Motorola Used Radio Rumors

[CopperWhopper67]

Hello Folks,

I have been diving into the mind boggling rabbit hole of the high-speed, low drag, tacticool, "comms guys" online. In this circle, there is a "rumor", for lack of a better term, they have all been spouting which is something along the lines of,

"Motorola will take back old radios as trade-ins from their customers so that they can destroy them to prevent those radios entering the secondhand market."

...or, even better,

"Motorola will purchase radios in bulk from the secondhand market to prevent them from being purchased/possessed by private individuals"

Now, to me, it doesn't sound very likely that the first is completely true. However, the latter sounds highly unlikely and like something a company would not bother wasting money on, but who knows? Life is full of surprises.

Does anybody have any insight on the validity of these claims?

Thanks!

 

[mmckenna]

Not unheard of for a manufacturer to take trade in's as part of an agreement. Kenwood did that locally many years ago when the county south of me needed newer radios. They had a bunch of TK-5210 Version 1's that had been traded in by a large department on newer versions. The local Kenwood rep offered them to me at $100/each, but I didn't need any at the time.
Likely the ones that were not sold off were destoryed. No reason to try to sell old radios when the manufacturer would rather you buy a shiny new one.

I don't think its any secret thing. I've heard of Motorola taking trade in's. They are not going to resell old radios to a public safety agency. And it's really not worth the effort trying to sell them on the used market. When I shut down our old trunked system about 11 years ago. I had piles of old radios. The effort necessary to sell them on the used market wasn't worth the going price for them at the time, so they all got their memory wiped and went into an e-waste bin.


I don't think any company is going to waste their time buying radios off the used market. There's just too many of them. There's also nothing stopping an individual from buying these two way radios on the new market.

Sounds more like they are butthurt because they can't afford the new stuff, and won't pay the prices for the more modern radios.

 

[GTR8000]

Nonsense. MSI doesn't care one bit about your crusty old junk, they want you to buy the NEXT latest and greatest thing. They don't care what happens with the "secondhand market".

Oh and no, that is not a knock on MSI like some around here are prone to do in just about every post they make in this forum. MSI are in the business of making a profit, and they shrewdly take full advantage of the brand loyalty factor. Don't like it? Plenty of other manufacturers out there that will gladly take your money.

 

[northstarfire0693]

First I've heard of this. Doesn't sound like a good business model to me.

 

[CopperWhopper67]

Not unheard of for a manufacturer to take trade in's as part of an agreement. Kenwood did that locally many years ago when the county south of me needed newer radios. They had a bunch of TK-5210 Version 1's that had been traded in by a large department on newer versions. The local Kenwood rep offered them to me at $100/each, but I didn't need any at the time.
Likely the ones that were not sold off were destoryed. No reason to try to sell old radios when the manufacturer would rather you buy a shiny new one.

I don't think its any secret thing. I've heard of Motorola taking trade in's. They are not going to resell old radios to a public safety agency. And it's really not worth the effort trying to sell them on the used market. When I shut down our old trunked system about 11 years ago. I had piles of old radios. The effort necessary to sell them on the used market wasn't worth the going price for them at the time, so they all got their memory wiped and went into an e-waste bin.


I don't think any company is going to waste their time buying radios off the used market. There's just too many of them. There's also nothing stopping an individual from buying these two way radios on the new market.

Sounds more like they are butthurt because they can't afford the new stuff, and won't pay the prices for the more modern radios.

Nonsense. MSI doesn't care one bit about your crusty old junk, they want you to buy the NEXT latest and greatest thing. They don't care what happens with the "secondhand market".

Oh and no, that is not a knock on MSI like some around here are prone to do in just about every post they make in this forum. MSI are in the business of making a profit, and they shrewdly take full advantage of the brand loyalty factor. Don't like it? Plenty of other manufacturers out there that will gladly take your money.

Pretty much what I figured. But I wanted to make sure from people who actually know what the heck they're talking about. Not surprising coming from the average folk in the super tacticool community. Not all of them are bad, some are actually pretty knowledgeable, but boy some of the fundamentally incorrect statements I have heard some of those folks make is mind boggling and blood boiling.

Not to mention some of these people offer $$$ "Tactical Comms" courses. Those are a gold mine, I'm sure.

 

[mancow]

It's somewhat true. I've talked to dealers who confirmed it.

 

[CopperWhopper67]

It's somewhat true. I've talked to dealers who confirmed it.

Which part have you confirmed with dealers?

 

[AK4PY]

Which part have you confirmed with dealers?

I used to work at a Motorola shop. Trade ins were not common, but for a big sale I have seen it happen. They wanted us to inventory and box up the trade ins and send them to big M in Chicago. We were told they would be destroyed. They just wanted the radios, no batteries or accessories.

 

[mancow]

Which part have you confirmed with dealers?

What AK4PY above said.

 

[mmckenna]

Not all of them are bad, some are actually pretty knowledgeable, but boy some of the fundamentally incorrect statements I have heard some of those folks make is mind boggling and blood boiling.

Grown men playing dress up games. Always entertaining.

Not to mention some of these people offer $$$ "Tactical Comms" courses. Those are a gold mine, I'm sure.

I bet. If it is anything like the stuff on YouTube, I'm sure I'd laugh most of the way through it and then be forced to turn in my "Sheepdog" patch.

 

[DeoVindice]

Pretty much what I figured. But I wanted to make sure from people who actually know what the heck they're talking about. Not surprising coming from the average folk in the super tacticool community. Not all of them are bad, some are actually pretty knowledgeable, but boy some of the fundamentally incorrect statements I have heard some of those folks make is mind boggling and blood boiling.

Not to mention some of these people offer $$$ "Tactical Comms" courses. Those are a gold mine, I'm sure.

There are some "interesting" characters in that space, some with more value than others as you've no doubt discovered. I used to dabble in it myself but it's taken a backseat to running my business.

Anything you'd learn in one of those classes can be obtained for free by reading a Technician-class license manual, some field manuals, and a few Tait Radio Academy articles. Actually, you'd probably come out better informed by taking that route.

 

[N4KVE]

They did this in the 70’s in Montreal where I grew up. If they took in radios, they were usually destroyed so they had no second life. From time, to time they’d allow VHF radios to go to hams, but the recipients of these radios had to sign a paper stating these radios would NEVER go back to commercial service. Other times they’d call the employee hams to the shipping area, & hand them sledge hammers to destroy the radios because someone didn’t follow the rules. So this is old news.

 

[ten13]

Motorola destroying "old" radios was common knowledge during the 60s and 70s. Ask any NYC radio mechanic from those days (if any of them are still around).

With that, don't be surprised if such radios on eBay see a dramatic price increase, regardless of how hold they are.

 

[Napalm]

I got my MOL account by telling them "I'm a ham and I have some old radios I want to program". 🤷🤷🤷

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Motorola often will include trade in of the old equipment as a line item discount on a contract. That way they can maintain a high "show price" for the equipment (on a bid etc..) and still knock a couple hundred thousand off a deal. The equipment gets crushed in theory. However i have seen equipment simply tossed in dumpsters.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

I got my MOL account by telling them "I'm a ham and I have some old radios I want to program". 🤷🤷🤷

Nothing beats honesty!

 

[N4DES]

Motorola often will include trade in of the old equipment as a line item discount on a contract. That way they can maintain a high "show price" for the equipment (on a bid etc..) and still knock a couple hundred thousand off a deal. The equipment gets crushed in theory. However i have seen equipment simply tossed in dumpsters.

In my previous P25 subscriber contract that was a competitive bid, that MSI didn't win everything, MSI gave us $400 for a "trade-in" radio (post contract award) and it didn't matter the manufacturer or type that we gave them. This brought down the price of the P25 700/800 MHz APX900 (with a very decent trunking flashcode) to $673.00 per radio that also included 2 batteries, antenna, belt clip, and an individual charger. We purchased well over a thousand of these radio packages under this contract for 7 years and other counties in FL piggybacked on it as well.

None of the manufacturers bid high in a competitive solicitation just for show, they are in it to win. Purchasing Departments also do not care about "trade-in's" in a bid response unless it is clearly spelled out in the specifications and is a line item on the bid response sheet. Using something that isn't in the specifications for a contract award is grounds for a protest by the other bidders.

 

[drew7262]

Yes, I have heard many people talk about motorola doing this. From what I have heard, they ask the agency to send them to a place to be destroyed, when they bring the certificate of destruction they discount the radios the agency is purchasing.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

In my previous P25 subscriber contract that was a competitive bid, that MSI didn't win everything, MSI gave us $400 for a "trade-in" radio (post contract award) and it didn't matter the manufacturer or type that we gave them. This brought down the price of the P25 700/800 MHz APX900 (with a very decent trunking flashcode) to $673.00 per radio that also included 2 batteries, antenna, belt clip, and an individual charger. We purchased well over a thousand of these radio packages under this contract for 7 years and other counties in FL piggybacked on it as well.

None of the manufacturers bid high in a competitive solicitation just for show, they are in it to win. Purchasing Departments also do not care about "trade-in's" in a bid response unless it is clearly spelled out in the specifications and is a line item on the bid response sheet. Using something that isn't in the specifications for a contract award is grounds for a protest by the other bidders.

I am speaking of a system contract inclusive of infrastructure and services as well as subscribers. The bid terms for pricing are low bidder for aggregate. Motorola has indeed tried to preserve the high price of the portables, while discounting on the aggregate. I am surprised Motorola would extend a $400 discount bounty per radio, "post contract". Why would they do that unless it was contractually mandated? Maybe Motorola had a program to boost some sales and they were honoring that.

 

[EWC_BDN]

Motorola sometimes offers like $100 off a new radio if you give them any radio in as a trade. They don't care what you put in the box. broken ones, non Motorola ones. CBs too.

To me it always was about driving sales of new radios. They don't care about the used market. Motorola makes their money from government and large business sales. It was a rebate too and a pain in the ass to comply with.

It's like when a car dealer calls you and tells you he we're really looking for 2015 dodge dart Trade ins right now..... ya sure. They want to sell you a new radios.

Motorola wants to sell new radios to people who aren't in the market for used ones.