The news has been circulating on social networks for several days now. Are the reusable dishes, which have been in place since the beginning of the year in McDonald’s, equipped with an electronic device allowing potential thieves to be found? In any case, this is what a warning posted on a fast food chain establishment in the Territoire de Belfort indicates. “Our dishes are equipped with geolocation chips. It is not possible to leave with. You will explain yourself with the 17 “, is it written on this poster, the photo of which has circulated widely on social networks.
Since January 1, fast food restaurants must use reusable tableware for meals and drinks served at the table, whether they are cups, lids, plates, containers or other cutlery. Very quickly, some McDonald’s customers began to steal these reusable objects, deemed “collector’s items”.
“It is absolutely not used to geolocate our customers”
If the crockery is indeed equipped with a chip, as one can see it on photos which circulate on the social networks, in particular on the forum of JeuxVideo.com, it is not used to trace the customers. Benjamin Peri, founder of Pyxo, a company that offers reusable containers and supplies McDo, explained to the Parisian that “this device is only used to know the stocks in real time”.
“We affixed RFID chips to monitor the reuse rate and assess the environmental impact. This is absolutely not used to geolocate our customers,” confirmed McDonald’s. This system has in fact been used for several decades, particularly in the field of logistics. These chips work like a QR Code or a barcode, but have the advantage of being able to be scanned much faster.