Retailers Plow Ahead With RFID Chips

iwon news ^ | May 20, 06 | BRIAN BERGSTEIN

[Nachum]

The roots of radio-frequency identification technology stretch at least as far back as World War II, when transponders helped distinguish between Axis and Allied aircraft. Over the years the concept has been greatly miniaturized, landing RFID technology in such settings as animal tags, toll-collection devices, passports, keyless entry systems for cars and wireless credit cards.

But perhaps none of these projects will have as much impact for consumers as the adoption of RFID in the supply chains of huge retail stores.

Mega-retailers led by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) have gotten their biggest suppliers to add RFID chips to pallets and cases shipped to stores. Now, rather than having people with bar-code scanners walk around to take inventory, RFID readers in warehouses can automatically tally items on the fly.

RFID is expected to yield substantial savings largely by reducing the frequency of the following scenario: A customer goes to a store for an item, only to find its shelf empty, even though replacement stock lurks somewhere in the back. It's one of the costliest problems in retail.

Simon Langford, Wal-Mart's director of logistics, distribution and replenishment systems, explains that a bar-code scanner can register that certain items have entered a store's back room. But not until one of the items gets scanned at checkout does the store typically get an update. In between, the item might be on a store shelf or still sitting among back-room clutter.

In the more than 500 stores where Wal-Mart has integrated RFID, radio tags give additional insight - they inform employees when supplies enter the storeroom, when they leave it for the sales floor and when their emptied cartons are taken to the trash.

A University of Arkansas study last year determined that these stores saw a 16 percent reduction in the times that products were missing from shelves. But Langford said that figure understated RFID's true power, because the study included popular items that sales staffers already were sure to replenish. When the research examined only items that Wal-Mart sold less than 15 times a day, the out-of-stock reduction was 30 percent.

Wal-Mart hopes to see even greater improvement soon by giving employees handheld RFID scanners that will direct them precisely to cartons of products they need to bring from the storeroom.

Eventually, individual products in Wal-Mart and other stores are expected to get their own RFID tags to give stores even clearer views of their inventory.

"That's really where the supply chain gets most messy," said Kevin Ashton, who helped drive RFID development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and now heads marketing for ThingMagic LLC, a maker of RFID readers.

Some high-value items like TVs and pharmaceuticals already have their own tags. But most item-level tagging is a decade away.

First, tag prices must drop below their current 5-to-7 cent range. Work also still needs to be done to master wireless interference issues that can arise in RFID-dense environments. And developers have to assure the public and retailers that data on the tags are secure and not invasive.

"We're seeing the RFID industry get a little bit more mature every day," Ashton said. "We don't view the RFID market as some overnight sensation."

[mylife]

If I had one of the devices that energizes and reads the signals, could I inventory the items in my house by walking through the rooms? Could my neighbor inventory my house by walking around the outside of the house?

short answer...Yes you could and probablly no your neighbor probably coudnt (its a proximity thig)

[stripes1776]

the store reads it by energizing it with a signal (proximity based) - the provides it the energy to transmit its code.

Okay. So if I have one of the devices that energizes and reads the signal, could I inventory the items in my house by walking through all the rooms? Could my neighbor do the same by walking around the outside of my house?

[stripes1776]

If I had one of the devices that energizes and reads the signals, could I inventory the items in my house by walking through the rooms? Could my neighbor inventory my house by walking around the outside of the house?

short answer...Yes you could and probablly no your neighbor probably coudnt (its a proximity thig)

That could be very convenient for insurance purposes or recovering a lost item.

But you say probably not for my neighbor. Probably leaves some room for doubt. Does the signal travel through walls? If so, and the center of my home is 18 feet from the outside walls, wouldn't anyone walking around the outside periphery of the house be able to inventory every item inside with a RFID footprint?

[mylife]

wouldn't anyone walking around the outside periphery of the house be able to inventory every item inside with a RFID footprint?

Prolly not due to all kinds on naturaf RF phenomena, aluminum siding copper pipes wires etc. They all act as reflectors and carry resonances that I would think would interfere with an accurate reading

[Old Student]

"Can you imagine the BILLIONS of dollars that would be wasted (and passed along in increased prices) if every package had to have such meaningless instructions? "

You mean like the ones that tell us not to use our hairdryers in the bathtub, et cetera, ad nauseum? Do tell!

[Blueflag]

What you state is indeed technologically possible. That does not make it probable or likely.

I do not dispute your logic, just the certainty or likelihood of the outcome.

Thanks.

[stripes1776]

wouldn't anyone walking around the outside periphery of the house be able to inventory every item inside with a RFID footprint?

Prolly not due to all kinds on naturaf RF phenomena, aluminum siding copper pipes wires etc. They all act as reflectors and carry resonances that I would think would interfere with an accurate reading

Okay, so we probably don't have to worry about a burglar casing out the house by a quick walk around the outside to see what's worth stealing inside.

But once he breaks in, couldn't he scan the place to see which room might provide the most valuable haul of things hidden in closets or boxes?

[freedumb2003]

Or "Rinse. Repeat."

[Hardastarboard]

Any hope for an rfid arrow shaft so that shot deer don't go unfound?

We are at a point in human history where the only limits to the technology are human vision for using it. Your idea would be simple to implement. You should suggest it to Bear or an arrow manufacturer. It could be done.

[mylife]

Nah, It just a sticker. peel it off and yer golden

[Hardastarboard]

do a google on your screenname to see what I mean

Wow! Very instructive. I found out that a couple of wankers on some other websites have my screen name (one of them is a cruise ship critique website). I found out that FR knows that I haven't bothered to fill in a lot of my demographic information. And I found every smart ass comment I've ever made on this board listed in one place on FR. I couldn't bring myself to look any further.

[mylife]

We bitch about this crap and kiss googles ass

[mylife]

did I mention Google are liberals?

[oceanview]

outside your house, probably not.

[mvpel]

They have scanners that can read individual RFID chips from 100 feet away. Copper pipes aren't going to have any effect on that from 20 feet away.

[mvpel]

Just a sticker? You haven't been keeping up with the industry:

Chips have also been found laminated between layers of product packaging, invisible and unidentifiable unless you peel apart the cardboard or the layers of the dog food bag.

About these photos, they wrote:

"I am writing to request that you remove all unauthorized photos that you obtained at Frontline Solutions Conference & Expo from your websites, www.spychips.com, www.spychips.org , www.nocards.com , www.nocards.org and any other websites under your management and that you refrain from making the photos available to anyone else."

Why are they trying to hide??

[SFC Chromey]

I like it! Nah, reality is that it doesn't help business or government track what you do and when you do it, so no, I'm sorry no RFID tags for your quiver of arrows.

[SFC Chromey]

Zebra, got its start in BARCODES which were even more sinister than RFID - they were feared by some as the mark of the Beast.

---

I know a guy that tattooed his SSN in barcode to his neck!

[mylife]

Im gonna make a gazillion dollars of my RFID shield L0L

[mvpel]

What you state is indeed technologically possible. That does not make it probable or likely.

I do not dispute your logic, just the certainty or likelihood of the outcome.

When have you ever known a government anywhere in the world, except perhaps, occasionally, the US government, to refrain from exercising power that they have at their disposal?

US to slap tourists with RFID

RFID chips will be used to track both pedestrians and vehicles entering the US to automatically record when the visitors arrive and leave in the country.

I'm certain that there are people on FR who have adult memories of being able to get on a plane without being body-searched, scanned, and forced to show government-issued identification, back when the right to travel and the Bill of Rights actually meant something. It wasn't that long ago, in the grand scheme of things, and I'm sure that people who raised the alarm about how the boogeyman of hijacking would put a bullet in the brain of the Bill of Rights in airports were pooh-poohed just as you're doing here.

It may take longer here in the US for RFID to become a comprehensive tool of totalitarianism, but only because of people like us shining a spotlight on the secretive efforts of the RFID proponents who are actively working to shove this technology down our throats without our knowledge or consent.

For the Iranian freedom movement? The minute the mullah's get wind of this technology and its ability to automatically enforce the country's new dress code, forget about it.