this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2023
158 points (90.3% liked)

things that are mildlyinteresting

677 readers
1 users here now

post things that are mildly interesting

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
158
One of our Walmarts has anti-theft wheels (lemmy.world)
submitted 9 months ago by Exusia to c/[email protected]
81 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

None of the others in town have these, thought it was unusual enough to share

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (2 children)

How do they work

[–] johannesvanderwhales 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I'm guessing a magnet that engages if it's given a kill signal? RFID for location. Must have some sort of battery too.

[–] madcaesar 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Battery? Holy shit that would be a pain in the ass to maintain.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Yeah, at least in germany these are all just magnets. And outside of the store there is a long metal line, and when you roll over it, the wheel with the magnet completely locks. This happened to me as a kid, and it was sheer impossible moving the cart back to the store.

[–] Crack0n7uesday 2 points 9 months ago

You ever seen those invisible dog fences? Once it crosses an electrical barrier it triggers an alarm of sorts and in this case I assume it engages some sort of brake mechanism.