From the Orlando Sentinel:
Disney World to Test Software to Limit Refillable Mugs
And analysis (i.e., ranting) from Disboards:
Disney Testing New Resort Mug Technology
Here’s a video of the machines in operation from Jeff Lange:
And finally, here is the company providing the technology:
If this is rolled out the scam described in the book would essentially be halted, which is fine since a) there are plenty of other ways to get free soda at WDW, and b) I’m sick of people on message boards foaming at the mouth every time someone says they re-use their refillable mugs every trip.
That said, I’m sure this will be hacked, too. There will either be a manual override for the dispensers, or there will be an easy way to reprogram the RFID chip. For example, here is the info stored on the RFID, according to Validfill:
Cup Type (Hot or Cold)
Cup Size (in Ounces)
Company
Location
Date Purchased
Location Purchased
Number of Times Used
Number of Refills Remaining (Date or Specific #)
Time of Last Use
Here’s my suggestion for a new scam: some enterprising person could download the RFID info from a new mug and modify it using a program such as RF-Dump. Then, brand new RFID tags could be programmed with 1,000,000 refills (or whatever – essentially a limitless amount) and sold on eBay for dirt cheap. Consumers could buy this new RFID tag and affix the new tag to the appropriate place on the cup of their choice. You could probably sell the tag for under $10, which would be a bargain since the mugs are $14 and only good for the length of your trip. In fact, Validfill themselves sells a “cup programming station” and programmable, disposable tags!
However, I’m not sure this will ever be rolled out across all of the WDW resorts/parks, simply because replacing all of the soda machines throughout the entire property would have to be quite expensive. Justifying that cost to management would be a pretty hard sell, and I just don’t believe that the promise of long-term profits is enough to make the bean-counters spit out the likely massive short-term expense. The percentage of people who abuse the system is relatively small, and they can’t be losing TOO much money to scammers.
Then again, Disney might be able to connive Coke into fronting or splitting the cost of the new machines as part of extending their exclusive contract as the sole on-property soda provider. In which case I can guarantee that we WILL see hacks/scams arise, and those hacks/scams WILL be posted here!
8 Responses to Refillable Mug Scam Might Be Over!