Cup Inventory & Fleet
Inventory is the Cirqle list of RFID-enabled reusable cups managed by the platform. Floor staff, stock controllers, and the wash team use it when someone asks “where is this cup?”
Every cup has a digital name tag
Each physical cup carries a unique digital identity. Inside the base is an RFID tag with a serial number called an EPC code (the digital ID embedded in the tag). No two cups share the same code.
When a scanner beeps, it is reading that cup’s ID. Cirqle then shows the state of the cup, not the state of the platform: out with a guest, back at the bar, on a truck, in the washer, or taken out of service.
Where is my cup?
| System badge | What it means in plain English | Where this happens |
|---|---|---|
Available / In Stock | Clean, sanitized, and stacked ready to pour. | At the wash hub, or when a delivery of clean cups is checked in. |
Dispensed / Active | A guest is holding this cup right now. The deposit was taken. | Scanned at the cash register (the countertop reader, also called the POS reader). |
Returned | A guest brought it back. The deposit can be cleared. | Scanned with a handheld, or dropped in a return bin. |
In Transit | Packed into transport crates and on the way to the wash hub. | Handheld scanned before the pickup truck leaves. |
In Wash | Going through the commercial dishwasher. | The automatic scanner gate at the wash tunnel. |
Damaged / Retired | Cracked, badly scratched, or the chip no longer reads. It is out of service. | Marked on the scanner during an inspection, or by a manager on the dashboard. |
A dirty cup is not a damaged cup. Dirty cups go back through the wash. Only cracked, unsafe, or unreadable cups are retired.
Searching for a cup
- Get the digital ID. On the handheld, open View Details & All Scans and tap Copy next to the cup. Or read the code printed on the cup.
- On the laptop, open Cup Inventory and paste or type that ID (the EPC code).
- You will see where it was last seen, and which status it is in.
Inventory tells you where the cup is. It does not pay the guest. For the deposit, use Check payment on the handheld, or ask finance to open the deposit list.
If the search finds nothing, that RFID tag is not a reusable cup in this Cirqle account, or it has never been enrolled. Do not create a fake cup to make the search succeed.
Retiring a broken cup
Use this when a cup is cracked, the rim is sharp, or the chip will not read in a normal sweep.
- On the handheld, choose inspection and scan that one cup. Check the digital ID in View Details & All Scans so you retire the right cup.
- Mark it Damaged / Retired. If the handheld does not offer that button, give the ID to a shift lead. Managers can retire a cup. Floor staff should not guess.
- Take the physical cup out of the crate that is going back to the bar. A retired cup that gets poured again will show up as a broken cup back in service.
If the chip is completely dead and will not scan, the shift lead retires it using the last known ID, then puts the cup aside so it cannot slip back into a clean stack.