A reader (112) for reading data, the data being associated with a radio frequency identification (“RFID”) tag (16) and carried by a data signal originating from the RFID tag, the reader (112) comprising processing means (118) and storage means, the storage means having instructions stored thereon, whereby the processing means (118) is operable, under control of the instructions, to periodically switch the reader (112) from a first state to a second state; wherein, when the reader (112) is in the second state, the reader (112) is operable to determine an occurrence of a tag present event corresponding to the presence of an RFID tag within a field generated to activate an RFID tag to transmit a respective data signal carrying data associated with the RFID tag, and one or more other events; following determination of the one or more other events, return the reader to the first state; and following determination of the tag present event, receive and store in the storage means a representation of the data signal originating from the RFID tag, process the RFID tag signal representation to determine the data signal, and read the data of the determined data signal.