Radio frequency identification or RFID is an old concept that has quietly become a large part of everyone’s life. RFID has been around for at least 90 years and was initially put into practice about 70 years, but not many people realized it. These days, you yourself are most likely scanned every day by an RFID reader and the things you purchase are certainly scanned at least once a week.

So what is RFID? Well, you could think of it as the update of the bar code although in fact, it predates the bar code by 50 or 60 years. Bar codes were developed in order to combine stock control with point of sales processing.

Everyone has seen this and is used to it: the sales clerk at the cash register takes the items from your trolley one at a time, looks for the bar code, flashes a light or a bar code reader over it and the cost of the article is added to your bill.

What you do not see is that the computerized stock records for that item are lowered by one and the sales price is noted along side it. That procedure worked well for 40 years, but now there is a need for more information to be recorded than a bar code can accommodate and there is requirement for more stock control and even more speed at the check out. Nobody has any time any longer.

Enter RFID, an old technology revamped. RFID is the expertise that they used to put in Second World War aircraft in order to distinguish friendly aircraft to the RADAR-controlled anti-aircraft guns. The same equipment, fundamentally, that they still use in aircraft today to identify it to air traffic control. The difference is that until pretty recently, these radio signal emitters or transponders were as big as a suitcase and cost a great deal of money.

These days they are the size of the tiniest coin in your change and cost about five cents. They win over the bar code because they can hold masses of data, such as where and when and by whom an item was made; how much it cost and how much it should be sold for; its colour, weight and description; which shelf and in which shop it should be kept on …. ad infinitum. The shop owner can write anything on that chip using an RFID printer.

And when it comes to the check out… No more scanning each separate item by hand, because each RFID chip or tag, as they are called in the industry, sends out its own data on its own exclusive radio frequency, therefore as long as the RFID reader is within three or four feet of the basket, it knows what is in there instantly. No more emptying, scanning and reloading the basket.

In fact, no more check out clerk. Most people pay by credit or debit card these days anyway, so as you walk past the scanner with your basket, you are scanned; you swipe your credit card through another scanner; if you are happy with it, you approve the payment and the barrier lifts for you to proceed to your car. You only need a check out clerk for the shoppers who want to pay with cash. Cheques are being done away with soon anyway.