Magnetic cap pens

[LanceD]

I just wanted to throw out this reminder to anyone that carries any type of pen using magnetic cap pens or selling them to their customers.
Yesterday I had my Zen in my front pants pocket while shopping with my wife. I pulled out my credit card from my wallet and used it on a purchase but instead of putting it back in my wallet I stuck it in the same pocket as my Zen. About two hours later I went to use the credit card and couldn't get it to read the strip when swiping it in the terminal. After several tries the girl finally had to key it in manually. It didn't dawn on me yet and when we tried to use it at another store i had the same results. When I pulled my pen out to sign the receipt it finally nit me that the pen was the culprit as to why the card terminals couldn't read the strip. The magnets erased the information from the strip on the card. I just got off the phone with my cc company to get a new one sent to me.

 

[Dan Masshardt]

I think many of us are aware of this but it's a good reminder!!

 

[mlconnelly]

A couple of years ago I was turning some refrigerator magnets and failed to read the caution that came with the rare earth magnets. While I was working I looked at my watch to check the time and found out that my watch had been zapped.

 

[BigE]

I work in high tech, and last year I was designing a computer that can fit in your pocket. We were using inductive charging on it, and we used a small rare earth magnet to help align the computer on the charging pad.

My manager was working late one night and picked his up off the charging pad and slipped it into his shirt pocket, getting ready to go home. He then got up, and his pacemaker started to go off. It really freaked him out (and he actually pulled the wireless charging feature because it freaked him out so much). He just sat there waiting for the pacemaker zap. Eventually the pacemaker stopped making the alarm noise.

The point being that a magnetic cap pen could do the same for an unsuspecting customer, if it was positioned just right. Something else to think about.

 

[Pitoon]

....it mentions this in the instructions when you get the kit.

Pitoon