Reuters has a story about radio frequency identification chips, typically abbreivated RFID. The cost of the tracking devices has dropped to ten cents each.

A conference on the topic, EPCglobal, is being held in Los Angeles this week. Privacy concerns, typically, are being brushed aside as the worrying of a few activitists and do-gooders. The real issue is that missing inventory may be a less significant issue. Procter & Gamble discovered that during one promotion, a third of all razors never made it to store shelves. RFID was credited with a 20 percent improvement in the sales of that item.

At Wyeth, the goal is to use RFID to reduce drug counterfeiting; at Dow Chemical, the technology is part of overall efforts to raise productivity by 30 percent. By early 2007, 600 of Wal-Mart’s suppliers and 1,000 of its retail locations will use RFID.