A surgical stapling system comprising an instrument interface comprising a control circuit and an RFID reader is disclosed. The surgical stapling system further comprises a shaft assembly comprising a shaft and an end effector. The end effector comprises a first jaw, a second jaw, an anvil, and a cartridge channel. The surgical stapling system further comprises a replaceable staple cartridge assembly removably positioned within the cartridge channel. The replaceable staple cartridge assembly comprises a cartridge body, a longitudinal slot, a plurality of staple cavities, a plurality of staples, and a staple cartridge retainer. The staple cartridge retainer comprises a rib, a body portion, and an RFID tag embedded within the body portion, wherein the RFID tag comprises a memory, wherein the memory comprises identifier information stored in the memory specific to the staple cartridge, and wherein the identifier information is accessible by the RFID reader.