Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!watmath!att!bellcore!rutgers!apple!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!wuarchive!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway From: claris!netcom!edg@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Edward Greenberg) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Speaking of Western Union Message-ID: Date: 20 Sep 89 23:20:45 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Reply-To: Edward Greenberg Organization: NetCom- The Bay Area's Public Access Unix System {408 997-9175} Lines: 34 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 390, message 5 of 7 In article gmw1@cunixd.cc.columbia. edu (Gabe M Wiener) writes: > 3. Do telegrams and mailgrams have any modern commercial application > with the advent of electronic mail, the overnight letter, fax, > etc.? I have nothing against telegrams, and it would be a pity > for such a thing to ever die out, but are they still used in major > ways today? (other than the traditional sending of a telegram to > a wedding when you're away) > My parents have a collection of telegrams received at their wedding. They're all addressed to "Mr. and Mrs. Morton Greenberg; Park Manor; Eastern Parkway; Brooklyn, New York". They were delivered to the catering hall (the Park Manor) at the wedding. Most of them are done on special "Congratulations" telegram blanks, and they have the words printed on strips of paper glued to the blank. \ Now, my parents got married in 1954. When I got married in 1982, one of my friends sent a telegram from out of state. What I got was a telephone call from a bored operator. She read me the message, and offered a confirmation copy, which was printed out as a mailgram and mailed about three days later. I've given up on Telegrams. I'd rather send a fedex package with a Texas Sized Jelly Donut or something. The poster says that he'd hate to see them die out, but I think that they have. There's probably good reason to dictate a message, and have it printed out and delivered by a messenger, but that's hardly cost effective these days. For instance, for $25, you can send an MCI Mail letter which is delivered by Purolator courier within four business hours. If telegrams cost $25, who'd use them though. -edg Ed Greenberg uunet!apple!netcom!edg