RFID Tagging Could Mean No More Money

In the near future, shopping may become a lot easier and will no longer mean that people must carry money or credit cars and fear theft. With the help of RFID technology, new tags placed on individual items in stores could mean you can just walk in the store, choose your product and walk out with them, without stopping to check out.

A major retail industry organization, working with a global supply chain association and the University of Arkansas RFID Research Center, have joined hands in an innovative project to use radio-frequency identification technology in electronic devices, household appliances and footwear, which will generate greater inventory efficiency for retailers and product availability for consumers.

With a few further developments, the idea could lead to purchasing items without money, sales clerks or even cash registers.

The technology is similar to that used at the exits of stores and shops, where special sensors detect any product that crosses an invisible demarcation line between two parallel devices, to detect those who haven't been checked out at the cash register.

With a few modifications, these sensors could be used to scan everything that comes out the door and automatically charge it to a previously provided bank account.

"It sounds utopian," said Bill Hardgrave, director of the university's RFID Research Center, "but it isn't that far-fetched when you consider the unique capability of RFID technology and implications of this research, if it is successful. Really, with modifications to current technology, shoppers shouldn't have to wait in line for a clerk to ring up their items. Although this project will have major advantages for retailers and suppliers, item-level tagging will lead to even greater advantages for consumers. The research, of course, will be mindful of and explicitly consider protecting a consumer's right to privacy."