Magnetic wire that trips up thieves

Magnetic wire that trips up thieves

Shoplifting is big business: petty thieves around the world filch billions of dollars of goods each year. But a new disposable antitheft "tag" that is virtually impossible to detect may cause some pilferers to think about switching pastimes. The tag, made by Knogo Corp. of Hicksville, N.Y., consists of a hairthin magnetic wire that can be attached to anything from a jar of caviar to a pack of cigarettes. Unlike the bulky plastic antitheft tags frequently used to protect clothing, Knogo's minuscule Electro Thred tags are nearly invisible. The metal thread can be attached to a price tag, incorporated into a mock bar-code label or glued to the seam of a can or the side of a carton during manufacture. When a customer makes a purchase a clerk deactivates the tag by passing the item over a desensitizing device. (Unlike plastic antitheft tags, the Electro Thred tag does not have to be removed; it is simply deactivated.) Shoplifters making off with an item containing a "live" Electro Thred wire will be tripped up at the door, where a detector sounds an alarm. Supermarkets and pharmacies may find Knogo's invisible threads attrac- tive because they offer broad antitheft protection at a relatively low price. Electro Thred tags cost less than one cent apiece if purchased in volume. Because the tags are hard to see, they don't have to be attached to every item in a store to deter thieves. Retailers can tag only expensive or easily stolen items and leave shoplifters guessing whether the rest are bugged. Knogo encourages clerks to run every purchase through the deactivator to "give the impression to shoppers that all items are protected," says com- pany engineer Michael Cooper. The system is not flawless. Clerks must bring each tag into physical con- tact with the deactivator to ensure that the Electro Thred is desensitized; this means shop employees must be trained to recognize which items are tagged and where tags are located. Since about one-third of the thefts in many stores are attributed to what retailers call "internal shrinkage" — pilferings by employees — training the shop clerks to recognize selectively tagged items may only cause added problems. Still, Knogo's system may convince some light-fingered individuals to keep their hands off the goods. The electro Thred system is being marketed in the United States, Europe, Japan and Australia. Knogo plans to bring out a similar antitheft system for libraries next year. JULITH JEDAMUS WITH CYNTHIA CATTERSON NEWSWEEK/November 4, 1985