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Mobile messages and texting 55yrs ago
Legacy_user
Posts: 0 Newbie
in Mobiles
It is all to easy to moan and groan about hiccups in the way we communicate instantly, yet 55yrs ago, things we so very different as I know from personal experience.
If you wanted a message sending, you would need to find a post office and the appropriate form where you would enter the name/address of recipient then the message, knowing that each word would add to the cost. Once complete, you would hand to the counter where this would be checked. If the Post Office was small, the assistant would need to telephone it to a larger office. If it was a large office, the form would be rolled up, placed in a container then a air filled chute where it would be whisked away.
At the end of the chute would be an office where someone would be sitting waiting. They would read the telegram then electronically send the details to the closest Post Office where the message was destined.
The message would spew out of a machine on a ticker tape and be pasted onto another form, then it would be placed into an envelope, put in another chute where it would be whisked to sorting office of the postal room. A senior postman would retrieve it and await a telegram boy's arrival. He would sign for it and a time allocated to cycle to and back from the telegrams destination. A leather pouch would be provided to house this telegram. Some envelopes would show the word "priority", this would mean extra payment had been made and you needed to cycle faster.
Signatures would be required for the message.
Once a motorcycle test had been passed, you would be given a BSA Bantem and it was your responsibility to keep clean.
I was a telegram boy who weathered several winters delivering these damned things, so now when I can't text for whatever reason, I just think, it could be worse.
If you wanted a message sending, you would need to find a post office and the appropriate form where you would enter the name/address of recipient then the message, knowing that each word would add to the cost. Once complete, you would hand to the counter where this would be checked. If the Post Office was small, the assistant would need to telephone it to a larger office. If it was a large office, the form would be rolled up, placed in a container then a air filled chute where it would be whisked away.
At the end of the chute would be an office where someone would be sitting waiting. They would read the telegram then electronically send the details to the closest Post Office where the message was destined.
The message would spew out of a machine on a ticker tape and be pasted onto another form, then it would be placed into an envelope, put in another chute where it would be whisked to sorting office of the postal room. A senior postman would retrieve it and await a telegram boy's arrival. He would sign for it and a time allocated to cycle to and back from the telegrams destination. A leather pouch would be provided to house this telegram. Some envelopes would show the word "priority", this would mean extra payment had been made and you needed to cycle faster.
Signatures would be required for the message.
Once a motorcycle test had been passed, you would be given a BSA Bantem and it was your responsibility to keep clean.
I was a telegram boy who weathered several winters delivering these damned things, so now when I can't text for whatever reason, I just think, it could be worse.
0
Comments
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Funny enough Telegraph operators were the first ones to use Text Speak as we know it today ....they used to chat to each other in between sending the proper messages by sending short messages to each other such as R U OK etc etcIt's not just about the money0
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