When you tell people you work in the pager industry you often get asked if people even still use pagers. After all, isn’t it an outdated technology? Well, the answer to this question is that not all pagers are created equal.

If you’re speaking about the the type of pagers that were common in the days before modern cell phones that would notify you when someone was trying to reach you then yes those are mostly outdated (unless you are a doctor.)

However, if you’re talking about the types of pagers that are typically used in restaurants to alert people their table is available, then the answer is yes, those are absolutely still around. Not only are they still around, they are used in many more scenarios than you might think.

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought about a resurgence in pagers and how restaurants and other sorts of businesses serve their guests. It’s much easier to hand someone a pager and have them come back when needed than it is to allow them to congregate all in the same location.

Covid-19 aside, it’s not very practical to have guests all together in a closed space where they may be uncomfortable and irritated. Allowing them the freedom to go where they please is a much better idea.

The industries where you find pagers used include (but are not limited to)

• Restaurants
• Churches
• Bars and Wineries
• Hospitals
• Schools
• Pharmacies
• Warehouses

If you are interested in pagers for your business, head on over to our paging system page and take a look at them for yourself.

It’s beneficial in a church nursery environment to have some sort of paging system to notify parents when they’re needed. However, the question is whether it’s better to use a cell phone paging system or physical pagers (like those that we commonly see at restaurants.)

It’s natural to think that because cell phones are so common (everyone has one, right?) that they would be the natural choice. However, as we will explain in this article, this is not always the case. Let’s go over why physical pagers are actually better than cell phone pagers in a church nursery environment.

More Control On Getting Parents to Respond

It definitely is true that in today’s day and age the majority of people have cell phones. However, just like you can’t guarantee that someone will pick up when you call them, you can’t guarantee that people will respond to a text notification when you page them.

Some people make it a habit to keep their phone on silent meaning they won’t even know you paged them until they look at their phone. Some may keep their phone on vibrate, but just not feel it when texted because the vibration isn’t very strong. And others entirely may keep their choose to have their phone make a noise disrupting the entire service.

With physical pagers you can ensure that everyone is notified (the vibration is much stronger than a normal cell phone) and that nobody else is disrupted.

Some May Not Have a Cell Phone

Yes, we already said that most people have cell phones, but most doesn’t necessarily mean everyone. Older churchgoers may not possess cell phones and others may just not have brought them to church.

Whatever the reason for not having a cell phone this problem can easily be rectified through physical pagers that you simply hand to those that need them.

Less Hassle on the Part of the Church

This may be a small one but it’s still worth mentioning. There’s nothing easier than simply handing a pager to someone that can be easily triggered when needed.

When cell phones come into the picture the church has to make sure that they have accurate cell phone numbers for everyone. Never mind if someone changes their cell phone number and doesn’t end up notifying the church.

There’s no doubt that a church with a nursery needs a paging system. It’s clear though that the benefits of real physical pagers outweighs the benefits of a paging system that revolves around cell phones. When you’re ready to invest in a reliable paging system, take a look at our pagers and see the benefits for yourself.

Ask most people if pagers are still a thing and many of them will say no. However, they couldn’t be more wrong. Not only are pagers still a thing they are actually growing in popularity. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed ways restaurants and other businesses help customers with many only allowing a certain amount of people inside the building at any given time.

As you may have noticed, some restaurants use text messaging as a way to alert customers when their tables are ready. This may have you thinking, if you can just text customers about their tables then what’s the point in handing out pagers? Well, text messages definitely have some disadvantages. Let’s go over a few of them right here.

Guests Can Add Their Names To Several Waitlists At a Time

The first problem with using text messages to notify customers about their tables is that they can add their names to several restaurant waitlists at the same time. If your restaurant is located near several others customers can easily add their name to other waitlists and then go to the one that contacts them the quickest. This causes inflated wait times and causes more serious customers to be left waiting when they should already be seated.

Guests Can Travel Further Away From Your Restaurant

Although modern-day pagers can have a fairly long range there is no distance that a customer can travel to be out of the range of a text message. This can cause customers to travel farther away from your restaurant and have to travel further to get back. This can also inflate wait times and leave other customers waiting. Over time this can result in less table per hour being served and less revenue being brought in to the restaurant.

Abandon Rates Are Higher As Guests Get Tired of Waiting

Although notifying customers via text messages has no direct impact on the amount of time they wait there is less of a commitment on their part. Customers have a much easier time ignoring a text message as there is no response required by them and there is nothing to return. When customers have to return a pager to the restaurant they feel more of an obligation to stay and wait for their table to be called.

Pagers are a great way to allow customers the freedom to leave the business while helping them stick around and come back when their table is ready. Although text messages may seem more convenient in the eyes of customers, ultimately pagers are the better option for the business.

Having an efficient restaurant paging system helps improve the overall organization of your restaurant. From the seating to the communication between kitchen staff and floor staff the entire production of a restaurant becomes more seamless and easier to navigate. Probably the best thing about having a restaurant paging system is the increased customer satisfaction among customers.

Let’s go over in a bit more detail some of the ways that restaurant pagers can increase customer satisfaction.

Increased Productivity and Communication Between Staff

It can be difficult to communicate between so many different people in even the smallest of restaurant settings. Servers have to communicate with kitchen staff and also with customers. This can cause staff to be overwhelmed and ultimately results in frustrated customers, staff and late orders. If a restaurant has a reliable paging system in place however wait staff can immediately know when kitchen staff has finished an order and get it out to the client in a reasonable time frame.

Increased Profits

Although it may not necessarily seem like it at first a proper restaurant paging system can result better profits for your restaurant. By increasing productivity among all staff more orders get completed each hour. This means valuable minutes are shaved off of customers’ wait time. This can add up to extra hours each day and as we all know, time is money.

Better Customer Retention

Almost as important as the actual food itself is the dining experience. Customers want to feel cared for and waited on more so at a restaurant than probably anywhere else. If a customer enters your restaurant and there aren’t any tables currently available they can easily receive a pager that’ll make them aware of the next available table. This allows customers to leave the restaurant and be notified when their table is available. This leads to a more pleasant experience for the customer which increases the likelihood that they will return in the future or even recommend your restaurant to they know.