Source tagging is the application of EAS (Electronic Article Surveillance) labels onto products or packaging during the manufacturing or packaging process. Many retail products have these EAS labels or tags which are anti-theft devices that trigger alarms at or near store exits when the tags have not been deactivated at the checkout. Major retailers, such as Wal-Mart and Ames, recently committed to chainwide implementation of EAS systems thus requiring many of their OEM suppliers to quickly implement source tagging into their manufacturing operations. Source tagging will benefit these retailers by giving them the ability to have more open merchandising of high-theft products.