Depends on the airline and airport. Some will make you put it into a box of theirs before they can check it because the automated systems can't handle toiletry kits for example. There was a time those boxes were free, I recently saw they charging somebody $3 for one.

As to tags and the rest making them more dependable, not my experience. Now you can find out exactly where your bags are when they aren't where they should be, but I don't see it as getting them to you any more accuratly then before.

Supposedly, the hand held scanners are supposed to prevent bags from getting on the wrong flight, which I guess is better then in the past.