Home Depot plans to foil shoplifters with power tools that won't work if they're stolen

submitted by thefirststone from businessinsider.com

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[–]AnarchySpeach 7 insightful - 2 fun7 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 2 fun -  (3 children)

power tools that won't work unless they're properly scanned and activated at the register via Bluetooth technology. If a thief managed to smuggle a power drill out of the store without paying, the drill simply wouldn't turn on.

Effort and Cost.

While this will stop most shop lifters it won't stop them from selling them online at a discount to people smart enough to bypass the on/off switch.

I do find it a little funny how they say this is their best solution that avoids hurting their brand.

Defects will happen. A tired a employee won't scan it right. Now there's a person on the job trying to use a tool that won't turn on. He makes a post online about it. Other people chime in with similar experiences. Other brands are recommended. Then somebody will post a youtube tutorial about which wire to disconnect to bypass the bluetooth. That video gets removed for "piracy" or some made up reason.

Sounds more and more like John Dear hell every day.

Can't wait for the anti-right-to-repair people to start screaming when customers start taking their broken power tools to someone like Louis Rossmann who can "fix" their tools for $5, instead of going back to the store to have it be turned on.

I'd rather pay $5 to have the bluetooth safeguard removed at a small tech shop than disabled at the store who couldn't do it right the first time.

And all of this because the store doesn't want to hurt their brand image by tying things down ffs.

[–]JasonCarswellMental Orgy 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

While this will stop most shop lifters it won't stop them from selling them online at a discount to people smart enough to bypass the on/off switch.

Creating another black market hierarchy. I wonder it that's part of their plan.

[–]AnarchySpeach 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

Reminds me a little of how some communist countries make everything illegal, and then only enforce the law to remove competitors.

It's ridiculous that they think simply adding a wire or rope around the product will scare away customers. The dude buying a chainsaw, that deals with the idea of being crushed to death on a daily basis as a lumberjack, will not care in the slightest if they have to ask an employee to take a rope off. The target customer for Home Depot are people buying construction equipment, hammers, nails, balancing on a ladder to paint, and lots of stuff that could cause injury. I highly doubt their light bulb department is the thing keeping them afloat.

There's no way installing bluetooth is the cheaper option compared simply tying stuff down. This feels like somebody high up in the company has a brother that works in a chip factory making bluetooth and saw an opportunity to make some extra bucks.

[–]JasonCarswellMental Orgy 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

make everything illegal, and then only enforce the law to remove competitors.