Why don't you see scanners being sold in stores?!?!?!?

[spdfile1]

My wife and I before we moved to south florida lived in Syracuse,NY and we would make several trips a year up to Toronto. Love that city!!! Anyways I noticed that when Radio Shack used to be up there before they changed to something else and even after I would never see any scanners or anything of the sort on the shelves??? It was almost like they didn't exist. Whats the deal???

 

[bpsmicro]

Smaller market, so sales were flat. And retailers like Radio Shack simply weren't nimble enough to handle the rapid & constant changes (new models every couple of months). Plus, for a variety of reasons (few of them good reasons), prices were higher (in some cases, much higher). The savvy buyer just imported from the US. And many still do, though by the time you take shipping & other cross-border costs into account, Canadian pricing is *almost* on par now.

That, plus when Radio Shack Canada got sold (before Circuit City and Bell), the new masters started backing away from anything related to "Radio" and turned it into "Toy Shack". But I'm not bitter. :->

Brad.

 

[EJB]

My wife and I before we moved to south florida lived in Syracuse,NY and we would make several trips a year up to Toronto. Love that city!!! Anyways I noticed that when Radio Shack used to be up there before they changed to something else and even after I would never see any scanners or anything of the sort on the shelves??? It was almost like they didn't exist. Whats the deal???

Simple old fashioned capitalism. Supply and demand. Radio Shack stopped selling scanners long ago here and then became the Source. They saw, correctly, to cater towards what was popular, games, gizmos and cell phones. There was probably limited shelf space for scanners.

If there are about 5 million people in the GTA how many of them, us, are going to buy scanners?

There are a few biggish stores here, but even them have changed their focus to GPS units and charge too much for the scanners.

There are a few people on here who buy and sell scanners, we do ok.

 

[spdfile1]

Thanks for the responses! Yeah I thought it weird that you just couldn't find them. I even noticed down here that the radio shack fliers don't have scanner's in them anymore, just cell phones and gps,etc. But at least down here there still in stores. I used to work for radio shack and I remember the days (and you should to) when the best (scanners) were right behind the counter on display!!! The good ole days.

 

[bglatour001]

I once seen someone on the RR forums refer to it as "Anything but Radio" Shack. I have to completely agree.

 

[pickles37]

Indeed. They seem to actually now be calling themselves informally "the shack" so I suppose they acknowledge this, "The Most Profitable Electronic Consumer Goods Shack" is a bit of a mouthful.

 

[gary123]

Another reason is that although not activly discouraged, monitoring anything in canada is frowned upon by the 'government'. The general belief is that only criminals and trouble makers would want anything like a scanner.

 

[EJB]

Another reason is that although not activly discouraged, monitoring anything in canada is frowned upon by the 'government'. The general belief is that only criminals and trouble makers would want anything like a scanner.

Really?

I thought it had to do more with the amount of shelf space available in stores like the Shack or the Source and the demand for them? When Nintendo, Sony, Sanyo, Nokia, etc. etc. etc offer more units sold and thus more bang for the buck where are they gonna go? Are they gonna waste shelf space on a scanner that maybe 2 or 3 people will buy or the 100s or even 1,000's of the above mentioned gizmos and knick knacks the kids are into these days?

Which level of government in Canada has said anything like what you said above?
There is no real law in Canada nor have I ever heard any government person say anything remotely close to what you said.

And if I may be so bold. Are you Canadian?

 

[RadioDaze]

I think there are regional issues with scanner sales, particularly for Radio Shack. In an area where PD freqs are encrypted, a buyer's reaction is probably "What - you mean I can't listen to the cops on this thing?" So sales will be slow in some areas. But I don't deny that RS has positioned itself away from radios in general. Down in my area, they have a few marine VHF offerings. I doubt you'd find that in a more inland area. I'm sure other areas could have brisk CB sales. But long gone are the days of a whole wall of CBs, scanners, SW radios and accessories. And judging by the number of independent (non-RS) stores in the entire Southern California area that are dedicated to consumer radio communications equipment and supplies, there apparently isn't enough demand. Bubble pack FRS/GMRS sets abound, even in drugstores and hardware stores. Those are clearly the new CB. (As are forums, for the most part.)

An afterthought: Scanners have probably evolved to the point where most RS salespersons are unable to really support them. Too much regional knowledge required to answer customers' questions. Too much expertise needed for such a small product category. Training employees for scanners would never be cost-effective.

 

[pathalogical]

Probably because most people don't really know what a scanner is.

EDIT: ...and because they're not small, shiny, have 4,956,148,617,139,465 ringtones or capable of downloading an additional 4,956,148,617,139,465 frikin annoying ringtones that you must listen to for 20 min before they answer their scanner......I mean phone !!!

 

[frankh]

Really?

I thought it had to do more with the amount of shelf space available in stores like the Shack or the Source and the demand for them? When Nintendo, Sony, Sanyo, Nokia, etc. etc. etc offer more units sold and thus more bang for the buck where are they gonna go? Are they gonna waste shelf space on a scanner that maybe 2 or 3 people will buy or the 100s or even 1,000's of the above mentioned gizmos and knick knacks the kids are into these days?

Which level of government in Canada has said anything like what you said above?
There is no real law in Canada nor have I ever heard any government person say anything remotely close to what you said.

And if I may be so bold. Are you Canadian?

Not the government but the average citizen seems to find scanner use a little off if you don't believe me just walk down the street with your scanner blaring and oh yea I'm almost Canadian as Canada seems to end just west of London

 

[EJB]

Not the government but the average citizen seems to find scanner use a little off if you don't believe me just walk down the street with your scanner blaring and oh yea I'm almost Canadian as Canada seems to end just west of London

I know you are Canadian, how could a beaver be a Yank after all

I would not question your assumptions. A bunch of years ago I lived in a lovely Italian/Jewish/Russian/Portuguese area of Toronto. As I would walk my dog past a neighbours house I would hear a dog bark and I always smelled the fresh aroma of pot.

It turns out she worked in the music bizness like me and I knew her co-workers, she knew mine and so on.

After she was comfortable (pot heads can be paranoid) she told me that the first time she saw me she thought I was a cop. I carried by scanner around with me a few times I guess.


The moral is simple: There are not many of us really into it. If anyone wants to guesstimate how many people own a scanner and are active in the GTA I think liberally the over under is a g-note.

There is just so much shelf room for product and like the previous post from pathalogical the market is for other gizmos.

 

[EJB]

I think there are regional issues with scanner sales, particularly for Radio Shack. In an area where PD freqs are encrypted, a buyer's reaction is probably "What - you mean I can't listen to the cops on this thing?" So sales will be slow in some areas. But I don't deny that RS has positioned itself away from radios in general. Down in my area, they have a few marine VHF offerings. I doubt you'd find that in a more inland area. I'm sure other areas could have brisk CB sales. But long gone are the days of a whole wall of CBs, scanners, SW radios and accessories. And judging by the number of independent (non-RS) stores in the entire Southern California area that are dedicated to consumer radio communications equipment and supplies, there apparently isn't enough demand. Bubble pack FRS/GMRS sets abound, even in drugstores and hardware stores. Those are clearly the new CB. (As are forums, for the most part.)

An afterthought: Scanners have probably evolved to the point where most RS salespersons are unable to really support them. Too much regional knowledge required to answer customers' questions. Too much expertise needed for such a small product category. Training employees for scanners would never be cost-effective.

I am curious:
You live in probably the most dense populated area of the US right? There are probably close to 20 million people within a 100 miles? How many stores actually sell scanners that you know of?


I live in the most populated urban (and most important by far, lol) area of Canada. There are probably 8-10 million people within 100 miles of me and I can think of 4 stores that sell scanners that I know of.

Like many of the people who are over the age of 30 on this site I bet that unless you lived far out in the sticks you had a Radio Shack store around to play with , and try out the scanners, the CB's, the batteries, make your own radio kits, etc. It was a different time back then and a market for the products that we wanted and craved.

I probably saw my first scanner in a Sears store in South Portland Maine back in the 70's (it was when 'Frampton comes Alive' was everywhere, 1977?) and was amazed that a radio could broadcast the NOAA weather. After a few multi-band radios and walkie talkies to tempte me I bought my first scanner in 1983 from a Radio Shack store and I pretty much bought RS scanners in area malls for the next 15 yrs.

Times have changed.

 

[RadioDaze]

I am curious:
You live in probably the most dense populated area of the US right? There are probably close to 20 million people within a 100 miles? How many stores actually sell scanners that you know of?

Excluding the Radio Shacks, I can think of HRO Anaheim, HRO Burbank, Ham City (Jun's) in Culver City, Uniden scanners at a few Fry's, and........
.....
okay, someone help me here....

 

[gary123]

Which level of government in Canada has said anything like what you said above?
There is no real law in Canada nor have I ever heard any government person say anything remotely close to what you said.

And if I may be so bold. Are you Canadian?

Yes Im Canadian and proudly so. I work in the communications industry.

To answer your question about which level of Government I would recomend a quick call to Industry Canada and ask about any local service you may to monitor want even a shopping mall be sure to mention you will be using a scanner. Going into any business and asking to get their freq will also get similar results. You could also get better results by going to the local Police and asking them for their freqs although I dont recomend doing that. I know this sounds like im being deliberatly negative but this is the reality. Scanning in Canada never really had the popularity and acceptance that the US enjoys. Also Canada generally seems to have the attitude that everyone should mind their own business. I think this touches on the basic differance between Canada's and the US's attitude towards freedom and accountability, the US seems to have the general attitude that the government (law enforcement) is answerable and subject to public scrutiny where as here in Canada the opposite is in effect. Specifically you dont question or scrutinse the government you simply follow the dictates of the agency you are dealing with.

A good point to illustrate the "frowned upon" issue is take a look at TAFL all the law enforcement and many government freqs are deleted. The US listings however contain all these areas. One other point should you call my employer asking for any such info you can rest asured that your info will be logged and recorded.

 

[EJB]

Yes Im Canadian and proudly so. I work in the communications industry.

To answer your question about which level of Government I would recomend a quick call to Industry Canada and ask about any local service you may to monitor want even a shopping mall be sure to mention you will be using a scanner. Going into any business and asking to get their freq will also get similar results. You could also get better results by going to the local Police and asking them for their freqs although I dont recomend doing that. I know this sounds like im being deliberatly negative but this is the reality. Scanning in Canada never really had the popularity and acceptance that the US enjoys. Also Canada generally seems to have the attitude that everyone should mind their own business. I think this touches on the basic differance between Canada's and the US's attitude towards freedom and accountability, the US seems to have the general attitude that the government (law enforcement) is answerable and subject to public scrutiny where as here in Canada the opposite is in effect. Specifically you dont question or scrutinse the government you simply follow the dictates of the agency you are dealing with.

A good point to illustrate the "frowned upon" issue is take a look at TAFL all the law enforcement and many government freqs are deleted. The US listings however contain all these areas. One other point should you call my employer asking for any such info you can rest asured that your info will be logged and recorded.

I absolutely agree with your above staement regarding the differences between the two nations.
I was not trying to call your patrotism into question, there is no information on the location with your avatar.

I still have rarely heard any level of government ever mention scanning and how it is percieved as negative. I also live in the most populated region of the country and I do and have read a great deal of newspapers coast to coast and nation to nation and outside of a few instances where scanners are shown in a derogative way (the Greyhound bus incident that is too disgusting to mention. the RCMP fatal shootout in Alberta) our hobby is rarely mentioned on this side of the border.

Also, nooone in their right mind is going to question a police officer for information and not expect to be questioned as for their motives? A good deal of members on here are friendly with officers and those in the radio communciations business and I dont see them losing their jobs when they mention items about frequencies and communcation systems.

In 2004 I bought a digital scanner off a person who at the time worked for Bell mobility. When I met up with him and exchanged $'s he explained to me that he was surprised about how much information about Fleetnet was out in the open on this site and others and how much information was correct. This turn of events, the correct tagging of talkgroups and the like has never to my knowledge made any police service or comunications providers ever publically call this or other sites into question.

 

[VE7CFF]

radio scanning in Canada

I used to be a radio operator for Vandal Watch in Richmond, BC a number of years ago. I would have direct phone conversations with RCMP dispatch. They knew just about all our patrols carried portable scanners. They would sometimes broadcast warnings for us to stay out of areas where shots had been fired etc.

I'm now a ham and always have my BC346XT in my car monitoring the Greater Vancouver Area Fire/Rescue EDACS transmissions.

Communication law in Canada states that you can't repeat what you have heard over the air. Doing so can lead to charges being laid.

VE7CFF