“What’s in your wallet?” is among the most famous advertising slogans, the implied answer being that it should be the sponsoring credit card. There’s a segment of the wallet industry that could make good use of that slogan; however, the implied answer would be that it should be the ability to block RFID. The presence of RFID chips in credit cards has added to privacy concerns about the technology and has helped give rise to RFID-blocking wallets. The irony illustrates the dilemma faced by RFID: the more it becomes mainstream the more it generates screams.
For years, RFID has been discussed as a means to smart packaging. The first application given wide publicity was at the pallet-load level, but visionaries spoke of applications at the item-level and integration with other smart sources, be they store shelves, refrigerators and other appliances, kitchen cabinets, mobile devices, etc. One imagined retail scenario has the shopper wheeling the cart past equipment that adds up all the RFID item-level purchases and charges them to an RFID credit card. Out the door goes the shopper, without having had to endure conventional bar-code check-out.
There can be honest debate over the feasibility of the futurist scenario, but there’s no debating the convenience it would provide to the shopper in terms of time and effort. Detractors agree but nonetheless argue that the convenience comes with a price: privacy concerns. As for the nature of those concerns, suffice it to say that some are more imaginative than others. Packaging professionals should take interest in any discussion involving shopper convenience and alleged tradeoffs because it’s packaging that makes the convenience of self-service retailing possible.
In the recent past, it’s been commonly believed that the greatest impediment to greater use of RFID in packaging marriage was cost, that is to say, the tags were too expensive. It was an economies-of-scale rationale, supporting a prediction that price would come down with increased adoption rates of RFID; however, the economies of scale at the item-level would be massive enough to diminish the importance of cost. Going forward, the potential for RFID-enabled smart packaging will be determined, in increasing measure, by privacy concerns and how effectively they are quieted.
What’s the worry?
As was already mentioned, privacy concerns about RFID come in different versions, some more fanciful than others; however, the one associated with RFID-blocking wallets is quite credible. It concerns the act called skimming, involving a concealed electronic card reader (easily obtainable and affordable) that steals data off of a RFID-enabled credit card. The data can be used to make a counterfeit card, which in turn, can be used for unauthorized purchases. The legal card owner is unaware of being skimmed; after all, the credit card is still in the wallet.
By the steps: the criminal connects a card reader to a notebook computer and conceals the devices inside a briefcase, bag, etc.; the criminal gets casually close to a victim and skims data off of the victim’s RFID-enabled credit card; later, the notebook is connected to a magnetic-stripe writing device (also easily obtainable and affordable); and, finally, a blank magnetic-stripe card is swiped through the writing device, making a counterfeit card.
The crime is not difficult to commit given the many scenarios that can bring criminal and victim in close proximity. Examples include standing-in-line places, such as banks, stores, and airports and sitting-close-together places, such as restaurants, sporting events, and community meetings.
What’s the protection?
Television commercials for RFID-blocking wallets are appearing with frequency, offering the products through toll-free telephone numbers and websites. Not to be left out, brick-and-mortar stores sell various makes of such wallets, prices ranging from economical to expensive. For the do-it-yourself corps, there are videos that purportedly teach how to convert any wallet into one that blocks the transmission of RFID signals.
To what degree and within what limitations the various RFID approaches are effective is another matter. The bigger issue is that they stoke privacy concerns about the technology. It’s not all about credit cards, either. RFID chips are in corporate IDs, school IDs, even passports, increasing the potential for marketing products that “protect.” And why stop with wallets? Why not RFID-blocking capabilities incorporated into other items, i.e. belts watches, maybe?
What’s the connection with packaging?
Yes, affected are credit cards and other items carried in a wallet or purse (which, by the way, also are available in RFID models) but also affected is packaging. It’s impossible for that not to be the case. There are millions of people who own a RFID-enabled, wallet-size item; however, that number is dwarfed by the number of people who could be affected by item-level RFID. Those excluded from the latter group would be those who don’t make purchases; for example, because of being too young, and even they will eventually age out of the category. It follows, therefore, that anything having an impact on the acceptance of RFID will have an impact on any packaging-related applications.
Any company wanting to assess the future of RFID as a packaging component should take a macro-perspective. Such a perspective acknowledges a social order characterized by privacy concerns, fed by a variety of issues. In addition to credit cards, there’s computer security, identity theft, and governmental monitoring of emails and telephone correspondence. Combined, they can result in a growing segment of society that feels that its privacy is under siege. Such a segment would be receptive to claims that RFID-enabled packaging adds to the pile.
The credit card industry has been responsive, with its public defense of RFID, for example, citing that there are built-in safeguards that prevent a card from being used for more than one fraudulent transaction. That might be questionable reassurance; nonetheless, it would seem to obligate packaging and other users of RFID to defend their use, in ways that allay concerns about privacy.
So will we ever see a marriage of RFID and packaging? If we do, it will be because of the successful resolution of privacy concerns, giving new meaning to the phrase “a marriage of convenience.”
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Sterling Anthony is a consultant and strategist, specializing in packaging, marketing, logistics, and human factors. His contact information is: 100 Renaissance Center-43176, Detroit, MI 48243; 313-531-1875; [email protected]; www.pkgconsultant.com
