The Average Shopper Almost Never Buys This Once-Popular Device Anymore

Today, pagers are only seen in hospitals or on our favorite medical dramas. However, at one point in time, they were used by millions on a daily basis. Invented in 1939 by Al Gross, the first pagers were used in the Jewish Hospital in New York City as a way to alert doctors when they were away from their office and their phones. But in the years that followed, pagers saw significant advances and were adopted widely.

By the 1970s, companies like Motorola introduced smaller and more powerful devices that included voice features that allowed recipients to listen to recorded messages. This feature became revolutionary in the industry, especially between the 1980s and 1990s. According to Fortune, by 1994, there were 61 million pagers in use by everyone from doctors to lawyers and bankers. But in just a few short years, the rise of cell phones and other communication technologies phased out pagers in all industries except a few, where they are still in use today.

Believe it or not, pagers are still used today outside of the medical field. In fact, manufacturers of these once-beloved devices are doing quite well for themselves thanks to consistent demand. Besides hospitals, firefighters and other first responders still rely on pagers. Though not as useful as a radio, pagers are used in the field to deliver mass alerts to a large group of responders, and they serve as a backup communication system if others fail. Additionally, pagers are used widely in the hospitality industry; however, they serve a slightly different purpose. For example, restaurants often use pagers to communicate with guests by providing an audible cue when their table is ready. They can also facilitate communication between the front and back of house restaurant staff to ensure food goes out to guests as soon as it's done.

Although buying a pager in 2025 can be a waste of money for the average consumer, pagers still serve a purpose and are actually making a small comeback. According to Retekess, a company that develops pagers, more national companies are turning to pagers for secure communications since they offer built-in encryption and are a simple but solid solution for spam and robocalls. However, new tech advances on pagers are driving their resurgence, so it's unlikely that old pagers will fetch a pretty penny on resale like old Apple tech devices.