Albany, NY, Mar. 22--Joe Pangione is connected. The 45-year-old assistant store manager at the Home Depot at Latham Farms carries a dedicated cellphone that is his half-pound link to the world, according to the Albany Times Union.
With that specialized piece of equipment -- about as large and heavy as the typical cellphone of five or six years ago -- he can receive outside calls placed to the store's switchboard, call a department head, reach the distribution center, and send out a page on the public-address system.
"The manager on duty always has this by his side," said Pangione, who has worked for the Atlanta-based home-improvement giant for seven years. "This gives us a lot of flexibility."
Modern communication devices and cheaper technology have made the retail floor a more efficient place. A few years ago, a manager might have had to page someone on the PA system and wait for them to come to the front of the store, or at least pick up a phone to call in.
Today, in this instant-message world -- made popular by teenagers and the AOL Instant Messenger service -- bosses want to get in touch with workers faster.
"It's voice instant messaging," said Adam Guy, a senior analyst who specializes in wireless telecommunications at The Yankee Group, a Boston-based market research and consulting firm.
"Once you use it, you realize it's quicker," he said. "Everybody's on the same channel. It really offers a whole lot of flexibility, particularly in retail, when salespeople are most effective when away from the register."
Such devices are particularly useful in a store the size of Home Depot, which has about 150,000 square feet of floor space.
Pangione already walks several miles a day while overseeing the store. He probably would have to tread a lot further if he had to walk around to find employees instead of simply reaching out and touching them by phone. "I'd be lost without the phone," he said. "It's a great tool to have."
Pangione remembers a call from a General Electric employee who was looking for small heaters -- about a thousand -- for a local office during a recent cold spell. In the space of five minutes, Pangione used his cellphone to call the distribution office, found out there were enough heaters in stock and made arrangements for them to be shipped to the GE office.
"They didn't even have to come here," he said.
Amy Kiene, 22, a front-end manager with the store, said the phones make it a lot easier to find a price on a product that comes to the register without a label. It also prevents annoying overhead pages, she said.
"When you walk into Wal-Mart, every two seconds you hear someone on the intercom," she said. The quiet "keeps the environment a little better."
Lowe's Cos. Inc., the country's No. 2 home-improvement retailer, also has adopted such technology, said spokeswoman Jennifer Smith.
Big-box retailers Target Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. declined to talk about their use of radios and phones, though shoppers in a local Target store, for example, could easily see employees using them.
At trendy clothing stores like The Gap, Old Navy and Rampage, radios have become de rigueur. Employees wear belt-fastened walkie-talkies with dangling cords that connect the radios to microphone headsets.
"It saves time," said Gary Fonville, an employee at Old Navy. "It's a great communication tool."
Other employees at the stores say the headsets serve another purpose: a way to quietly warn bosses about suspected shoplifters.
