shipment Center, which uses artificial intelligence to automatically flag shipments that require attention.
The constant tracking makes it easier for managers to stay ahead of potential shipping delays and more difficult for bad actors to divert or steal cargo without being detected.
