When was the last time you'd sent a telegram?

[Nik]

Yeah, one of those retro threads -:)
Telegrams are extinct, defunct and forgotten with India claimed to be the last place where they existed until 2013: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology...
So before you put a new vinyl record on, maybe you can recall your last telegram sent/received?

[Roger]

Never, I don't believe in that new fangled technology.

[GR]

The last time I sent a telegram was in 1952. I ran out of money. From what I read, Western Union has become a moneyGram system. I don't think anybody sends telegrams today, and snail-mail is becoming extinct too. I don't know of anybody, outside by wife, that sends mail -- birthday, Christmas card, etc. We all get everything over the internet or iPad, iPhone, etc. In many European countries, they are debating to shut down mail services. I don't know about the US. In the US it's a losing proposition. It's operating in the red. I usually communicate with my kids in the US with Skype.

Those who are on this thread and live in different countries, how is it where you live?

[Nik]

Roger wrote: "Never, I don't believe in that new fangled technology."

-:)

[Nik]

GR wrote: "The last time I sent a telegram was in 1952. I ran out of money. From what I read, Western Union has become a moneyGram system. I don't think anybody sends telegrams today, and snail-mail is becomi..."

Yeah, paper communication disappears, however with the rise of internet trade where you get most of the purchased merchandise through post, the post service transforms into local storage, delivery and pick up...
I still send occasionally greeting cards - much more for a pleasant (hopefully) surprise of the receiver than an effective communication tool.

[GR]

Since the privatization of mail systems, here in Germany, and too a greater part in the US, shipping and delivery is going to private couriers, UPS, FedX, LTU, etc.

I would think in the near future, I probably won't see it, but I think there will be no government system of mail delivery. And in the far future, and this is a reality, everything will be shipped by tele-wave (I think that's the term. Those of you who are Sc-Fi buffs, tell me.) They can do it now, but it's only at the beginning.

[Roger]

They are beginning to ship things by those pesky drones. I doubt that will really catch on unless they make it reliable and safe. We don't want drones crashing into each other and breaking our stuff.

However, drones do make for interesting target practice. :)

[Nik]

Roger wrote: "However, drones do make for interesting target practice. :) ..."

I'm getting a sense of a business opportunity for bulletproof drones now -:)

[Justin]

Tele..gram? O.o

[Roger]

Telegram: The predecessor to Instagram?

I think GR is right. Mail delivery will become privatized soon. And then email will eventually be replaced by texting.

[Ian]

In NZ, mail is becoming a thing of the past, but it is still used for business - and for delivery of magazines, etc. I don't think there is a replacement for that. Mail has been killed by email.

I recall what a telegram looked like, but it was a very long time ago.

[GR]

I think everything will be digitized to cyberspace. Unless you want a hard copy, and that will come over some type of reconstructing device. But, that's in the future.

I think drones are a trend, because like Roger said: they'll make good target practice.

[Nik]

Nik wrote: "Telegrams are extinct, defunct and forgotten......"

But are revived with a popular messenger under the same name expanding rapidly and challenging whatsapp, viber, skype and others.
Do you use an old/new one?

[J.J.]

Now I'm a little surprised they haven't made a comeback with the hipster crowd the way records have. Telegrams would be more of a novelty kind of thing, the way people still send cards to each other. Maybe you send a telegram, not for serious communication, but to make someone laugh.