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One of our Walmarts has anti-theft wheels
(lemmy.world)
None of the others in town have these, thought it was unusual enough to share
How do they work
I'm guessing a magnet that engages if it's given a kill signal? RFID for location. Must have some sort of battery too.
Battery? Holy shit that would be a pain in the ass to maintain.
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.
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.