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Description:
We would like to share with you all the projects we made here in our small paradise in minute detail so that you can start implementing them on your land or in your house and profit for the rest of your life.
We’ll also cover subjects in depth such as water, food preservation, off grid power, medicinal garden, you name it. We want to put in your hands helpful how-to illustrations … easy to follow, step-by-step advice … brilliant tips and ingenious time-savers. From all the projects you’ll find in The Self-Sufficient Backyard I’m pretty sure you’ll find some that are suitable for your property.
We’ve created what may well be the most comprehensive, step-by-step system to transform a regular homeowner or apartment dweller into an independent, self-sufficient homesteader.
First thing you’ll find out is that all you need to be self sufficient in terms of food are just 1,020 square feet of land per person, if you follow the methods we developed. That’s less than 10% of our entire ¼ acre parcel you can see in our sketch.
We developed this plan on quarter of an acre for a family of 4 to be totally self-sufficient, and have goods to sell and sustain a healthy profit year round. But we created it in such a way that it is easy to downsize if you have less land or fewer family members.
Then we go into minute details for each section.
I’ll also show you how to make the simplest water collection system and how you can easily implement it on your own homestead.
We don’t pay for irrigation water, as we collect and store every gallon we need in these inexpensive tanks.
We can also filter and drink it.
You will also discover the 7 plants you really need to have in a medicinal garden and not only how to care for them, but how to turn them into tinctures and other remedies. For the last 40 years we’ve been using these herbs, so how would you feel instead of paying for natural remedies or supplements to just pick them up from your backyard?
I’m not talking about folk remedies here, I’m talking about real plants that we found out over the last 4 decades that are very effective, and not something that you read on the internet.
When the plane took off from our homestead in Northern Saskatchewan and became a spec in the sky, the closest pharmacy was 100 miles away with no roads to get there.
We would place our lives in the hands of these 7 plants and I think they should be in the backyards of every American concerned about their health.
You will also discover in minute detail how to set up one of the most reliable cost-effective hybrid electricity system for your house. We’ll show you what batteries to get for storage, what type of controller, cables, inverter… everything you need and how to set them up for maximum efficiency.
For the last 40 years, a wire from the power grid has never been connected to a home in which we’ve lived.
Using this inexpensive hybrid system we developed and perfected over the years, you’ll have an ultra-reliable source of power with no worries of any future price increases, outages from downed wires or deliberate attacks to the grid. Or, you can opt to sell the excess power back to the utility company if you choose to remain connected to the grid, making money off them instead of the other way around.
You will also find out how to make an automated 24-hour bio insect control system. Instead of using pesticides, you can grow all your produce organically by making a small swallow or bluebird house and a bat shelter.
They’ll take turns getting rid of the pests for you.
A bat can eat an astonishing 4,000 insects a night and a bluebird around 1000 bugs a day including cabbage worms, whiteflies, aphids, earwigs, grasshoppers, cucumber, various beetles and grubs!
Also their appetite for mosquitoes certainly makes a backyard more comfortable.
We will show you how we made different root cellars and how you can easily add whichever you want to your homestead.
From full sized, and under the house root cellars to small barrel or trash can root cellars, there’s surely something here for you.
In the Self-Sufficient Backyard, we cover homestead water supply in depth because the life blood of any homestead is a reliable water source.
We’ve tried a lot of things over the years: we dug wells, had a well drilled, pumped water from a lake and set up shallow and deep well hand pumps for water.
We even installed a simple hand pump next to our kitchen sink for convenience if the electric pump failed us.
Whatever water source you choose for your property, you will find it here with pictures and guidance to set it up.
If your only source of water is the tap water from the public utility company, you are not independent. And you are paying for it.
We’ll also show you a simple and ingenious solution that you can apply in your house to have pressurized hot water.
This system heats the water whenever we cook or heat the house, so we don’t pay extra to get hot water and neither should you.
You’ll also discover how to set up beehives that will produce both delicious honey and help pollinate your trees and plants. A modification to the traditional hive is to make easy and handy beehives in jars.
You’ll also find out how to make a year-round self-sustaining greenhouse no matter where you live in America.
You can place it on the south side of your house. We’ll also show you how to both collect and retain heat through the night, what materials to use, how to insulate it, the best angles for your area, how to get maximum glazing, how to ventilate it… and anything else you can think of.
We’ll also show you some upgrades you can add such as installing a window or vents that open into the greenhouse, so that whenever you ventilate the house in the winter, warm air goes into the greenhouse. In the spring and autumn, it’s the other way around, letting the warm air from the greenhouse flow and heat the house.
Using a cold frame in our Saskatchewan self-sustaining greenhouse, we were able to grow lettuce while two feet of snow were still on the ground. But even this is nothing compared to the ultimate upgrade you can bring to the greenhouse. We’re talking geothermal, using earth’s stored heat to our advantage. That’s because 10 feet below ground, the temperature is always stable at around 55 degrees, summer or winter, Texas or Maine. The way you can harness this stable underground temperature is to circulate the air from the greenhouse through underground loop pipes until it warms to almost 55 degrees. The only energy spent is with a very small fan that circulates the air through the tubes.
You will also discover our secrets to winter gardening. For example, we’re growing these highly nutritious microgreens inside the house during winter.
You can use this method to grow them in the basement creating your microclimate there if you are low on space. Just hang an artificial light overhead.
What makes them even more valuable is the fact that they only need 2 weeks to grow to the first cut. There will be many more to follow. This is one of the highest yields per square foot in a year.
Besides having four times higher concentration of nutrients than mature plants they are in high demand and usually sell very well. This is one of the easiest crops to grow and turn into money in our opinion.
These plants can be your “secret weapon” in turning a steady profit year after year without much of an effort. And if, just like us, you won’t have a big pension or you’re living on a fixed income, this can be your ticket to a stress-free retirement
You will find an entire chapter called “easy on the back gardening”.
Each one of our gardening projects you’ll find inside The Self-Sufficient Backyard is especially conceived for people with back problems.
There’s not much bending in these gardens.
You will find around 100 tips and secrets scattered across the whole book, to save money on electricity, on food, on home repairs, on water, on tools, on house taxes, on heating… that you can begin implementing in your house right now and start saving a big part of the money you’re paying each month to big corporations.
You will also find out how to power up a backyard perpetual compost garden using only the daily kitchen scraps you throw away.
When you water the plants or when it rains, both the water and the compost nutrients you place in the tower will flow outwards creating living soil thus feeding the plants. That’s exactly the kind of soil you need for record breaking harvests.
You’ll find a lot of backyard projects that may find their way into your future homestead such as: chicken coop, hoop tunnels, walipini, trellises, raised beds, hay and strawbale gardens, container gardening, windowsill gardening, and a lot more.
You will find out everything you need to know about raising chickens, from egg to your dinner table. Chickens “done right” really are the most cost-effective protein source for any homesteader. We’ll show you simple tricks we discovered to make your each hen lay more than 300 eggs per year.
For example, one of the tricks we’ve learned before butchering is the night before to withhold all food from our chickens. There’s no need to waste the feed and we want to clean out their digestive systems. Allow them plenty of water though. This will make the whole process a lot easier.
You will also discover how to set up a successful orchard that needs almost no maintenance and under the shade of which you can expect to sit sooner than you think.
The orchard will provide you with most of the fruits you need and will probably do so for your kids and family long after you move to a better place.
You will also learn all the techniques and methods we discovered in the last 40 years about harvesting the best seeds and about the most efficient way to preserve them for the next year. You’ll also discover simple tricks like why fermenting the seeds could be a really good idea.
You’ll also discover the ingenious “curing” trick that can preserve your vegetables texture and flavor before placing them in the freezer.
We will also show you everything we do to preserve our food: from eggs to vegetables, roots, fruits, meats… everything we produce, we preserve.
We had no other option. In the long winters of Saskatchewan, we had nowhere to go to buy groceries and supplies. If we didn’t preserve the things we produced, we wouldn’t have thrived there.
With this knowledge, you can transform from an honest homeowner into an independent, self-sufficient person that has an extra income and doesn’t owe anybody a thing.
You will not be troubled with what happens to the world around you, because everything you need is where is should be: on your property!
In it you’ll discover how to set up an aquaponic system that you can fit in your backyard, in your basement or in your Greenhouse.
The awesome thing about an aquaponic garden is that every part of the system produces food for another.
The water you use for plants absorbs nutrients from the soil and feeds the fish. The fish droppings then feed good bacteria, which turn ammonia into nitrates that the plants need to grow.
The growth rates are astonishing. And you can always have both juicy vegetables and fresh fish a plenty.
Digital Product – the images are for visualization purpose only
Our forefathers were a lot more self-sufficient than the average American today.
They made charcoal to purify water, smokehouses, root cellars, traps for wild game, plant remedies, fireboxes, small barns, tanneries, solar water heaters, wood stoves, fireplaces… you name it.
These projects were the lifeblood of their homesteads and kept their inhabitants free.
We’ve utilized many of the old-time skills and techniques from yesteryear. Over time, we’ve incorporated some of the newer methods for doing things. But make no mistake, even though we’ve picked and chosen some of the modern ways of doing tasks, we still retain the practical knowledge of the old ways.
Who knows when they might come in handy?
Digital Product – the images are for visualization purpose only
Once upon a time in America every brave man and woman settling the wild frontier was given the deed to a 160-acre piece of land.
The only string attached to this gift was they had to live there and develop that land into a homestead.
Not having property might be why you’ve not yet started your own off-grid homestead. But nowadays, you can still get free land upon which to build.
That’s why in this unique book I will show you exactly where you can find your own free land in 21st century America. These plots are between 1 to 5 acres but with the Self-Sufficient Backyard that’s more than enough.
Digital Product – the images are for visualization purpose only
This could be the ticket to your retirement paradise, a new adventure, a more frugal lifestyle, to ditch the 9 to 5 rat race, the healthy and peaceful life you always dreamed of, or your very independence.
For us it’s all of the above. But for you, even if it’s just one of them, we hope it’s still worth a lot more than we’ve priced it.
No back breaking work involved.
As you can see, we’re in our 60’s and just 3 years ago we started our third homestead. So, we really mean it when we say that what we’re going to show you will not need hard work. So, it doesn’t matter if you’re a senior or have back problems. We will compensate the work with the wisdom we’ve gathered during these 40 years.
You don’t need to dedicate too much of your time either. This will NOT be your new job. In fact, this will be a perfect break from your job and the daily stress that builds up. It’s extremely satisfying and calming to pursue self-reliance.
However, you should not make an all or nothing clean break from your conventional life.
Becoming a bit more self-sufficient should be done in stages. It doesn’t matter if you dedicate one hour a week or one hour a day, the final result is the same. Just by getting our program you’ve taken the first big steps towards self-reliance!
You don’t need too much land either
You don’t need too much land either. Our program makes a small backyard go a loooong way. People living in suburbia should know that we made this program thinking about them too. The quarter acre illustration is down sizable to whatever size your backyard is. Of course, you will not be able to be self-sufficient on 200 square feet, but you can surely use them to their full potential with our program.
You don’t need money either
For the last 40 years we’ve been living the old ways of our grandparents, but without sacrificing any of the modern comforts of today. We’re out in the boonies, but we have internet access, satellite TV, modern composting toilet, a sewer system, and … we are NOT rich… so we did this with very little money.
You don’t need any special skills or knowledge
I, Ron, was a city folk, born and raised in Philadelphia. I hope I don’t burst your bubble but I am nothing special, I have no great powers, super strength, superior intellect or amazing qualities.
As long as you have the desire, you do not need any special skills or knowledge. We will provide that. You will learn as you go.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This book contains important information for our future survival
“This book contains critically important information for our individual and collective futures. I commend the authors for their commitment and spirit of re-pioneering how to live on the land sustainably and self-sufficiently.
I’m glad to have this book as a reference for the future.I also want to note that my experience with the seller/publisher was exemplary when I contacted them to resolve an issue I had with the product. The seller quickly and diligently, and thoughtfully, got back to me and offered very reasonable alternatives. I chose one and the issue is completely resolved.
Five stars for superlative customer service.”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The garden sketch alone is worth it
“This book has so much useful information. We aren’t planning on building our own house, being off grid or even entirely self sufficient, but we’ve always wanted to be able to grow a large percentage of our own food, and this reaches you how to do it in a small space without breaking your back. I’ve gone from feeling overwhelmed to super excited.”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Fool of good ideas
“Full of all sorts of good ideas and illustrated anecdotes. Gives good suggestions for people who live on less than a quarter acre, as well as those with larger holdings.”
“Amazing book that provides detailed information for self sustainability.
Have been using many of the outlined techniques in book in our garden and around our home. Happy with out come.”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 40 years of experience
“If you are wanting to get into homesteading, this is the book for you. Self-Sufficient Backyard explains everything from building your site to planning yor greenhouse and off-grid systems. This is 40 years of experience that wrote this book. Fantastic”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ An excellent resource for your library
“My review of your book, in 5 of my gardening/preper groups …. I posted this on May 23rd and a lot of people asked for a review, so here it goes….
This is a well written book with a lot of helpful information for a broad scope of homesteaders; from the novice (like myself) to the very advanced.
Much like the advertising promises, no matter where you live; the size of your plot; your goals as an independent homesteader; there is more than enough to learn and begin implementing!
Everything is broken down into easy-to-follow steps, with pros and cons, and alternate suggestions adaptable to most situations.
Finally, when you have questions or would like additional information, there is a FB page that the authors will further guide you to success! All-in-all…. an excellent resource for your library, IMHO!! ❤”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Happy I bought this book
“This is a wonderful book filled with proven suggestions and creative ideas. There are pictures and helpful diagrams, and information that can help you for years to come.
I’m happy I bought this book the writing style is well done and I enjoy reading it and rereading it!”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I am THRILLED!!!
“My book arrived a few of days ago (much faster than I’d anticipated – thank you) and I am THRILLED!!! Even after skimming just the first 20-25 pages or so I could already see that there were a number of serious mistakes that I was about to make in the process of choosing and purchasing my land. Reading this book has prevented that. This book is the real deal.
I was a little disappointed when I pulled my book out of the package; it seemed as though it was on the short side. But then I realized two things. First, it is a full-sized book with regular-sized print and, second, Ron and Johanna get right to the point. They don’t waste time with frivolous details. The result is a book that is just PACKED with essential, first-person detailed instructions and warning that I know will prove to be invaluable.
To me, the most valuable aspect of the book is that over 40 years, Ron and Johanna have tried and tested many methods for doing everything including choosing the location for their homestead, setting up their access to water and energy, growing and storing food, designing their dwelling, managing compost, and much more. They have shared the results of their experiences and the pros and cons of each method so that readers can make well-informed choices about what methods to try.
While it isn’t the point of the book to go into minute detail about each thing, the authors cover a comprehensive range of topics and include enough information about each one so that readers know what to conduct further research about and how to ask truly intelligent questions.
Thank you so much for taking the time to write this book. I am sure that I will be eternally grateful.”
“The Self-Sufficient Backyard” is our life and everything we’ve personally gone through, so we’re happy to stand behind it 100%. You have 60 full days to go through our program and if there’s anything you don’t like about it, Johanna and I will be more than happy to refund your purchase in full.
It is so nice to fantasize about the simple little cabin in the woods surrounded by a lush garden with no cares in the world when you are stuck in a traffic jam or seated behind your desk at work.
Although this lifestyle is not utopia, we ditched the rat race and you can too.
So, if you choose to follow your dream and turn it into reality, click on the button below. You will be taken to a secure and encrypted check out page. We hope we’ll see you take advantage of everything we’ve prepared for you inside The Self-Sufficient Backyard.
This was Ron and Johanna, the modern pioneers from Nova Scotia.
We are two of the “back to the land people” from the late 1970’s. We have been living off the grid for the last 40 years and we’ve enjoyed every bit of it.
In all that time an electric wire has never been connected to our house. We haven’t gotten or paid an electricity bill in over 40 years, but we have all the electricity we want. We grow everything we need, here, in our small backyard. We also have a small medicinal garden which has helped us get through some tough times. Just like our grandparents, we preserve everything we produce so we have all we need year-round.
But the most important thing is the feeling of not having to rely on anyone else for anything. It’s the feeling of being independent. Independent from the government’s help or charity, grocery chains, utility and energy companies, corporations and the Grid.
Now that we are both in our 60’s, we decided to downsize everything. We took all that we’ve learned during the last couple of decades and created our paradise retreat with one thing in mind: to make a self-sustaining, but low maintenance homestead that doesn’t need much work or expense.
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All orders are protected by SSL encryption – the highest industry standard for online security from trusted vendors.
The Self-Sufficient Backyard is backed with a 60 Day No Questions Asked Money Back Guarantee. If within the first 60 days of receipt you are not satisfied with Wake Up Lean™, you can request a refund by sending an email to the address given inside the product and we will immediately refund your entire purchase price, with no questions asked.
Dollarama Inc.’s food aisles may have expanded far beyond sweet treats or piles of gum by the checkout counter in recent years, but its chief executive maintains his company is “not in the grocery business,” even if it’s keeping an eye on the sector.
“It’s just one small part of our store,” Neil Rossy told analysts on a Wednesday call, where he was questioned about the company’s food merchandise and rivals playing in the same space.
“We will keep an eye on all retailers — like all retailers keep an eye on us — to make sure that we’re competitive and we understand what’s out there.”
Over the last decade and as consumers have more recently sought deals, Dollarama’s food merchandise has expanded to include bread and pantry staples like cereal, rice and pasta sold at prices on par or below supermarkets.
However, the competition in the discount segment of the market Dollarama operates in intensified recently when the country’s biggest grocery chain began piloting a new ultra-discount store.
The No Name stores being tested by Loblaw Cos. Ltd. in Windsor, St. Catharines and Brockville, Ont., are billed as 20 per cent cheaper than discount retail competitors including No Frills. The grocery giant is able to offer such cost savings by relying on a smaller store footprint, fewer chilled products and a hearty range of No Name merchandise.
Though Rossy brushed off notions that his company is a supermarket challenger, grocers aren’t off his radar.
“All retailers in Canada are realistic about the fact that everyone is everyone’s competition on any given item or category,” he said.
Rossy declined to reveal how much of the chain’s sales would overlap with Loblaw or the food category, arguing the vast variety of items Dollarama sells is its strength rather than its grocery products alone.
“What makes Dollarama Dollarama is a very wide assortment of different departments that somewhat represent the old five-and-dime local convenience store,” he said.
The breadth of Dollarama’s offerings helped carry the company to a second-quarter profit of $285.9 million, up from $245.8 million in the same quarter last year as its sales rose 7.4 per cent.
The retailer said Wednesday the profit amounted to $1.02 per diluted share for the 13-week period ended July 28, up from 86 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
The period the quarter covers includes the start of summer, when Rossy said the weather was “terrible.”
“The weather got slightly better towards the end of the summer and our sales certainly increased, but not enough to make up for the season’s horrible start,” he said.
Sales totalled $1.56 billion for the quarter, up from $1.46 billion in the same quarter last year.
Comparable store sales, a key metric for retailers, increased 4.7 per cent, while the average transaction was down2.2 per cent and traffic was up seven per cent, RBC analyst Irene Nattel pointed out.
She told investors in a note that the numbers reflect “solid demand as cautious consumers focus on core consumables and everyday essentials.”
Analysts have attributed such behaviour to interest rates that have been slow to drop and high prices of key consumer goods, which are weighing on household budgets.
To cope, many Canadians have spent more time seeking deals, trading down to more affordable brands and forgoing small luxuries they would treat themselves to in better economic times.
“When people feel squeezed, they tend to shy away from discretionary, focus on the basics,” Rossy said. “When people are feeling good about their wallet, they tend to be more lax about the basics and more willing to spend on discretionary.”
The current economic situation has drawn in not just the average Canadian looking to save a buck or two, but also wealthier consumers.
“When the entire economy is feeling slightly squeezed, we get more consumers who might not have to or want to shop at a Dollarama generally or who enjoy shopping at a Dollarama but have the luxury of not having to worry about the price in some other store that they happen to be standing in that has those goods,” Rossy said.
“Well, when times are tougher, they’ll consider the extra five minutes to go to the store next door.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
TORONTO – The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ordered TD Bank Group to pay US$28 million for repeatedly sharing inaccurate, negative information about its customers to consumer reporting companies.
The agency says TD has to pay US$7.76 million in total to tens of thousands of victims of its illegal actions, along with a US$20 million civil penalty.
It says TD shared information that contained systemic errors about credit card and bank deposit accounts to consumer reporting companies, which can include credit reports as well as screening reports for tenants and employees and other background checks.
CFPB director Rohit Chopra says in a statement that TD threatened the consumer reports of customers with fraudulent information then “barely lifted a finger to fix it,” and that regulators will need to “focus major attention” on TD Bank to change its course.
TD says in a statement it self-identified these issues and proactively worked to improve its practices, and that it is committed to delivering on its responsibilities to its customers.
The bank also faces scrutiny in the U.S. over its anti-money laundering program where it expects to pay more than US$3 billion in monetary penalties to resolve.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
After a long day at a work event in July, Kathryn Kozody was relieved when she spotted a car with a lit-up taxi sign.
She thought it was odd when the driver told her she’d have to pay her fare with a debit card. Still, a tired Kozody hopped in the car.
“I was like, ‘Fine, it’s kind of weird, but let’s go home,'” said Kozody, who lives in Calgary.
Nothing else seemed off — until the next day when she discovered that almost $2,000 was missing from her bank account. On top of that, her debit card had someone else’s name on it.
Kozody concluded that the taxi driver was a fraudster who, during the debit card transaction, recorded her PIN, stole her card and handed her back a fake.
“I started freaking out,” she said. “It’s terrifying when they have your debit card.”
It took Kozody about two weeks to get her money back from her bank, and she’s still rattled by the experience.
The day after taking what she thought was a ride in a taxi, Kathryn Kozody of Calgary found out someone had withdrawn almost $2,000 from her bank account. (James Young/CBC News)
“It really felt like an invasion of privacy and a violation to be a victim of this scam,” she said. “I really don’t want it to happen to anybody else.”
The taxi scam isn’t new; Toronto and Montreal have been seeing it for years. But the crime is becoming more widespread.
This summer, police in Calgary,Edmonton and at least five cities in southern Ontario, including Kingston and Ottawa, posted warnings online that they had received multiple reports of the scam.
Police and the Canadian Taxi Association say the fraudsters have a helping hand: with the click of a button, they can purchase a generic — but official looking — taxi roof sign on e-commerce sites like Amazon.
Edmonton Police posted this alert on Facebook in July, warning people about an ongoing taxi scam. The city’s police department says that it received about 10 reports of the scam that month. (Edmonton Police/Facebook )
“They do have a moral responsibility to at least sell the signs to individuals that are properly licensed,” said association president Marc André Way.
However, the U.S.-based company continues to sell the product to all customers.
“These lights are legal to sell in Canada,” Amazon told CBC News in an email.
‘Eye-popping’ numbers
The taxi scam has several variations but typically ends the same way: the victim pays with a debit card, then the scammer secretly steals it and hands the victim a similar but fake card. Shortly thereafter, money disappears from the victim’s account.
Ron Hansen, deputy chief of police in Sarnia, Ont., said his department received 12 reports of the scam in July, with one victim losing $9,900.
Toronto police report that since June 2023 the department has received 919 reports of the taxi scam, totalling $1.7 million in losses.
Jessica Chin King of Toronto said after a recent cab ride, she got a suspicious activity alert from her bank. She learned $600 had been withdrawn from her account. (Craig Chivers/CBC)
The numbers are “eye-popping,” said Toronto police detective David Coffey.
“When they do get a victim, they are quick to go right into the bank accounts. They’re quick to empty them out.”
Jessica Chin King of Toronto said just 15 minutes after a recent cab ride, she got a suspicious activity alert from her bank. Turns out, $600 had been withdrawn from her account.
“I was like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe that just happened.’ I was in shock,” said Chin King, whose bank later reimbursed the cash.
She said she too was fooled by the taxi sign atop the car.
“I was in the car with somebody who wasn’t a taxi driver. Anything could have happened,” she said. “I was thankful that it was only my bank [account] that was compromised.”
Taxi light for $35 on Amazon
CBC News bought a taxi sign from Amazon for $35. It has a magnetic strip on the bottom, so it easily sticks to the top of a car.
To power the light, an attached wire can be run through the driver’s window and plugged into the car’s auxiliary power outlet, also known as the cigarette lighter outlet.
The taxi association says licensed taxi drivers typically get their roof signs from speciality suppliers, and they are hardwired to the car — not powered via the cigarette lighter.
“When you see that … it’s obvious that it’s not a legitimate taxi,” said Way, the association president.
“This is not a safe, practical way to distribute the trusted ‘Taxi’ signs,” he wrote.
CBC News ordered this $35 taxi sign on Amazon. The attached wire can be run through the driver’s window and plugged into the car’s auxiliary power outlet, while the lights for licensed drivers are hardwired into the vehicle. (Sophia Harris/CBC News)
But Amazon told Way — and CBC News — the signs will remain on its site, because the company isn’t breaking any rules.
“It’s going to be quite difficult, I think, for anyone to stop Amazon from selling a product that is perfectly legal to sell,” said Toronto criminal lawyer, Daniel Goldbloom. “It’s true that these taxi signs can be used to commit scams, but kitchen knives can be used to commit murder — and we don’t stop retailers from selling those.”
But Way isn’t giving up hope.
He says the taxi association also plans to ask other online retailers, such as Temu and eBay, to stop selling the taxi signs and will lobby provincial governments for legislation that regulates the sale of the product.
However, Coffey said he believes the best way to fight the taxi scam is to educate people about it.
“Never, never give another person control of your debit card,” the detective said.
Victims Chin King and Kozody also want to spread the word.
“The more people know, the less likely it is to happen again to somebody else,” Kozody said.
