Hand it out with a scan. Get it back without chasing.
ItemTally is an equipment checkout system that runs in your phone's browser. Scan a label, pick a person, set a due date, take a signature. The register shows who has what, reminders do the chasing, and every hand-over is a dated line in the logbook.
The jobLend shared equipment to people and get every piece back, without a sign-out sheet.
| Item | Location | Qty | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canon C70 camera kit IT-000031 | Media cage / Shelf A | 1 | Ines R. · due Fri |
| Rode Wireless GO II IT-000047 | Media cage / Audio drawer | 1 | Overdue · Ola K. |
| Manfrotto 190 tripod IT-000052 | Media cage / Tripod rack | 1 | Reserved · Sat |
| Dell Latitude 5440 loaner IT-000118 | Help desk / Loaner shelf | 1 | Available |
| AA batteries, rechargeable IT-000009 | Media cage / Consumables | 14 pcs | In stock |
How it works
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Label what goes out
Print QR labels on Avery A4 sheets or a Brother 62 mm roll. Barcodes already on the box work too, so a laptop's serial sticker or a charger's EAN can be its code.
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Scan, and get one verb
Scanning an item that's in shows Hand to someone. Scanning one that's out shows Return. Nobody has to learn a menu, and nothing asks for an item form first.
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Many things, one action
Scan a pile into the basket (camera, tripod, two batteries), pick the person or scan their person card, set one due date and take one signature. One receipt, one batch in the ledger.
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The receipt is their return link
Every receipt carries the borrower's private My things link. It shows what they hold and when it's due, and lets them return or extend. No account, no password.
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Reminders do the chasing
A note reaches the borrower a couple of days before the due date, with Return and Extend buttons. Extend only works if nobody has booked the item next.
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Read the room from Today
The Out view lists everything that's out, overdue on top. Today collects what needs a person: overdue returns, problems reported on return, booking requests.
The details
- Signatures where they matter
- Turn signatures on per folder. The camera cage can require a thumb signature on every hand-over while the cable drawer stays quick.
- Approval for the expensive shelf
- Turn approval on for a folder and a borrower's self-service take becomes a request that an editor approves. Everything else stays self-service.
- Reservations with clash checks
- Book a camera for next weekend. A second booking that overlaps is refused, and the refusal names who holds it. Kits reserve all their members at once.
- Kits go out as one thing
- The interview kit (camera, two mics, tripod, cards) checks out in one move. A kit return asks what came back damaged, and every member keeps its own history.
- A kiosk for the desk nobody staffs
- Open the kiosk link on a shared tablet or print the A4 poster for the door. People pick their name, add a PIN if you set one, and take or return.
- Proof when something comes back broken
- Returns can carry a problem note. The line keeps the mark forever, and the custody sheet prints the item's whole hand-over story with signatures.
- Possession checks
- Send everyone a link that asks "do you still have these?". They confirm or dispute from their phone, so end-of-term chasing starts from the real gaps.
- Quantity things, too
- Give out batteries or gaffer tape by the number: "give 4 to Sam" is an attributed stock-out. Consumables and loan equipment live in one register.
- Reports and export
- Custody by person, overdue lists and the full logbook export to CSV on every plan, including the free one.
How teams run checkout today
Most teams start with one of four things, and each works for a while.
- A paper sign-out sheet on a clipboard by the door: item, name, date out, date back. It costs nothing and needs no training.
- A shared spreadsheet, often filled in later from the paper sheet, so somebody can sort by name at the end of term.
- A Google or Microsoft form that borrowers fill in on their phone, feeding a sheet nobody reconciles.
- A whiteboard or a group chat, where “who’s got the long lens?” gets answered by whoever is online.
Where the sheet stops working
The sheet fails in the same places for almost everyone.
- The return column stays empty. People write their name when they take something and forget when they bring it back, so the sheet says forty things are out when twelve are.
- Nobody chases. The sheet can’t send a reminder. Finding what’s overdue means reading every line, and then writing the emails yourself.
- Two people want the same camera on Saturday. A sheet only knows the past. Bookings live in somebody’s calendar or head.
- The handwriting problem. “Lapt0p 3, J?” is not evidence when a screen comes back cracked.
- Kits go out half-recorded. The camera gets a line; the batteries, cards and charger don’t, and they’re the things that go missing.
- End of term is an archaeology project. Working out who still has what means comparing the sheet against the shelf, item by item.
When a sign-out sheet is still enough
Be honest with yourself here. If you lend fewer than about twenty things, to people you see every day, and losing one wouldn’t hurt, a sheet on a clipboard is fine, and you should keep it.
A system earns its place when the gear is worth chasing, when more than one person hands things out, when bookings start to clash, or when you need to prove who had something on a given day.
What it costs at a typical size
Every feature is on every plan and items are never counted. The price depends on how many people edit the register and how many take things themselves (borrowers). Hand-overs done by an editor are free, so people who only receive equipment from staff never count.
| Setup | Plan | Price |
|---|---|---|
| One technician hands everything over, 200 students borrow | Shelf | €0 |
| 3 staff edit, 40 students take things themselves at the kiosk | Stockroom | €19/mo |
| 8 staff edit, a whole year group self-serves | Warehouse | €49/mo |
Prices exclude VAT. See pricing for the details.
What it doesn’t do
- No payments, deposits or late fees. It records custody; money stays in your finance system.
- No rental quotes or invoices. If you rent gear to paying customers, tools like Booqable, Rentman or Current RMS are built for that.
- No GPS or Bluetooth tracking. A label tells you who had it last; it can’t tell you where it is right now.
- No offline mode yet. The phone apps with offline scanning are in testing.
Who uses it
Media and film departments run their camera cage on it (film and media schools), IT teams run the loaner shelf (laptop loaner programs), and schools, churches, tool libraries and theatre costume stores use the same flow with their own folders.
Questions people ask
What is an equipment checkout system?
A register of shared equipment that records who took each item, when it's due back and when it came back. A good one makes the hand-over faster than writing a line on a sign-out sheet, and chases late returns for you.
Is there a free equipment checkout system?
ItemTally's Shelf plan is free forever with every feature, unlimited items, one editor and ten borrowers. Hand-overs done by the editor and every borrower's return link are free on every plan, so one person can lend to a whole department at no cost.
Do borrowers need an account or an app?
No. Editors can hand things to any name. The borrower's receipt carries a private My things link where they see what they hold, return it or extend it. Scanning works in any phone's browser.
Can people check equipment out themselves?
Yes. Give a person self-service and they can take and return with a scan, from the kiosk or from their own phone. Each self-service person counts as a borrower on your plan. For an expensive shelf, turn on approval and their take becomes a request.
What happens when something is overdue?
It turns amber on the register and moves to the top of the Out view. The borrower gets a reminder before the due date with Return and Extend, and overdue items show on Today until they're back.
Someone says they returned it, but nobody scanned it. Now what?
A return from the My things link is a claim. The item shows as claimed until someone scans it or an editor confirms, so the ledger only moves when the thing is actually back.
Can we take deposits or charge late fees?
No. ItemTally has no payments, fines or invoices. If you need memberships and fees, a library system like Lend Engine or myTurn is built for that.
Does it work offline?
Not yet. Scanning in the browser needs a connection. The iPhone and Android apps with offline scanning are built and in testing, and are not released.
Hand out the first thing today.
Free forever for one editor and ten borrowers. No card.
Free for one editor and ten borrowers, with unlimited items. No card needed.