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Went to Europe a few months ago and experienced this checkout method in Uniqlo and Zara. It was mind blowing at first and I was trying to figure out wtf was goi

Went to Europe a few months ago and experienced this checkout method in Uniqlo and Zara. It was mind blowing at first and I was trying to figure out wtf was going on. Was it AI?, maybe some complex algorithm based on item weight and other variables? Turns out they were “simply” RFID chips. It’s amazing how magical technology can be. I hope the tech spreads because I hate the checkout experience.

nytesky 3y ago
So there are disposable RFID chips on every price tag? I would think that is wasteful and expensive? Is there a way to recapture them like a deposit return
- underseacables 3y ago
  That's a lot of copper over time..
  - hiddencost 3y ago
    Paying someone to spend their life checking people out: much more expensive and wasteful.
    - jpcfl 3y ago
      Yeah, and Uniqlo will hopefully find a way to recycle these tags once there's a business case for it. You can't recycle man-hours.
  - krasin 3y ago
    > That's a lot of copper over time.. FWIW, RFID tags often use aluminum. According to a relevant study ([1]), "Environmental Burden Case Study of RFID Technology in Logistics Centre", the mean weight of the metal with foil is 0.161 g per tag (see Table 2). Let's suppose that every person on Earth (~8B) buys 1000 RFID-encoded goods per year: 0.161 * 8B * 1000 = 1.3e12 g = 1.3e9 kg = 1.3 M tonnes. In 2022, some 20M tonnes of copper has been mined ([2]), which gives us ~5% of the total copper produced. If aluminum is used, then ~2%. Takeaways: - yes, it could be a lot of metal, if the RFID technology gets widespread (narrator voice: it will) - it will visibly increase demand for aluminum / copper, but it won't be the end of the world. 1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9921012/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9921012/ 2. https://www.reddit.com/r/mining/comments/18o9ydj/all_the_metals_we_mined_in_2022/ https://www.reddit.com/r/mining/comments/18o9ydj/all_the_met...
    - cyberax 3y ago
      > narrator voice: it will People really tried to make RFIDs work, but it's a poor fit for anything with metal in it (cans of beans, electronics, etc.). Sun and IBM tried to push them in 2000-s (remember that ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3Fdox5_rg4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3Fdox5_rg4 ), and it never worked in real life. Uniqlo checkouts work because they are selling mostly, well, clothes that you can just put inside the scanner.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
    - wraptile 3y ago
      I think key here is that it's 100% recyclable or even reusable. The used tags could even be picked up at the exit/checkout if I understand correctly the process correctly.
- jiveturkey 3y ago
  They aren't chips, they are printed tags. They cost about 0.10 ea. https://www.rfidjournal.com/faq/how-much-does-an-rfid-tag-cost-today https://www.rfidjournal.com/faq/how-much-does-an-rfid-tag-co... Sadly the article is undated, so we have no clue when "today" is. But the price feels about right. To someone as large as Uniqlo, I imagine the cost is closer to 0.01. The ability to read multiple tags like this has existed for at least a decade. I wonder why retail like target doesn't have it. EDIT: technically they are chips, but we call this kind of passive barcode-equivalent kind of thing a tag.
  - TulliusCicero 3y ago
    Target would have to require it of all their suppliers. Uniqlo only sells their own stuff, so it's easier to adopt.
    - supermatt 3y ago
      The retailer can add RFID labels. They do this in decathlon (sporting goods store in Europe) where they have used same checkout process for a few years
      - resolutebat 3y ago
        Decathlon also sells only own-brand goods.
        mertbio 3y ago
        This is not true. You can also buy known brands like Adidas and so on, at least in Germany.
        supermatt 3y ago
        No they dont. They sell many 3rd party brands in store in nearly every category. I believe they were (mostly) own-brand up until a few years ago, but thats certainly not the case now.
        3y ago
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- Hamuko 3y ago
  I think they're even on the price tags of items you buy online. I've noticed that my Uniqlo online orders also have some kind of circuitry inside them.
- Timshel 3y ago
  Would be nice for it to be recycled but at the day the true waste is probably the product you buy. At least Uniqlo or Decathlon are producing goods of relative quality.
- avianlyric 3y ago
  The tags are usually stitched directly into the clothes. Realistically they’re never going to be recaptured and returned. They’ll be recycled/disposed of, when the garment itself reaches EOL.
- jhanschoo 3y ago
  I've seen bookstores implement disposable RFID for loss prevention more than a decade ago where the books sell for around as much as these garments. I suppose the marginal cost of RFIDs that support this system is small if you already intend to use disposable RFIDs for loss prevention, with a large limiting factor being the acceptance of self-checkout.
- slim 3y ago
  some clothes come with the tag sewed in from the factory (not talking about uniqlo). which is worrisome because the combination of rfid tags you wear could be used to track you

nytesky 3y ago

So there are disposable RFID chips on every price tag? I would think that is wasteful and expensive? Is there a way to recapture them like a deposit return

underseacables 3y ago
That's a lot of copper over time..
- hiddencost 3y ago
  Paying someone to spend their life checking people out: much more expensive and wasteful.
  - jpcfl 3y ago
    Yeah, and Uniqlo will hopefully find a way to recycle these tags once there's a business case for it. You can't recycle man-hours.
- krasin 3y ago
  > That's a lot of copper over time.. FWIW, RFID tags often use aluminum. According to a relevant study ([1]), "Environmental Burden Case Study of RFID Technology in Logistics Centre", the mean weight of the metal with foil is 0.161 g per tag (see Table 2). Let's suppose that every person on Earth (~8B) buys 1000 RFID-encoded goods per year: 0.161 * 8B * 1000 = 1.3e12 g = 1.3e9 kg = 1.3 M tonnes. In 2022, some 20M tonnes of copper has been mined ([2]), which gives us ~5% of the total copper produced. If aluminum is used, then ~2%. Takeaways: - yes, it could be a lot of metal, if the RFID technology gets widespread (narrator voice: it will) - it will visibly increase demand for aluminum / copper, but it won't be the end of the world. 1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9921012/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9921012/ 2. https://www.reddit.com/r/mining/comments/18o9ydj/all_the_metals_we_mined_in_2022/ https://www.reddit.com/r/mining/comments/18o9ydj/all_the_met...
  - cyberax 3y ago
    > narrator voice: it will People really tried to make RFIDs work, but it's a poor fit for anything with metal in it (cans of beans, electronics, etc.). Sun and IBM tried to push them in 2000-s (remember that ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3Fdox5_rg4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3Fdox5_rg4 ), and it never worked in real life. Uniqlo checkouts work because they are selling mostly, well, clothes that you can just put inside the scanner.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - wraptile 3y ago
    I think key here is that it's 100% recyclable or even reusable. The used tags could even be picked up at the exit/checkout if I understand correctly the process correctly.
jiveturkey 3y ago
They aren't chips, they are printed tags. They cost about 0.10 ea. https://www.rfidjournal.com/faq/how-much-does-an-rfid-tag-cost-today https://www.rfidjournal.com/faq/how-much-does-an-rfid-tag-co... Sadly the article is undated, so we have no clue when "today" is. But the price feels about right. To someone as large as Uniqlo, I imagine the cost is closer to 0.01. The ability to read multiple tags like this has existed for at least a decade. I wonder why retail like target doesn't have it. EDIT: technically they are chips, but we call this kind of passive barcode-equivalent kind of thing a tag.
- TulliusCicero 3y ago
  Target would have to require it of all their suppliers. Uniqlo only sells their own stuff, so it's easier to adopt.
  - supermatt 3y ago
    The retailer can add RFID labels. They do this in decathlon (sporting goods store in Europe) where they have used same checkout process for a few years
    - resolutebat 3y ago
      Decathlon also sells only own-brand goods.
      - mertbio 3y ago
        This is not true. You can also buy known brands like Adidas and so on, at least in Germany.
      - supermatt 3y ago
        No they dont. They sell many 3rd party brands in store in nearly every category. I believe they were (mostly) own-brand up until a few years ago, but thats certainly not the case now.
      - 3y ago
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
Hamuko 3y ago
I think they're even on the price tags of items you buy online. I've noticed that my Uniqlo online orders also have some kind of circuitry inside them.
Timshel 3y ago
Would be nice for it to be recycled but at the day the true waste is probably the product you buy. At least Uniqlo or Decathlon are producing goods of relative quality.
avianlyric 3y ago
The tags are usually stitched directly into the clothes. Realistically they’re never going to be recaptured and returned. They’ll be recycled/disposed of, when the garment itself reaches EOL.
jhanschoo 3y ago
I've seen bookstores implement disposable RFID for loss prevention more than a decade ago where the books sell for around as much as these garments. I suppose the marginal cost of RFIDs that support this system is small if you already intend to use disposable RFIDs for loss prevention, with a large limiting factor being the acceptance of self-checkout.
slim 3y ago
some clothes come with the tag sewed in from the factory (not talking about uniqlo). which is worrisome because the combination of rfid tags you wear could be used to track you