Dead, Gone but not Forgotten!! TELEGRAMS

[Chuck50]

How many of us every received one? Those were the days before Email, overnights and all that stuff, unfortunately them days are gone. Whether it was brouhght by a hot delivery boy, a singing telegram( if we were so lucky) or something that showed up in the Box. Gone but not forgotten by some of old timmers HUGS Chuck. THOSE WERE THE DAYS MY FRIENDS WE THOUGHT THEY WOULD NEVER END THOSE WERE THE DAYS OF YES THOSE WERE THE DAYS. Hugs Chuck :P :P

[+ Hoover42]

Sad, but true.

 

Western Union stopped sending Telegrams on January 27th of this year.

 

...Hoover

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

Bye... Bye... Blackbird

[Chuck50]

Pack up all my cares and woes here I go singing Lo. BYE BYE Blackbird!!! I love that song. BN you should know not to tempt me. HUGS Chuck :9 :9 :9

[+ deej]

END OF AN ERA STOP

 

(Historical tidbit: people used STOP because it didn't cost extra but punctuation did.)

 

Most of us have seen the start of the end of Telegrams: FedEx, fax machines, email. This is the other end of the story arc.

[trilingual]

In a far-flung country where many people in remote places still don't have phones, let alone Internet connections, telegrams survive in Brazil. Of course, the telegraph service is run by the Brazilian postal system, so there isn't the same profit motive to ditch the service that Western Union has in the U.S.

 

While telegrams are also being used less in Brazil, they haven't faded out altogether. My BF got one the other day from his bank, which had been trying to reach him for several days to straighten out a problem they'd caused with his retirement plan. Telegrams still get you attention!

[+ deej]

I was told today that the UK's Royal Post still handles telegrams as well.

 

I'm curious, though, what the difference is between a telegram delivered by mail and ... ummm ... a letter?

 

Do they get there faster is it just the attention-getting factor?

[Chuck50]

Tri send me your address In Pvt and I will send you one from Somewhere HUGS Chuck luv ya babes

[trilingual]

>I'm curious, though, what the difference is between a telegram

>delivered by mail and ... ummm ... a letter?

>

>Do they get there faster is it just the attention-getting

>factor?

 

Telegrams are usually delivered faster. Kind of like Express Mail. You can send a "night letter," which gets delivered the next morning, or an "urgent" message which gets delivered as soon as its received by the distant telegraph office. In a country like Brazil that's still useful. In Brazil, regular first-class letters are supposed to be delivered the next day if mailed between any of the state capitals (which are also almost all of the largest cities). That still leaves thousands of smaller cities, towns and villages where a telegram is the only way to send a message overnight or the same day.

 

Telegrams also can be tracked; someone has to sign for their receipt, so they serve a function similar to certified or registered mail.

[+ deej]

THANKS!

 

So telegrams in Brazil (and presumably other countries) still fill the need they were originally invented for in the US.

 

That was really why I asked. I was curious if it was some new niche need or the original.

 

And now I'm wondering about something else. If Western Union no longer does telegrams in the US, is it possible for someone in the US to send a telegram to someone in Brazil? (Or another country?)

 

I know you don't know all the details. But any insights will be welcome.

[BigK]

Who remembers the short lived service that FEDEX started with kiosks to fax a document to a remote FedEx office to be delivered same day to recipient? Lasted about a year...seemed like minutes later everybody and his brother had fax machines. And this is RECENT history!

 

Edit: I never received a telegram. :-(

[Guest zipperzone]

>I'm curious, though, what the difference is between a telegram

>delivered by mail and ... ummm ... a letter?

>

>Do they get there faster is it just the attention-getting

>factor?

 

In Canada (and I presume the US is/was the same) the selling feature of a telegram was the speed.

 

The message was transmitted by telegraph instantaniously to a receiving office. Once there, the message would be phoned to the recipient (if a phone number was given) thus sparing the sender long-distance telephone costs, which in the "good old days" were much higher than today. If the recipient was home to receive the telephone call, then a hard copy of the telegram would be mailed to him. If he was not home to receive the phone call, then a messenger would hand deliver the message.

 

There was also a kind of social cachet attached to a telegram and it was assumed that messages sent that way had a greater sense of importance and urgency. It was very common at wedding receptions for the best man to read aloud a bunch of telegrams wishing the bridal couple well from people who were too distant to attend.

 

It was also very popular in theatrical circles for actors to receive a telegram on opening night, wishing them well - or "break a leg" as the expression is in show business.

[+ deej]

I do remember that service. It was cancelled two days before I desperately needed it. LOL

[trilingual]

>And now I'm wondering about something else. If Western Union

>no longer does telegrams in the US, is it possible for someone

>in the US to send a telegram to someone in Brazil? (Or another

>country?)

 

That's a good question. If you can manage Portuguese, you can send a telegram through the Brazilian Post Office website (http://www.correios.gov.br) by following the instructions and paying by credit card.

 

I haven't used the service so far, so I don't know if it will accept a card issued outside Brazil. Brazil is its own planet and its sites and e-businesses are often designed without ever thinking about the fact that someone abroad may want to use the services. To make a transaction they often require entering Brazilian ID numbers that foreigners don't have, or accept only credit cards issued in Brazil, etc., effectively shutting out foreign customers. However, if Brazil offers such a service, other countries may, too. It might be worth looking around to see if any other postal authority in an English-speaking country has such a site and accepts messages and payments regardless of the location of the sender! Maybe India or South Africa?

 

Remember, though, the recipient won't be able to respond by telegram! He'll have to phone, fax, or e-mail.

[+ Lucky]

For the younger guys here, this is what a telegram might have looked like:

 

http://www.rareads.com/scans/8582.jpg

[+ deej]

>accept a card issued outside Brazil. Brazil is its own planet

>and its sites and e-businesses are often designed without ever

>thinking about the fact that someone abroad may want to use

>the services.

 

Well, that's not a problem that's unique to Brazil. Few US sites handle international commerce, and if they do offer it it's generally poorly done. The "global community" isn't quite fully stitched together yet. Last time I looked, there wasn't a single banking organization a website developer could go to that accepted credit cards from anywhere.

 

Having asked the question, I'm hard-pressed to think of a need for the service anyway. :o

[poiuyt]

When I was growing up we used to get telegrams from my mom's family in Cuba (they'd be read to us over the phone). Phone calls from there could take days to arrange, and mail could sometimes take months. Telegrams were the only quick way to handle urgent family news.

 

That said, it was usually because someone in the family had died, so I don't really miss them.

 

When I was working for a small law firm back in the 80's I remember one December 24th, right before I left for the holidays, that I had to send a telegram to someone notifying them that they were being evicted due to overdue rent. My boss was such a warm-hearted guy.

[+ deej]

>That said, it was usually because someone in the family had

>died, so I don't really miss them.

 

During WWII, the War Dept. (now DoD) used telegrams to notify the familiies of MIA or deceased soldiers.

 

The Western Union uniform was one nobody never wanted to see walking up the front walk.