Hotel Tracks Towels With RFID Chips

nonprofiteer writes "An unnamed hotel is now putting RFID tags in their towels: 'The Honolulu hotel (the hotels have asked to remain anonymous, just to keep you guessing) says it was taking a bath to the tune of 4,000 pool towels per month, a number that it has reduced to just 750 (a savings of $16,000 per month). And that's just at the pool.' It's unclear what they do if the towel flies to the Midwest."

RFID chips in laundry

[Pneathery]

My Uncle, and his family own a dry cleaning business in north Carolina and they have been doing this for years. It has caused the dry cleaners to make more money, as well as their clients. Plus as everything comes into the plant, it gets sorted so easily. You can run a cart through a scanner, and the computer reads everything in the cart, telling it where to go, and it is tracked from start to finish. The best part is, the cleaners and their customers make the agreements on the items that are supposed to be cleaned, not the actual pieces being cleaned, so they can tell the hospital who didn't turn in their shirts that week, yet collect for cleaning them. It is the future of dry cleaners.

old news, or a hoax.

[pbjones]

this story is about 2 months old. The RFID triggers a sensor and then you may be asked to take the towel out of your luggage, or be billed for a towel. This type of news could also be a hoax and people read the sign and don't take the chance. Theft is theft, it shouldn't happen.

Re:old news, or a hoax.

[LordLimecat]

This, right here, is proof that when people want something for free, they will have no problem rationalizing it-- be it free music, or free software, or free towels.