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February 1, 2006
The End of An Era
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.
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.
I guess all things come and go, but this is sort of sad. It was such a technological leap in its day. It's sad to see it gone.
Found via Yahoo! News.
Posted by Daffodil at February 1, 2006 12:57 PM
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Comments
awww... I'm sad... I'll never get to send one... and I'll never get to recieve on... :( Any chance of me getting to have any fraction of a romantic old movie life is becoming impossible... :( this makes me really sad. I hope that makes since.
Posted by: Jamie at February 1, 2006 1:33 PM
No biggy, email is the modern version. Remember the only good thing about yesterday is that it's over. :)
Posted by: ManDrake at February 1, 2006 2:15 PM