The present invention is directed to reading short distance emission RFID tags to locate items in a container. A method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention includes: receiving, by a plurality of first RFID tags, a signal broadcast by an RFID reader, the signal initiating a reading sequence of the plurality of first RFID tags, wherein each first RFID taq is associated with a respective item located in the container, and wherein each first RFID tag emits an identification (ID); capturing the ID emitted by each first RFID tag using a plurality of second RFID tags located in a vicinity of the first RFID tag, wherein the IDs emitted by the first RFID tags are not captured by the RFID reader; the RFID reader interrogating the plurality of second RFID tags to obtain the captured IDs; and determining a physical location of an item in the container based on the captured IDs.