Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Era Ends: Western Union Stops Sending Telegrams
Yahoo ^ | 2/1/06

Posted on 02/01/2006 10:28:21 AM PST by Mr. Brightside

Era Ends: Western Union Stops Sending Telegrams

Robert Roy Britt

LiveScience Managing Editor

LiveScience.com

Wed Feb 1, 10:00 AM ET

After 145 years, Western Union has quietly stopped sending telegrams.

On the company's web site, if you click on "Telegrams" in the left-side navigation bar, you're taken to a page that ends a technological era with about as little fanfare as possible:

"Effective January 27, 2006, Western Union will discontinue all Telegram and Commercial Messaging services. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you, and we thank you for your loyal patronage. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact a customer service representative."

The decline of telegram use goes back at least to the 1980s, when long-distance telephone service became cheap enough to offer a viable alternative in many if not most cases. Faxes didn't help. Email could be counted as the final nail in the coffin.

Western Union has not failed. It long ago refocused its main business to make money transfers for consumers and businesses. Revenues are now $3 billion annually. It's now called Western Union Financial Services, Inc. and is a subsidiary of First Data Corp.

The world's first telegram was sent on May 24, 1844 by inventor Samuel Morse. The message, "What hath God wrought," was transmitted from Washington to Baltimore. In a crude way, the telegraph was a precursor to the Internet in that it allowed rapid communication, for the first time, across great distances.

Western Union goes back to 1851 as the Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company. In 1856 it became the Western Union Telegraph Company after acquisition of competing telegraph systems. By 1861, during the Civil War, it had created a coast-to-coast network of lines.

Other company highlights:

1866: Introduced the first stock ticker. 1871: Introduced money transfers. 1884: Became one of the original 11 stocks tracked by the Dow Jones Average. 1914: Introduced the first consumer charge card. 1964: Began using a transcontinental microwave beam to replace land lines. 1974: Launched Westar I, the first U.S. dedicated communications satellite.

On Jan. 26, the last day you could send a telegram, First Data announced it would spin Western Union off as an independent, publicly traded company.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: morsecode; samuelmorse; telegrams; theend; timesareachanging; westernunion; wgids
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-78 next last
To: Revolting cat!
>"WHAT?! I didn't get the memo!">

Uh... Yeah... That's because you didn't use the new cover sheet for your TPS report, and I'm gonna have to whack you with this stapler too.


41 posted on 02/01/2006 10:57:36 AM PST by rawcatslyentist (Why waste time learning when ignorance is instantaneous---Hobbes the Tiger)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Wiseghy

Some would argue that Braille writing was the first form of binary code.


42 posted on 02/01/2006 11:02:56 AM PST by wideawake
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: Mr. Brightside
Thank you for the great post.
I love historical trivia.
43 posted on 02/01/2006 11:07:49 AM PST by Publius6961
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RobRoy

I think they were $20 or so to send. There was no real business purpose, but people were still sending them for the fun of it, like a unique birthday wish.


44 posted on 02/01/2006 11:09:19 AM PST by July 4th (A vacant lot cancelled out my vote for Bush.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: cva66snipe

Yep. They have a SEPARATE, SPECIAL FORM for sending money to Mexico. No joke.


45 posted on 02/01/2006 11:09:26 AM PST by HeadOn (I want a roadster. Somebody call my wife, will ya?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: Willie Green

Ping. More jobs lost.


46 posted on 02/01/2006 11:09:58 AM PST by BeHoldAPaleHorse (Tagline deleted at request of moderator.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Comment #47 Removed by Moderator

To: Mr. Brightside

I wondered for years why there were still offering this service. It was more expensive and less functional than so many of the alternatives.


48 posted on 02/01/2006 11:12:42 AM PST by Still Thinking (Disregard the law of unintended consequences at your own risk.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mr. Brightside; Tijeras_Slim

49 posted on 02/01/2006 11:14:14 AM PST by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mr. Brightside

Western Union has not failed. It long ago refocused its main business to make money transfers for consumers and businesses.

Primarily to Mexico, that is.


50 posted on 02/01/2006 11:14:47 AM PST by kaktuskid
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mr. Brightside

My very first actual job when I was 15 was pedaling a bicycle around St. Petersburg FL for Western Union.


51 posted on 02/01/2006 11:16:19 AM PST by arthurus (Better to fight them OVER THERE than over here.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mr. Brightside

"In a crude way, the telegraph was a precursor to the Internet"

Back in the days of 300 baud modems, I often remarked how I could send and decode morse faster.

Remeber:
There are 10 kinds of people in the world,
those who understand binary,
and those who do not


52 posted on 02/01/2006 11:28:25 AM PST by Sensei Ern (Now, IB4Z! http://www.myspace.com/reconcomedy/ "Cowards cut and run. Heroes never do!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mr. Brightside

I have the telegram that my dad sent to his parents announcing he has made it across the Atlantic during WW2.


53 posted on 02/01/2006 11:30:07 AM PST by AppyPappy (If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Sensei Ern

And those who can type, "Remember" as fast as fast as they can think it.


54 posted on 02/01/2006 11:31:23 AM PST by Sensei Ern (Now, IB4Z! http://www.myspace.com/reconcomedy/ "Cowards cut and run. Heroes never do!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: Phantom Lord

"Further evidence that Bush is destorying this country's Telegram base!"

A govt program to retrain and compensate displaced telegraph workers is essential.


55 posted on 02/01/2006 11:33:03 AM PST by HereInTheHeartland (Never bring a knife to a gun fight, or a Democrat to do serious work...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Toddsterpatriot; Mase; expat_panama

Isn't there some sort of a tariff we can impose to keep tragedies like this from happening? /smirk


56 posted on 02/01/2006 11:33:05 AM PST by 1rudeboy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mr. Brightside

Hope the guy who sent the last message isn't waiting for a reply


57 posted on 02/01/2006 11:36:13 AM PST by paul51 (11 September 2001 - Never forget)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mears
I got a telegram once,the day I was married forty-five years ago.

Sir STOP

Your life is over STOP
What were you thinking STOP
To late now STOP

Signed STOP
Your Father In Law STOP

58 posted on 02/01/2006 11:45:07 AM PST by Phantom Lord (Fall on to your knees for the Phantom Lord)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Sensei Ern
Back in the days of 300 baud modems, I often remarked how I could send and decode morse faster.

Believe it or not, last year in Austraila a man made the claim that he could send a morse code message faster than a teenager could send an email, even using their abbreviations for nearly everything. So a teenager challenged him.

He beat her.

59 posted on 02/01/2006 11:48:01 AM PST by Phantom Lord (Fall on to your knees for the Phantom Lord)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: Mr. Brightside

WHAT! How am I supposed to let the Nigerian Banker know I've sent the money?


60 posted on 02/01/2006 11:49:51 AM PST by CougarGA7
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-78 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson