Are Paging Systems Extinct?

[GordonKapesMZ4]

I am assuming one "expert" consulting firm told Target a long time ago that telephone system paging was disruptive to customers, so they eliminated it totally and installed microphones in order to page the store in an emergency.

Now, Best Buy, TJX (TJ Maxx and Marshalls), extinct Borders and many other retailers are now dumping their telephone system investments for independent headsets systems.

Am I crazy or does this seem to be moving backwards to the old days when there was a dedicated phone system and a dedicated Intercom system such as aiphone in retail stores.

To me, this seems duplication of equipment and it really dissapoints me that chains are treating their phone systems like old elephants, when indeed they are the latest Nortel, Avaya or Cisco systems.....

I for one, don't mind overhead paging in a store, it adds vitality and an excitement to retailing.

Just wondering if I am the only one........

 

[trvlr1]

I remember as a kid walking through stores with my parents and hearing paging for the latest deals and newest things to come in, all from someone with a very nice voice who annunciated correctly, so everyone could understand what was said. Typically these days, you only get half of the message and don't understand the rest. No wonder they are going away from paging ....

 

[jeffmoss26]

We page a million times a day here at my office...I hear it in my sleep...lol

jeff moss

 

[phoneguy610]

since when is tj maxx and marshalls dumping it, i have recently subcontracted jobs at those locations for blackbox and we installed nortel bcms and bose sounds systems complete with overhead paging.


dglcabling@yahoo.com

 

[GordonKapesMZ4]

Hey Phone Guy 610.....I was at a TJ Maxx in downtown Chicago....one of their busiest locations on State Street and they don't page, they use these walkie talkies now....I asked the manager and he told me they try to avoid overhead paging. Well little to his knowledge, when he leaves for the day, the Associates seem to like to go back to the paging method over the phones.

Other TJX stores I've been to in the Chicago suburbs were still using paging and using the headsets too, which I think is the best solution in my opinion. Totally eliminating paging altogether is a mistake in my book. It's going back to the old days when you had one system for phone calls and one system such as Aiphone for intercom, in this modern day case....Walkie Talkies.

Do you by any chance know what the older amplifiers that TJ Maxx used in the 1990's were in their stores? They seemed to control the volume of paging and even out all of the feedback, like some type of filter on the actual paging. Marshalls had something similar when they used the Toshiba phones....an actual paging controller that clicked on when you pressed 1 and then clicked off when you pressed intercom.

Interesting fact....they got the system all screwy at a downtown Chicago Marshalls....they installed a newer Nortel switch over the former Toshiba Strata switch and hooked it into the main paging controller....but they can only end the page by dialing # and you hear the # noise over the entire store sound system. If anyone presses RLS or hangs up the page, it leaves the paging system active and hanging. Even worse is that the phones are programmed to page Feature 630....so when they hang up after they press #, you get a hang up noise on all the T series sets...LOL....

I know, crazy how I notice these things.....

JP

 

[phoneguy610]

they definitely did something wrong. The ones we installed work perfect. Once you hang up the music starts playing again.


dglcabling@yahoo.com

 

[jeffmoss26]

Audio controlled relay to mute the music when you page.

jeff moss

 

[Oldtimephoneguy]

I wonder, if there's a situation and they wanted the store evacuated but there's no paging could they be held liable for the delay? Personally, I think the rag-bag lawyers would be foaming at the mouth.

Frank. City of Cape Coral, Florida

 

[phoneguy610]

that is what fire alarms are for though


dglcabling@yahoo.com

 

[GordonKapesMZ4]

As a general safety annoucement, such as tornado warnings, or even store closing annoucements....paging systems are useful for this.

My personal opinion is that if a store is going to buy an expensive phone system and then buy a separate walkie talkie intercom system, they might as well eliminate store phones all together and just have one main phone that answers the calls and a few other satellite phones for picking up the calls when they announce the call park over their "dumb" walkie talkies.

This brings us back to the old days when there were buildings that had totally separate intercom and telephone systems.