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Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!seismo!hao!hplabs!hpda!fortune!rpw3
From: rpw3@fortune.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.eunice
Subject: Re: Wollongong Group alive ? - (nf)
Message-ID: <2152@fortune.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 3-Jan-84 04:02:24 EST
Article-I.D.: fortune.2152
Posted: Tue Jan  3 04:02:24 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 4-Jan-84 05:08:50 EST
Sender: notes@fortune.UUCP
Organization: Fortune Systems, Redwood City, CA
Lines: 56

#R:ttds:-14700:fortune:3200001:000:2209
fortune!rpw3    Jan  2 22:57:00 1984

[[No path to "..mcvax!enea!ttds!gert", posting instead]]
Oh, well, Gert Svensson...

Concerning trying to contact U.S. firms:

First, I assume you are outside the U.S., since the address for TWG
included "U.S.A".  While the US has excellent phone service (and hence,
USENET), the mail system is closer to an "unreliable datagram w/o
acknowledgement".  One needs to keep polling sometimes. Also, the
international gateways are slow.

Secondly, individuals should probably NOT use ZIP+4 zip-codes, but only
the basic 5 digit ZIP. An article in the "Science and the Citizen"
section of the January 1984 Scientific American magazine quotes the US
Postal Service as saying that unless a letter is one of a bunk mailing
of pre-sorted machine-readable envelopes, the ZIP+4 code will not speed
delivery.  In fact, if you have it wrong (as may well be if your
correspondent moves, a common occurrence here in the Bay Area), it will
significantly slow down delivery, since the first human to see the letter
will be the postman who walks the final delivery route. They also said,
"in fact, it [the USPS] has no plans for telling [residential] households
what their [ZIP+4] codes are."

In general, incorrect or out-of-date ZIP codes are far worse than missing ones.
(We can move any flames on this back to net.misc, o.k.?)

Third, many small U.S firms are not prepared to handle Telex traffic
that is anything more than "written" confirmation of telephone verbal
agreements.  The Telex is often hidden away in Accounts Receivables or
Payables or someplace rather than being in the mail room or at the
message center. (I know, TWG is a transplanted Aussie bunch, but...?)
Telex also does not have any acknowledgement built in.

Finally, I know for a fact that TWG is alive and interacting with at
least the immediate Bay Area environment. Try the simplified address
below, or the phone number given:

USmail:
	The Wollongong Group
	1135A San Antonio Road	<---- confirmed by Directory Assistance
	Palo Alto, CA
	U.S.A

Telco:	(415)962-9224

Good luck!

Rob Warnock

UUCP:	{sri-unix,amd70,hpda,harpo,ihnp4,allegra}!fortune!rpw3
DDD:	(415)595-8444
USPS:	Fortune Systems Corp, 101 Twin Dolphins Drive, Redwood City, CA 94065