Subject: Gillette, Wal-Mart drop plan for radio ID chips
Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2003 00:56:19 -0700
MIME-Version: 1.0
Gillette, Wal-Mart drop plan for radio ID chips
Plan had raised concerns over privacy of consumers
By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff, 7/10/2003
Customers at the Wal-Mart store in Brockton won't be getting miniature radio transmitter chips with their Gillette Mach 3 razors, after all.
Boston-based Gillette Co. and giant retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. have backed away from plans to test the controversial chips at the Brockton Wal-Mart store. ''We didn't do the test, and we're not going to,'' said Wal-Mart spokesman Tom Williams.
Williams said the decision reflected a change in business strategy,
rather than a reaction to an Internet-based campaign against the
technology, known as radio frequency identification, or RFID.
Privacy advocates were concerned that the technology would be used to
track consumers' purchases without their knowledge or consent.
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Don't make too much of Wal-Mart's decision to back off from deploying RFID at the shelf level. At current cost for RFID tags (10 cents per tag, even in bulk), it doesn't make business sense to do so at this time. Wal-Mart is still insisting that all of their major vendors begin using RFID on the pallet and case level, for inventory tracking purposes. This application is a much more cost-effective use of the technology. Over time, as vendors and wholesalers begin using them, costs for the tags will come down. Once prices are low enough (fractions of a cent per tag), we'll see them showing up on the shelves. This decision is merely an effort to put the cart back behind the horse.
Also keep in mind that Gillette is still moving forward with Tesco (UK) and Metro (Germany) to test RFID at the shelf level, so it is not as if this project is dead.
2:59:58 PM 
