Printable RFID Tags Could Eliminate Cashiers Forever

Our world is quickly heading towards becoming a wireless checkout society. This is because a new printable RFID tag could change the way that we shop. A printable RFID tag could be placed on every single item, allowing you to simply scan yourself out right in the aisle that you are shopping or through a register line without the assistance of a cashier.

RFID technology has been around for a long time. The actual concept of using it for one-click shopping has been around for just as long. However, the concept is very expensive as well because the RFID tags were very expensive to make and did not make sense to use. This is because every time a customer leaves with one of these tags you would have to replace one as well. Past estimates put the RFID tags at 50 cents a piece, so you can see how this could become incredibly expensive.

A large collaboration of researchers from several prestigious universities have worked together and created a much more cost efficient RFID tag. In fact, they have found a way to make these tags printable at a cost of about 3 cents per tag. What this means is that the tags are much more cheaper to produce and make it a more appealing alternative now. Companies could easily mark something up 6 cents without upsetting a consumer compared to 50 cents and a large crowd of angry consumers.

The process of printing the RFID tags is kind of neat. The group managed to create the cheaper tags by printing them directly on paper or plastic packaging. This process eliminated the need of silicon in the process of creating these tags. Past RFIDs were created solely out of silicon which is a very expensive material. The ability to print the same exact thing on cheaper material is what will make this technology succeed in the long haul.

We can thank nanotechnology for making this all possible. This technology allowed the researchers to create the electric charge needed to make the tags. Currently, the team believes they have a product that they could use in stores right now. However, they are going to work to further refine their invention before mass producing it for interested parties.

What this invention means for the rest of us is the continued growing trend of self checkout areas at the grocery store. There are currently these type of checkouts but they are unable to truly checkout every item. Also, there are ways to manipulate these machines to get your product for cheaper prices. RFID tags will prevent this and contribute to more accurate sales.