Computer-assisted procedure (501/502) to communicate data in a transportation system (90) that physically transports objects (800) from first to second locations (10, 20). The objects (800) have write/read memory tags (300). Prior to communicating data is separated into meta-data M and content-data C. Communicated are: C on the tags (300), M through a computer network, and type-data T (representing M) on the tags. System computers (901, 902, 900) perform complementary methods for forwarding (501) and retrieving (502). To forward (501) data from the first location (10), a first computer (901) queries (510) an exchange computer (901) with M for T according to a predefined T-to-M table, writes T to the tags (300), and writes C to the tags (300). To retrieve (502) data at the second location (20) where the objects arrive, a second computer (902) reads T from the (300), queries (550) the exchange computer (900) with T for M according to the same table, and reads (560) C from the tags (300).