Yesterday I was at a local mall and bought Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Plunges Into History and afterwards went over to the pharmacy a few stores down. I picked up some toothpaste. The cashier scanned it on some laser-like doohickey inside the counter and I accordingly paid for it. As I walked out those stupid beeping things went off and scared the hell out of me. The manager (I suppose she was, different uniform and much older) instructed me to walk through again and I did. Beeps again. She then walked up and checked my bag only to discover the toothpaste and receipt. After walking through many times I told her all I have is a book. She looks around and told me that they use the same “code” as the bookstore (which doesn’t even have these devices) and she let me go.
My question is how do these things work? Maybe the evil cashier had a button that could make them go off? My WAG is that they operate on Radio Frequencies. But couldn’t someone make a device that emits these so the beeper would go on all day?
They are magnetic tags and the ‘scanners’ at the door are radio frequency detectors that read the magnetic frequency on the tags. One of the bigger companies is CheckPoint. When you buy something from these stores they de-magnetize the tag so the alarm won’t go off (that’s the spot on the counter in stores that say something like “keep credit cards away from this area”) The biggest problem with these things are places like video rental stores. They leave the tags charged so if you go into another store with rented tapes/DVDs you probably will set off the alarm.
It’s nothing to do with the same “code” - she was trying to bullshit you rather than explain how they work.
The gates on the door are magnetic sensors, and the thing setting them off is some sort of temporary magnet -there are a few different styles for different applications. When the cashier sells you your stuff, she puts your items on a plate with a powerful electromagnet, which disrupts the temporary magnets once it’s activated. Consequently, they don’t set off the door sensors.
Back when I used to work for the bookstore, we were one floor above a circuit city. They insisted on using security magnets on everything, but their stupid fucking salespeople never deactivated any thing. We got people beeping when they came in the door, and we always had to deactivate their CDs or whatever, since about half of the alerts we got from people leaving turned out to be Circuit City customers who hadn’t had their stuff deactivated properly.
It is true, however, that certain stores will pick up sensors from certain other stores, but not the rest of them. If that makes sense.
I work at a Suncoast in a mall which has (well, used to) a Sam Goody, a Waldenbooks, and your usual run of stores, all with their own different security measures. Our store has moved several times in the last few years (final location now!), and when we move the security company has to come and move the sensors and things first - two moves ago, they came and took our pillar things -and- our demagnetizing pads away a full day before we actually moved the store. This meant we were selling things without desensitizing them, and they didn’t go off as they left our store. This caused problems for Sam Goody, as (as you may or may not know), we’re owned by the same company and they have the same sensor brand. This was also a problem for Waldenbooks, alone of all the other sensor-using stores in the building. They came down several times (from the whole other end of the mall, too) to yell at us for something we really couldn’t help. Our stuff didn’t go off for anybody else, however. In general it rarely does. (We try very hard to desensitize everything but sometimes they’re way in the middle of those box sets, you know, and unless you want to go ahead and open the thing there’s nothing I can do about it. ) Gamestop’s bags sometimes go off for us, however, and of course Sam Goody. So, if this all works off magnets, as I’ve been told it does, why are some stores evidently different from one another?
I worked at Macys for a day putting those damn things on(worst job ever!). Its a simple pin. The reason it doesn’t damage the fabric is its put through the seam.
Logical, the book itself isn’t magnetized. A little security strip is put on the book(usually the front or back cover inside), which contains a small strip of metal. That strip of metal is the magnet.
happyheathen I have worked for a clothing store and have seen how at least one of these tag things work.
The tag contains a sharp pin which goes through the fabric without damaging it (it goes between the fibres rather than through them).
On the other end of the pin is a clamp which grips the pin using a sort of one-way friction grip. The only way to release the grip is to using a strong magnet to release an internal catch.
At the point of sale, the salesperson places the tag onto a strong magnet fixed to the counter. This releases the internal grip on the pin and tag comes off easily.
I’m sure there are other tags in use but this is the one I have had experience of.
Ummm…all the ones I’ve seen have a steel pin that POKES A FREAKING HOLE through the clothing. Normally, they try to put it in a seam, but sometimes they just shove it through anywhere, and then they act miffed when you tell them “No, I don’t want a $500 leather trenchcoat with a hole that you poked through it, thank you.” :rolleyes:
Logical: They can “tag” books using a small circuit board type tag which can be stuck inside. I’ve no idea how they work but I’ve seen them used on things like CDs and games. They would be thing enough to stick inside a book aswell.
Howstuffworks.com has a whole big article on how anti-shoplifting devices work. There are a number of different technologies used (e.g., magnetic, radio, etc.); read up and be enlightened.
Once I bought a hard drive at Best Buy and continued shopping at the mall. That damned hard drive set off the alarm in every single fricken store I went in, even after the Best Buy clerk demagnetized their anti-theft device. Finally I just dropped it off at my car.
Whoops, I lost this thread. Or maybe someone lifited it
2 Quickies:
The book I’ve got has no tags, just a little barcode. Does that mean the paper is somehow magnetized?
What would happen if you did happen to have a pocket full of magnets?
Quick steal: "diffeent stores use different “volume” levels for their sensors. "
I’d doubt it, otherwise they wouldn’t go off in other stores?
“source tagging” is the industry buzzphrase; retailers are trying to encourage manufacturers to build the tags into the body of the product or packaging, rather than applying it as a label.
Some manufacturers are reluctant to take up source tagging because the retailer will order items to replace stolen inventory as well as replenishing sold items; theft prevention can mean reduced orders for the manufacturer (plus source tagging involves investment and re-tooling).
It isn’t just simple magnetism that triggers the sensors; they emit RF at a precise frequency that causes the foil antenna in the tag to resonate and emit an RF signal at a different harmonic frequency, which is then detected setting off the alarm.
Other things can coincidentally resonate and emit the same signal, causing a false alarm; the tiny coils of wire in louspeaker elements, for example.
You might have to look VERY closely to find the tag. Some of the most popular sizes are the 2" square lable(about the thickness of an index card) and the familiar 1/2" x 2"x1/8" plastic tag that comes on CDs and DVDs (or somewhere close to those sizes). But they come in many other sizes, books are sometimes labeled with a sticker about 1/16" wide by 2" - 3" long and slightly thinner than a sheet a paper. These can be hard to find, especially since they would be hidden shoved up against the binding on whatever page they happened to open the book at.
