No offense, but my hometown doesn’t have a Sam’s Club. I can’t say there are Sam’s Club locations in cities immediately adjacent to my hometown.
https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/sams-club-costco-customer-satisfaction-ratings-20180061.php
The only thing I liked about Sam’s Club, when I was a Member, was that scan and go feature. I do wish that Costco would update their stores technology and enable this. The lines at my local Costco are unbelievable unless you get there when they open and only need a couple of things, not very likely. Even the lines for gas are crazy during a normal day, again unless you are there first thing in the morning or closer to closing time. But I do like their variety more than I did Sam’s so I will stick with Costco.
I have been watching items at Walmart and noticed that almost every item (besides having a barcode) also has a security tag.
I bought a set of ballpoint pens for perhaps $2.50 and noticed a peeloff label which contains a security tag. These are paper thin adhesive items hidden under a paper label. They have an antenna and look similar to the following:
These work by being in the vacinity of an RFID reader which sends out a radio wave. This wave is turned down or every item near it would trigger. So the reader sends out a radio wave which the tag shown uses to create a voltage to power the chip. That chip then transmits a signal back to the reader with information (such as the product ID) of the item scanned.
These tags can last pretty much forever because they do not contain a battery. They are almost like an old crystal radio receiver but with a transmitter too.
I may be wrong but I believe that the product scanners at places like Walmart use both the printed barcode, the weight of the product and perhaps also the RFID info to determine of someone has scanned a barcode but drops an item on the scale that is a different weight.
Documentation I see states that Walmart uses them for inventory control such as scanning when products are received, but I have t othink they also are a way to reduce shrinkage of profits due to theft. In Walmarts products I have not seen the RFIDs on all products. I have a marmalade jar without one.
Next time you buy an item from Walmart, you might check behind any UPC stickon label or inside the box for an adhesive stip hiding one of these.
Could this technology be what Sams Club is using (we don’t have one here for me to see).
Japans system is more intricate.
They have been using those RFID stickers for years in warehouse inventory. Our small company looked at them, but it was too expensive. While I do shop at Sam’s Club, they are no Costco, but the Scan and Go keeps me going. I’ve left a cart full of merchandise in the store and gone home bc the regular checkout was so slow. There’s a Sam’s Club a stone’s throw from me. Otherwise, I wouldn’t shop there. I quit buying their gas bc it’s not Top Tier. I do love the Scan and Go though!