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Melody Anderson
Joined: 05 Nov 2003
Posts: 814
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
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| Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 8:38 pm Post Subject: Supermarkets installing RFID scanners? |
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I noticed our local Progressive Enterprise supermarkets are installing new devices that flank the exits of each checkout bay. The other day I heard one customer asking about them and he was told they were for security. I asked a checkout operator today what they were for. She just said that they beep if you attempt to shoplift something. I asked what was in the product that made the scanners beep. She didn't seem to have even considered that, and just kept saying that they beep if you try to steal something, saying that people who bought DVDs from the shop next door were also setting off the scanners.
I pressed on and then she said that it was mainly for things like razorblades. That got my attention. Gillette was one of the first companies to embed RFID tags into their products back in 2003. I am presuming that the new 'security scanners' are RFID readers. I imagine that there may be relatively few products that use them at this stage, but the supermarkets are definitely gearing up for them.
I wondered too, whether all the emphasis on rising food prices lately was being reflected in increases in supermarket theft... |
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psychosis Agent
Joined: 25 Feb 2008
Posts: 133
Location: Christchurch
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Disseminate
Joined: 18 Aug 2008
Posts: 25
Location: Test Tube
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| Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 6:34 am Post Subject: |
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Most certainly have.
Melody, re the RFID scanners, notice how companies are pushing these rewards cards (ONE CARD) springs to mind? I'm sure there's a multitude of reasons other than just allowing information to be sold to third-party agents on items you buy to determine how they should market their product. No doubt if a shop has theft scanners in their store, they're also scanning this to find out who you are (in their database). |
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Melody Anderson
Joined: 05 Nov 2003
Posts: 814
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
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| Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 11:28 am Post Subject: |
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| Disseminate wrote: | | Melody, re the RFID scanners, notice how companies are pushing these rewards cards (ONE CARD) springs to mind? |
Yep, we've discussed those here on this forum before. From time to time I refer to the Foodtown One Card as my 'One World Order' card :-) Never had a checkout operator get the joke though...
On a similar note, with a possible undisclosed long term agenda... It seems that pin numbers are no longer secure enough for some banks.
The other day I popped into the local gas station to get some petrol. I didn't want to buy their specialised fuel so intended to put in a nominal amount so that I could go further afield for a more substantial fill as the car's fuel light had come on. This station has Eftpos at the pump and since I was in a hurry I thought I'd get a quick $10 worth.
No such luck. After a number of times trying to get my Eftpos card to read (i've had trouble with their machines before) I realised that the message I was seeing was in fact telling me that the Eftpos pump machines were now only accepting the company's proprietary fuel cards. A bit annoyed, I went inside to prepay for the fuel and questioned the staff about the change. They said that the banks had stopped them accepting Eftpos at the pump because of security reasons and that the cards were being abused. 'How!?' I said. Stolen cards was the reply....
To top it off, I went back to the pump to get my lousy $10 and received a short fill, with the pump stopping at $9.87!
Stolen cards I suppose has always been a potential issue. The implication here is that the pin numbers are no longer good enough to protect the card owners, the only way to truly protect them is to remove services in respect of the cards - in this case at the petrol pump.
I wonder if this is more widespread than at this specific Mobil station or whether it is now a nationwide policy with respect to Eftpos at the pump. Will we see this start to happen in other areas also? Is this a case of a pissed off public demanding the reinstatement of services with the bank's response being a more 'secure' form of identification and payment? |
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secondfield
Joined: 14 Oct 2006
Posts: 377
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| Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 2:51 pm Post Subject: |
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| A very astute observation Melody ... |
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Melody Anderson
Joined: 05 Nov 2003
Posts: 814
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
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| Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 3:47 pm Post Subject: |
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| secondfield wrote: | | A very astute observation Melody ... |
Having said that, I asked while I was in at the BNZ today about this apparent policy change and they said they didn't know anything about it. That's just a bank teller so they may not be involved in the information loop anyway.
It would be interesting if anyone else can confirm such a change in Eftpos at the pump in their areas... |
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secondfield
Joined: 14 Oct 2006
Posts: 377
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| Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 5:20 pm Post Subject: |
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| Yes, our local mobil has adopted the same policy ... |
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Deano
Joined: 22 Mar 2005
Posts: 741
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| Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:14 pm Post Subject: |
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| Down my way some of the stations are requiring you to pay before you fill up and had never previously done this. I guess there are a lot of people driving off without paying from what I gather. Gull sometimes requires prepay on all of their pumps and then on other days they remove this requirement not really following any sort of pattern. |
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Crakka
Joined: 07 Aug 2008
Posts: 1843
Location: The Wild West
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| Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 11:04 pm Post Subject: |
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| Deano wrote: | | Gull sometimes requires prepay on all of their pumps and then on other days they remove this requirement not really following any sort of pattern. |
There's definitely a pattern at a couple of local Gulls here - quite simply during the busiest times of the day. I'm self-employed and make most of my stops in the middle of the day - at these times there's usually no prepay.
Actually makes me wonder what's next at petrol stations though. Things have changed progressively faster and security has gotten tighter and tighter with time. And to think - they used to be called "service" stations where you could get "real" service! Those days are long gone - we do all the work now and even pay way more for it! |
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treknut72
Joined: 03 Dec 2006
Posts: 21
Location: Hamilton, NZ
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| Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 2:32 pm Post Subject: |
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The Gull here in Hamilton is a "No Service" station. You can only pay by eftpos or credit card(with a pin) and there is only one attendant on site to fix minor problems. And she's only there till 3pm Monday-Friday. Petrol is also 4-5c cheaper than anywhere else.
I can't see eftpos being a "security issue" as it is the only way to get gas from this site. I also noted that the BP's in the area stopped using eftpos-at-pump a long while ago and was told that they were simply more trouble than what they were worth.
My personal view is that all the "eftpos-at-pump" does is stop the consumer from entering the store and potentially buying more items. I can't see the petrol stations wanting to promote this as the extra sales help the the extra profit. |
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Melody Anderson
Joined: 05 Nov 2003
Posts: 814
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
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| Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 3:05 pm Post Subject: |
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| treknut72 wrote: | | My personal view is that all the "eftpos-at-pump" does is stop the consumer from entering the store and potentially buying more items |
I think you may have a very good point there. I find that the Mobil 'On the Run' stores are often the ones that try to hard sell you other items when purchasing petrol - "would you like a coffee with that?"... #-o |
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Crakka
Joined: 07 Aug 2008
Posts: 1843
Location: The Wild West
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| Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 11:31 am Post Subject: |
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| Melody Anderson wrote: | | treknut72 wrote: | | My personal view is that all the "eftpos-at-pump" does is stop the consumer from entering the store and potentially buying more items |
I think you may have a very good point there. I find that the Mobil 'On the Run' stores are often the ones that try to hard sell you other items when purchasing petrol - "would you like a coffee with that?"... #-o |
Nailhead firmly hit :wink:
(Rant time) So it's either -
- Automate everything at the pump, strip all services, have minimal/no staff, save a few measly cents = MORE PROFIT
- "Phase out automation at the pump" & entice customers into the store by promoting it as another "everything in one place" venue so they buy petrol/food&drink/groceries, have staff adhere to a "customer friendly" smile-and-ask-what-else-they-would-like with their petrol policy and always have things like "medium coffee with a muffin" specials so people feel like they'll miss out if they don't "jump on it while it's cheaper", and pay full price for petrol = MORE SALES & PROFIT
This is really what we've got today and it came about in the usual steps of coercion -
- Original "service stations" - staff providing good allround friendly service with petrol at no extra cost & you only buy extras when "needed".
- Requirement for better profit margins = staff reductions, less service, better security, etc, etc, etc
- People complaining that now we pay more for petrol and get no service (but maybe occasionally a smile!).
- Eftpos at pumps - oh, "better" service cos it's easier/quicker to pay uhhh.....maybe...
- The new "service stations" ("Quickstops", "On The Run", etc) - Wow! nice friendly service again - but wait a minute, all those products cost way more than the supermarket or even dairy in some cases and "Do I really NEED that muffin with my coffee? Do I really need ANOTHER coffee - I just had one with breakfast (and I'll probably have 3 or 4 today at the office? Oh well at least I save 30 cents buying them together!"
- Satisfied customers (paying more money than ever for petrol & even more extras than before) & MORE PROFIT!
- A Win-Win situation? Well if you believe capitalism can ever produce a REAL Win-Win situation then maybe, for everyone else it's obvious... the planning, the false sense of security, the slow erosion of the old, the first new that looks good but doesn't really work and then the big shiny NEW new that comes along and solves all the problems and makes EVERYBODY happy! (ugghh I just thought "happy meal" then as I typed "happy" and felt the sick rising in the back of my throat...)
Note the use of words like "Quick", "Run" and all the other terms to denote that because life is moving so fast now all this "great service" to the customer is designed to be "convenient" to suit "today's lifestyle". What lovely examples of pure propaganda - oh sorry I meant "great advertising".... :twisted: |
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Melody Anderson
Joined: 05 Nov 2003
Posts: 814
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
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| Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 11:57 am Post Subject: |
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One of the major differences being that nowadays the illusion seems to be more important than the reality...
| Crakka wrote: | | Wow! nice friendly service again |
Generally I've found that very often, again it seems to have been predominantly in the On the Run stations, the attitude of the staff is appalling, not really even closely resembling friendly service... :(
In cases like these it seems that there is a store 'culture' that prevails. No matter who's on, there are some shops that seem to have a negative staff culture. We've struck this in a local Placemakers, where it seems every shopping experience is characterised in some way by the effect of this store culture, usually typified by the actions and attitude of the staff. Our local Vodafone store is also one of these. Regardless of the staff serving at the time, the experience is usually the same. Go to a different branch and you can strike a completely different scenario.
I remember being in Sydney around 20 years ago in a borrowed vehicle trying to find a service station that would sell us a spark plug (or some similar previously commonly available accessory) and the disbelief at the fact that all they seemed to sell was food and petrol... At that time, service stations here still hadn't succumbed and still sold all manner of items considered to be appropriate for a service station to sell. Of course what we have today is the very model of the situation we experienced in Sydney at that time.
(apologies for sounding like an old fogey 8) ) |
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secondfield
Joined: 14 Oct 2006
Posts: 377
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| Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 3:08 pm Post Subject: |
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Dont apologise for that melody ! :?
The rest of us will have to start doing as well mate :wink:
Anyway, what we are seeing here, generally, broadly speaking etc etc
is a state of unchecked, rampant capatilisim heading our civilisation into
ATROPHY ..
Its a fine line, but we are currently crossing it by the looks of things.
Nature abhors a vaccumn. (and piss poor spelling skills) :-) |
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Crakka
Joined: 07 Aug 2008
Posts: 1843
Location: The Wild West
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| Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 9:24 pm Post Subject: |
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| secondfield wrote: | | Nature abhors a vaccumn. (and piss poor spelling skills) :-) |
Well I hate to kill the party with THE word but.... homeostasis :shock:
On a related subject - I watched The New World last night. The frist few minutes of that movie, just mere words and scenery, are enough to bring a tear to my eye. The nature themes run deep and wide in that film... |
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