1. An item monitoring system comprising: a sensor strip extending in a generally linear fashion, said sensor strip comprising a pluralilty of sensors functioning simultaneously in a resistor network selected from the group of a parallel resisitor network and a series resistor network, and sensor strip providing a single output that is dependent upon force applied thereto such that the output provided by said sensor strip is reflective of a cumulative effect of one or more items placed upon said sensor strip; and a processing element in communication with said sensor strip for receiving and processing the output of said sensor strip, wherein one or more items contacts a plurality of sensors and a single output is provided to the processing element.