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Not entirely surprising that the aggressive demand from Wal-Mart that all its suppliers conform to its requirement for RFID tags on merchandise it retails (to become effective within days from now) has been delayed. As the NYTimes reports in Wal-Mart Hits Snags in Push to Use Radio Tags to Track Goods, they're going to be late.
That's not entirely bad because the flurry of activity Wal-Mart spurred has moved the technology much closer toward commercial viability, faster. Still, apart from execution, there are a couple not insignificant problems:
One hurdle bogging down Wal-Mart and its suppliers is the cost of the devices. The tags alone cost 25 cents to 30 cents each. Analysts contend that for many users the price needs to fall to 5 cents or less before the investments can be recovered from the savings generated by moving goods more rapidly and accurately through supply chains.Then, of course, there's this shocker:In the drug industry and others where counterfeiting and tampering are major concerns, the tags may pay off sooner.
Posted by Grayson at March 29, 2004 07:51 AM
It is also becoming apparent that industrywide standards for advanced tags and readers are developing more slowly than the technology's advocates had hoped. That adds to the incentives for delaying investment.