RFID Tags for Groceries?

A recent Rice University press release starts like this: "Long lines at store checkouts could be history if a new technology created in part at Rice University comes to pass." The author is referring to the university's new RFID printing technology. The technology was first revealed in the March issue of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' journal. The article suggests that one could simply pass a cart full of groceries through a transmitter and every one would automatically be scanned and accounted for. But is this new ink really that revolutionary?

After all, radio frequency identification (RFID) has been around for decades. It's in bus passes, library books, and even house keys. What led the researchers to zero in on using it for groceries? Will the university's new ink change everything?

Team leader Gyou-jin Cho thinks it will. His team's new ink and printing process could print RFID transistors directly on paper or plastic packaging whereas now RFIDs are mostly expensive and cumbersome silicone. According to the press release, Cho thinks that because the new printing process will bring down the cost to about a penny per RFID transistor, RFIDs could eventually replace bar codes.

There are still other obstacles though. For one, Cho doesn't think the technology will "mature" until five years from now. So it's not ready to be implemented for at least several years. Also, the transistor pictured above is way too large to be practical for most grocery store products. It will take some serious shrinkage for the transistors to fit on fruit or spices. There are also questions about its range. Right now, any reliable communication between transistor and transmitter takes place within a meter. It could take several years to perfect that range let alone expand it to cover the grandiose notion of taking inventory in a large warehouse instantaneously.

Lastly, there are ethical questions. What would happen to grocery store and retail employees if RFIDs became the new bar code? I expect at least 10 times the uproar that installing self-scanning machines caused. And there are a lot of things that employees do that customers can't such as weighing fruit or approving driver's licenses for alcohol.

While I think the technology is really cool, and I hope it can be adapted for the shipping and storing industries, I just don't know how gracefully cheap RFIDs could adapt to grocery stores. And personally, I like scanning things because it's fun!