• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, August 1, 2017

A Wisconsin company had its planned ‘chip party’ Tuesday and 41 employees had microchips implanted into them.

Those employees, all who volunteered to have an RFID (radio frequency identification) chip implanted between their thumb and forefinger, now can use their hand to unlock doors, log on to computers and pay at kiosks or terminals that take credit cards.

I caught up with Tony Danna, vice president of international sales at Three Market Square, just after the chip party at the company’s River Falls headquarters.

“It went really well and was a lot simpler than I thought,” Danna said. “It hurts more when pinching the skin than the syringe implanting the chip. It takes about two seconds.”

“In addition to the 41 employees who did it, we had nine reporters who did it as well.”

There were about 20 employees in the company who did not want them and no one, either those who initially did or did not want them, changed their mind, Danna said.

Some merchants still in awe of a payment by the tap of a mobile phone may have yet another payment surprise in store for them.

“I can’t even imagine what merchants are going to say when you’re paying by hand,” Danna said.

The chips, which have to be within six inches of an NFC terminal to work, cost about $300 each and are not trackable, Danna said. The tiny microchips also can be removed like taking out a splinter.

Danna also had a chip implanted. “I have it now and it’s all connected to my computer. It’s all hooked up.”

Three Market Square sells micro market technology and operates more than 2,000 kiosks in 20 countries. The employee chip implantation program is to help the company gain first-hand knowledge of the technology, since the company markets it into micro markets, essentially employee break rooms that use self-checkout kiosks.

And now 41 employees are part of the Internet of Things.