The Social Security Administration conducted its first RFID pilot in 2003. SSA has incorporated RFID with its warehouse management and can process almost all its orders within eight hours; there are no order backlogs; picking rates have increased threefold, from 500 lines to 1500 lines in a day; file rates for normal orders and urgent orders are 94% and 98%, respectively; optimization such as reduced minimum safety stock has led to a recovery of 60,000 square feet of space in the warehouse; SSA has registered savings in excess of $ 700,000 per annum.

In the public sector, examples of RFID implementations for tracking critical objects include RFID in libraries, RFID used for tracking court documents, and RFID for monitoring hazardous waste.

Libraries in Texas and Virginia have employed RFID-enabled tracking systems. By using RFID, libraries can ensure self-checkout, reduce material handling, facilitate location of products, enable the library staff to offer more value-added services, etc. However privacy concerns regarding the use of RFID in public domains such as libraries have held back the growth of RFID in libraries.

Legal firms find RFID an attractive proposition for the purpose of tracking files and evidence. The juvenile court in DeKalb County will be spending around $ 50,000 to tag files and folders and to provide readers to the clerks. The court expects to save around $ 30,000 by reducing the number of lost files. Marin County in California uses 13.56 MHz tags that are embedded in file labels. This system is helping the county save up to 2,500 man hours every year.