Re: [telecom] Western Union public fax services, 1960 [Telecom]

The reason it was successful was that there was no competition to

> telegrams if you needed a message delivered quickly. Until about > 1960 a long distance phone call was more expensive than a telegram, > and a lot of people still didn't have phones so you couldn't call > them even if you wanted to. When long distance rates dropped below > telegram rates and residential phones became cheap enough that > everyone had them, WU was doomed.
[Moderator snip]

Until a consolidation forced by the government in World War II, there were two active telegraph companies--Western Union and Postal Telegraph. Certainly W.U. was the larger of the two companies, but Postal Telegraph had a significang share ot the market.

- - -

>> It's interesting that the founders of FedEx discovered and filled a >> market niche for overnight delivery of things that can't be faxed. > > > I wonder if FedEx "discovered" or more likely "rediscovered" an old > market. > > There were always 'express' shipments, including of documents. In > writeups on the history of the Twentieth Century Limited, offices > would send material between NYC and Chicago overnight on that train.

The contracts between the railroads and Railway Express (later REA Express) ordinarily prohibited the railroads from carrying for their own account most commodities (newspapers were an exception), reserving such shipments to Railway Express, and that meant REA terminal delays at both ends. Perhaps there was an exception for the (20th) Century (Limited).

Other items were shipped on other trains as well for expedited > handling. There was once a company, the Railway Express Agency, that > handled this sort of thing. When railroads faded in importance in > the late 1960s, so did this company.

REA Expeess, as it was known by then, failed for many other reasons. There service got slow and unreliable on many routes, and their rates kept going up and up.

Years ago even commuter trains had baggage cars that would deliver > parcels and newspapers to local stations. I used to see hospital > supplies shipped by commuter train in the late 1970s. > > I don't know the time aspects, but the Post Office used to offer > premium air mail service, as well as special delivery. What that > meant in terms of time saved I don't know. Supposedly it was no > longer needed when all long distance first class mail was sent by > air, but I think in the old days the PO expedited shipments more > than they do now. That is, now I think they tend to batch mail into > as large as batch as possible and send it out once a day, whereas > before small shipments would be dispatched several times throughout > the day. Years ago there were multiple deliveries per day; and I > believe "special delivery" meant they sent someone out specially to > deliver a specific item (not quite offered now).

The sending of all first class mail by air is largely a red herring.The main delays, then as now, are in the sorting and processing of the mail, not the transportation. They at one time did have a separate handling channel for air mail and special delivery mail, but the rates to special delivey kept going up to prohibitive levels. They did send a messenger out specifically with special delivery mail.

Air mail special delivery service was somewhat inconsistent and unreliable, as was the air freight serivce of the air freight forwarders such as Emery, Pacific Express and Airborne, as well wa the air freight servicd of the airlines themselves--certainly nothing like "When it absolutely, posivitvely has to be there overnight, a claim that FedEx usually livea up to.

The batch processing they now use (with automation--many letters are never handled by a human being until they reach the letter carrier at the destination--mean that many route that were once overnight are now two day delivery. Examples are between Oklahoma City and Dallas, and between Lawton, Oklahoma, and Wichita Falls, Texas. Lawton and Wichita Falls are considered part of the same TV market, and generally one marketing area. Outside the Lawton main post office is a mail box marked especially for Wichita Falls mail so it czn be hzndled separarely overnight, the usual routine would otherwise provide only second day delivery between these two metropolitan areas about 40 miles apart.

FedEx now has FedEz Ground, the former Roadway Package Systems, and FedEx Freight, for larger shipments, by aquiring a regular motor freight line

There was a survey done and they found that many office people were > using FedEx as a matter of routine even when it wasn't necessary, > such as to another floor in the same building, or when an extra day > to deliver would be fine. > > FedEx handles more than just mere sheets of paper; many items are too > big or oversized to fax. > > I wonder if FedEx's volume has declined on account of email > capabilities. On the flip side, it may be delivering more goods from > catalog sales to buyers who want their order right away.

Wes Leatherock snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com snipped-for-privacy@aol.com

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