Buying a used restaurant pager system: a look at the pros and cons

If you are considering new restaurant marketing ideas, you should definitely explore the option of implementing the latest technology in the restaurant, which is known as the restaurant text locator. If used correctly, such a solution could lead to a substantial increase in productivity and profitability. Because it is not an ordinary coaster locator.

To lower your initial costs when shopping for a restaurant locator system, you can opt for a used locator system, as long as the benefits outweigh the disadvantages by a sufficient margin. If you are targeting investment in any part of your restaurant business with well-defined long-term acquisition goals, the cheapest is not always the best. However, there are exceptions to this, so let’s start by taking a look at the benefits.

The professionals

The positives of choosing a used restaurant locator system over a new one may depend on the individual characteristics of the buyer, but they always revolve around the cost factor. Clearly, used restaurant locator systems are much cheaper than new ones ($ 4,000), and this may be enough of an incentive for businesses to explore options in the second-hand market.

With innovation always around the corner, the cost of technology is coming down at a very rapid rate, making restaurant text pagers or cell phone pagers a much more attractive and affordable alternative to a traditional guest pager system. Restaurant texting systems like Mobile Matradee or Guest Text have a built-in SMS text marketing app that can be very effective in driving business on nights when you don’t have to wait, increasing your revenue.

The cons

As with anything that is used or not new, you will have little to no knowledge of your system usage history. Some units may have been dropped, repaired, modified, or even malfunctioned in the first place. This is why buying second hand can be risky.

Be sure to also consider battery usage in the units you are purchasing. Many pagers use expensive proprietary batteries instead of standard AA batteries, so be careful with that. Another advantage of cell phone pager systems is that the pager is the host’s actual cell phone, so you are not responsible for maintaining or replacing the pagers.

Also, your system’s warranty or after-sales support has likely expired and requires additional costs to renew. Also, unlike a new guest pager system, you are unlikely to receive installation or training assistance, at least not without paying extra. While most pager systems are not that difficult to use, choosing the right system for your restaurant is critical.

Also, verify that the system does not have any funding tied to it. If you were to shop at a restaurant that is about to be liquidated, you could have problems with the liquidators within a few weeks. Finally, consider whether spare parts or replacement parts are still available, at what cost, and for how long. If the unit you are purchasing is no longer in production or has been replaced by a new model, check its compatibility level with the old one before making your purchase. Our recommendation is to subscribe to a restaurant text message locator solution for essentially the same investment as a quality used coaster locator system with a higher return on investment.