Three different ways to remove a security tag from a shirt. Shopping online
By: Nancy Parish
Tags: Consumerism, YouTube, Online Shopping, Life Lessons, DIY Projects

Removing the Security Tag

Photo by Ryan Snaadt on Unsplash

Who hasn’t had the experience of going shopping and finding the perfect blouse, sweater, or jacket to round out an outfit. You buy it and when you get it home and try it on again — you find the security tag still attached. “Argh,” you exclaim and contemplate what you’d like to the sales associate when you return to the store, knowing you never will.

The salesperson forgot. It happens right? For luxury items, stores want to provide a deterrent to shoplifters. It’s frustrating. But in most situations, you can return to the store, show them your receipt and have it removed. But do you really want to return to the store during a pandemic? Maybe you bought the item for an occasion and there simply isn’t time for that.

I recently encountered a similar scenario. During the pandemic, I haven’t been shopping in stores besides doing some grocery shopping. When the shirt that I ordered from a national retailer had a security tag on it — I was angry.

Plus, the situation raised several questions

Assuming the merchandise was housed in a warehouse, and the only people coming in contact with said merchandise, why would it need a security tag? What does that say about the level of trust the retailer has for their employees? The fact there’s a security tag on a thirty dollar item, I’d say not too much.

It’s a bit miserly to put a security tag on a thirty dollar item in the first place. I bought a flannel shirt, not a fine leather coat or a designer purse — a flannel shirt.

Since I ordered the flannel shirt online, my options were limited. I could take the shirt to a store in my area and ask them to remove it. I received an online receipt which I mistakenly deleted once I received the package, so I would have to rely on the goodwill of the salespeople to remove the security tag. And to be honest, I had visions of some overly ambitious assistant manager calling the police because I hadn’t provided a receipt, so she assumed I stole it. That thought ran through my mind a thousand times. I knew it probably wouldn’t happen — but you just never know — this is 2020 after all.

A sideways glance from the employees as they remove the tag would be the best I could hope for. My picture would probably be placed on the Customers to Look Out For section on the staff bulletin board in the back room. I could never shop there again — I’d always feel like they were watching me.

That’s not my brand of humiliation, plus it’s a thirty dollar shirt. To be honest, why risk exposure to Covid-19 for a thirty dollar shirt.

My only option was to remove the tag myself. Surprisingly, there are a large number of YouTube videos on this very subject. Some seem better than others. People even thanked the YouTuber for providing the skills they would need to shoplift their favorite store. I hope they were joking. Please don’t do that.

There are essentially three removal methods

There’s the magnet method. That involves touching an industrial strength magnet to the security tag until it falls off. My Grumpy cat magnet wasn’t going to cut it. Still, I pried every single magnet off my refrigerator and tried them, just in case luck was on my side. It wasn’t.

Next, I watched several YouTube videos that used two forks pry open the security tag. I watched each of these videos several times, trying to find the right technique.

Once I found a technique I thought would work, I grabbed my forks and got to work. I’ll admit I put some muscle into this one and after fifteen minutes and a sweaty brow, the only thing I achieved for my efforts was a frayed shirt around the pin in the security tag. I moved on to the third method and the most toxic of the bunch.

The third method involved taking a lighter to burn the security tag down to the innards

From there, I should be able to remove the remaining pieces with a pair of pliers. Since I didn’t have any pliers and have never been one to want to breathe in toxic fumes, I studied this method a little while longer.

I have to admit, this method spoke to my inner pyromaniac. I was at the point where this method was my only hope. I couldn’t return the shirt to the store — especially now that I bore a hole into the fabric with the forks. Plus my paranoia over my fledgling criminal career ensured I was staying put.

I gathered my supplies — a Covid-19 mask to fend off potential fumes. My long matchsticks I bought for my fireplace and aluminum foil — to protect the shirt from further damage. I guess should have known that the technique was suspect when every video I watched suggested doing the steps outside in a well-ventilated area. I did it anyway.

It was cold that day, so I chose my bathroom with the fan on instead of heading outside. I first wrapped aluminum foil around the security tag so no melted plastic would damage the shirt. I used the long matchstick to burn a hole on the security tag. I had to burn it down to the metal cylinder holding all the parts together. When a spring popped out I knew I was getting somewhere. Then I used a paperclip and removed two of the tiny ball bearings in the tag. Once those were extricated, the tag fell apart on its own.

Two hours later, I had one frayed shirt and one destroyed security tag.

Mission accomplished.

Takeaways

Save your receipt. Check your tags.