Theft of consumer products is a common problem. Theft can occur during transportation, from warehouses and from retail stores, such as grocery stores. A wide variety of security devices have been devised to help prevent theft. One well-known system, often used in retail stores, involves applying a remotely sensible device to high value items in conjunction with a remote sensor at the exits. If the remotely sensible device is not either removed from the product or the actuated, an alarm sounds when the customer passes through the sensor at an exit. One problem with this type of system is that it is relatively expensive to implement and slows down checking out because of the time taken to deactuate or remove the device. Therefore, in some situations, such as the retail grocery store environment, such a system is not generally considered practical.
Another type of security label helps provide identification, such as through the use of micro markings or numbers, in the event the product is stolen. A further type of security label is temper evident and tears apart if the potential thief tries to remove the label and, for example, replace it with a different label having a lower price.
See U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,845,728; 3,221,427; 4,239,261; 4,547,001; 4,763,928; 4,976,456; 5,346,259; 5,782,496 and U.S. Published Application Nos. 2002/0021002 A1 and 2003/0047937 A1.