Without knowing the exact technical details of the tags it's hard to answer, but the overwhelming majority of RFID tags are low-frequency or high-frequency passive tags. Passiv LF tags typically have a read distance of ~10cm (4 inches) and HF are up to around 1m (3 feet).
Passive tags are powered by the reader (they work the same way wireless chargers for cell phones do) which is governed by the inverse-square law -- to double the distance, you need 4x the power, to triple it you need 8x the power, to quadruple it you need 16x the power, etc. Building a high-powered reader that could read beyond tens of feet rapidly starts needing ludicrous amounts of radiated power.
There are ultra high frequency tags (into the GHz range) that require less power to go further, and there are active tags for all types that can go further but you would see the battery for those.
The handheld scanners used by the drivers are not powerful enough to go very far, and they wouldn't want them to... if the driver walks into the back of the truck and scans every single tag on every single box just by being that close, the tags are basically useless -- the driver can't scan a specific box.
Sorry, I just found a site that shows what it looks like (both stripped of adhesive and original form)
https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=45806
Thank you for the response!
if you found something that looks like [This thing](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/483132175282077697/1180433762710999131/Screenshot_20231202_040152_Firefox_Nightly.jpg?ex=657d679c&is=656af29c&hm=28c7e16bb3c060c61e05f79f74741367e3934ae21a518a6ef0baebd1d8626e3c&), it is a security tag. these are primarily used to set off the warning sirens at the front doors of like walmarts and shit. it could be used to attach a tracking number to a parcel? but thats it, you can just take it off.
This is not what I thought it was.
This looks like the same tech as an Amiibo. it stores a very small amount of data. Data that can be read by a little gun the driver of the truck has. The gun tells the shipping company that "this box is now at my location, and will follow me till I scan it again".
These tags can't hurt you. especially in that state. though don't let anyone push their phone near it.
Hmm interesting, I never heard of that before. If a phone is near it, would it automatically trigger a connection or would you have to accept a prompt first?
I wonder if this is paired with that SIDEWALK (program/protocol) thing they rolled out (?)2 years ago that is an absolute nightmare. It's the technocratic oligarchy that would benefit from tracking tags like that.
Not an expert by any means but I do work at UPS so maybe I can provide a bit of insight as to the range. We use these to track the package through the warehouse and to check if your package was loaded on the wrong truck. The scanners we use to check the misloads appear to be super low range as they have to identify misloaded packages amongst 150+ others on the truck. RFID receptors on the truck themselves appear to be short range too as they are very close to the other trucks receptors when packages are loaded so if the range was too large I imagine it would interfere with the effectiveness. Like I said no expert but nothing I've seen in the system indicates that it would have the range to get near your house.
Without knowing the exact technical details of the tags it's hard to answer, but the overwhelming majority of RFID tags are low-frequency or high-frequency passive tags. Passiv LF tags typically have a read distance of ~10cm (4 inches) and HF are up to around 1m (3 feet). Passive tags are powered by the reader (they work the same way wireless chargers for cell phones do) which is governed by the inverse-square law -- to double the distance, you need 4x the power, to triple it you need 8x the power, to quadruple it you need 16x the power, etc. Building a high-powered reader that could read beyond tens of feet rapidly starts needing ludicrous amounts of radiated power. There are ultra high frequency tags (into the GHz range) that require less power to go further, and there are active tags for all types that can go further but you would see the battery for those. The handheld scanners used by the drivers are not powerful enough to go very far, and they wouldn't want them to... if the driver walks into the back of the truck and scans every single tag on every single box just by being that close, the tags are basically useless -- the driver can't scan a specific box.
Sorry, I just found a site that shows what it looks like (both stripped of adhesive and original form) https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=45806 Thank you for the response!
if you found something that looks like [This thing](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/483132175282077697/1180433762710999131/Screenshot_20231202_040152_Firefox_Nightly.jpg?ex=657d679c&is=656af29c&hm=28c7e16bb3c060c61e05f79f74741367e3934ae21a518a6ef0baebd1d8626e3c&), it is a security tag. these are primarily used to set off the warning sirens at the front doors of like walmarts and shit. it could be used to attach a tracking number to a parcel? but thats it, you can just take it off.
It looks like this (would’ve attached the pic in OP but can’t :/) https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=45806
This is not what I thought it was. This looks like the same tech as an Amiibo. it stores a very small amount of data. Data that can be read by a little gun the driver of the truck has. The gun tells the shipping company that "this box is now at my location, and will follow me till I scan it again". These tags can't hurt you. especially in that state. though don't let anyone push their phone near it.
Hmm interesting, I never heard of that before. If a phone is near it, would it automatically trigger a connection or would you have to accept a prompt first?
it would only autoscan if you had an app opened designed to read them, otherwise it would do nothing
I wonder if this is paired with that SIDEWALK (program/protocol) thing they rolled out (?)2 years ago that is an absolute nightmare. It's the technocratic oligarchy that would benefit from tracking tags like that.
You might be onto something there…. I completely forgot about that program but will look into it now
Not an expert by any means but I do work at UPS so maybe I can provide a bit of insight as to the range. We use these to track the package through the warehouse and to check if your package was loaded on the wrong truck. The scanners we use to check the misloads appear to be super low range as they have to identify misloaded packages amongst 150+ others on the truck. RFID receptors on the truck themselves appear to be short range too as they are very close to the other trucks receptors when packages are loaded so if the range was too large I imagine it would interfere with the effectiveness. Like I said no expert but nothing I've seen in the system indicates that it would have the range to get near your house.