The nation's telegraph network was still relatively crude. While messaging was a big improvement over hand/horse delivery, it was still limited, especially given mobile armies. One had to find a working wire.
The concept of central messaging command and control was not totally new; the telegraph was just an improvement over prior methods. Hilltop light mirrors, semaphore flags, and smoke signals were used throughout history. Keep in mind that any telegraph messages sent probably had to be manually received and resent several times between the battlefield and Washington by relay centers.
Having information and being able to make good use of it are two different things. It was a problem for Lincoln and a problem today.
Nearly 100 years later, in WW II, communications were still crude by today's standards. We theoretically had worldwide voice and record (telegraph) communications capability but having and useability were two different things. We know on D-Day radio communications had a lot of trouble and it took a long time to get information back. Many radios were inoperative.
One book reprinted the actual teletype log of a critical conversation. It was pages of "can you read me now?" "not exactly, still garbled" "Are you still there?"
I think it's more accurate to say the telegraph is a form of _electrical_ communication
Receiving and sending the message to the last mile was and remained a problem.
While a select set of operators were indeed very fast, they also needed skilled operators at the other end able to copy down the information at typewritten speed. Humans do need rest breaks. An advtg of Teletypes is that messages could be prepared offline and then transmitted at full speed, one right after the other. I think in actuality very few human operators could meet the speed of Teletype machines.
By 1940, most telegraph work was done by printing, not Morse code.
Facsimile transmission over wire has been around a long time, but used special lines. The phone cup machines were a big improvement since they could use any phone line and were easier to use than their predecessors.
For some reason, very few people today use the "fine" setting on fax machines which makes a much clearer transmission at very little increase in time. They still use "regular" which comes out so fuzzy. A fax of a fax is almost unreadable.
If you had a local Sears store, you probably didn't need the catalog. The Sears catalog and mail order was developed to serve remote towns. After WW II Sears chose to expand and build stores in the suburbs which was a wise move. The catalog served for specialty items
With the malling of America once isolated small towns had full service department stores with vast selections, as opposed to a relatively small local dry goods store. Mail order catalogs ceased to be of value.
I can't comment on the internal workings of Sears. My point was that the traditional method of communication -- mailing in an order and receiving the goods by return mail -- was slow and cumbersome.
I think the Sears catalog was but a shadow of itself by the time 800 numbers _and_ pass-along credit card numbers became practical. (toll-free numbers have been around for 75 years, but remotely providing a credit card number without a signature is more recent. I think local city stores would accept charges billed to their store charge for some customers. Further, UPS and Fed Ex handling national traffic is more relatively recent compared to all goods going through the post office as parcel post.
I do agree the Sears chain has had serious problems in the last decade. What and why I don't understand, but their stores became dingy and service declined. I was just in a Sears and it was horrible. The building, part of a 35 year old mall, needs a clean up. For example, all the ceiling tiles are curled at the edges and many are stained from leaks. The floor is irregular with carpet in some spots and tile in others, with grooves where dividers once stood. There are empty spaces. It basically looks like a K-Mart, which is sad. I was surprised K-Mart came out of bankruptcy and able to buy Sears since their stores are dumpy as well. A department store is not a discount store nor should look like one.