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Wal-Mart's Faltering RFID Initiative
itphobe writes "Baseline magazine has up an in-depth look at Wal-Mart's years-old RFID initiative. Things apparently haven't gone so well for the retail giant. 'The lack of any obvious concrete gains has raised questions as to whether Wal-Mart should delay or freeze its RFID plans. For now, however, Wal-Mart says it will stay the course ... By January 2006 the company hoped to have as many as 12 of its roughly 130 distribution centers fully outfitted with RFID. That effort stalled at just five distribution centers. Instead, the company is now focusing on implementing RFID in stores fed by those five distribution centers so it can gain a bigger window into its supply chain.' Overall the article focuses on the original intentions of the RFID project vs. their implementation. It also discusses several of the technical elements required to adapt RFID for the US juggernaut."
It's been predicted for years: the cost of an RFID tag will drop to 5 cents and the world will be revolutionized. I did some calculations years ago, and 5 cents seems to be about the point at which the cost of the tag on every item is worth the benefits gained in inventory tracking.
But the price seems frozen at 10 cents. And that is the cheapest tags in HUGE quantities. For a small business like mine, 20 cents seems to be the current rate.