> The third I've only seen in retail. It's a small plastic strip about 1 1/2"
> long, 1/2" wide and 1/16" high. It's also magnetically desensitized, based
> on the desensitizer's I've seen. Ripping the sticker off seems to be the
> only safe approach.

Isn't a somewhat safer approach to hand the item to the person sitting near
a machine with lots of buttons on top and a money drawer underneath?  Prefer-
ably with a bribe in an amount typically marked on the item in question?  I
have found this approach to be 99.9% reliable in ensuring that the alarm does
not go off, and I have also found the store personnel to be quite friendly and
apologetic on those occasions when the alarm has tripped.

While your approach might have similar reliability at avoiding the alarms, I
doubt the personnel would be as friendly on those occasions when the alarm
sounds.