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.
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.
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.
Some would argue that Braille writing was the first form of binary code.
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.
Yep. They have a SEPARATE, SPECIAL FORM for sending money to Mexico. No joke.
Ping. More jobs lost.
I wondered for years why there were still offering this service. It was more expensive and less functional than so many of the alternatives.
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.
My very first actual job when I was 15 was pedaling a bicycle around St. Petersburg FL for Western Union.
"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
I have the telegram that my dad sent to his parents announcing he has made it across the Atlantic during WW2.
And those who can type, "Remember" as fast as fast as they can think it.
"Further evidence that Bush is destorying this country's Telegram base!"
A govt program to retrain and compensate displaced telegraph workers is essential.
Isn't there some sort of a tariff we can impose to keep tragedies like this from happening? /smirk
Hope the guy who sent the last message isn't waiting for a reply
Sir STOP
Your life is over STOP
What were you thinking STOP
To late now STOP
Signed STOP
Your Father In Law STOP
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.
WHAT! How am I supposed to let the Nigerian Banker know I've sent the money?
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.