[GreenKeys] Your thoughts on a new telegram service

Fri Jun 21 12:28:23 EDT 2019

I've thought of doing this myself, actually. There are various services like this around the world already, though most if not all of them use modern printing technology rather than the more tactile and enjoyable teletype experience. This is the first one that shows up on a quick web search, but there are at least a dozen or two others: https://sendtelegram.com/

At minimum I do intend to establish a fun little telegram service provided to attendees when I take my machines to shows. So far patrons have been able to send SMS and email to my machines, but I'm always working on expanding the experience, and telegrams are my next order of business. Patrons will be able to send novelty telegrams to be mailed to themselves, friends, whatever. Nothing so premium as having the telegram hand-delivered by a courier... though it would be fun to have telegrams hand-delivered to people at the show; the recipient would need to be identified somehow beforehand, of course.

 Henning had done something similar to this at the last Maker Faire in Germany, I believe. I remember reading about it and seeing photos on this list. 

 If I ever established something like this as a real business and not just for the shows I take my machines to, my thoughts have been to provide a video to the customer showing their message being printed-- something to draw the customer in a bit more and make the experience more real and enjoyable rather than just having some faceless entity print out a piece of paper. Assuming the customer was in the same city as the printing office, they could even see it happen in person. This would set this service apart from the various other services already available.

It would be really neat to establish multiple offices, even in just a few major cities, so that some customers could actually send/receive through these offices rather than across the internet (unless you have some way of laying miles and miles of cable, the message between the teletypes would still have to be relayed across some common carrier network-- the internet is easiest. Shortwave would be pretty neat). I have my doubts that there would be enough money in a venture like this to establish multiple offices, but who knows. Even if multiple offices could be achieved in multiple major cities, most people would still probably need to initiate the sending of the telegram via a website, and most recipients would probably still end up in cities far away from any office. Still, in major cities you could perhaps advertise more and try to get the dense population to be your main customer base.

I think the best way to achieve this, especially when starting out with just one office, would be to contract with couriers in various cities who are willing to dress very nicely (extra points if they have an old-fashioned style uniform!) and have a more white-glove experience than your typical FedEx drive-by. They get paid when they deliver a telegram, which may only be once in a great while. I suppose you could send telegrams via the more common same-day services provided by FedEx, UPS, and USPS (or whatever the equivalent is in your country) if the destination is in a city without a contracted courier. I expect you may need to send the telegram via one of the common same-day services to actually get it to the courier unless by some small chance the destination was in/near the city the printing office uses. You could always just send the telegram via the regular post, of course, for much cheaper, but that reduces the experience. Perhaps there could be tiers of service-- regular mail delivery could be the less expensive, more accessible tier.

If just starting out, the "office" would be my basement. It would be hard to build it up enough to be able to afford a real office, especially in a major city, but it would be fun to have a real office where nearby patrons could visit and see the machines in action if it could be sustainable. I tend to doubt that, though.

If I had millions of dollars just lying around, I'd probably engage in some business like this, establishing multiple offices, even if it wasn't fully self-sustaining. It would be the fun of doing it that would be worth it to me.

These are the thoughts I've been mulling about on the subject for a year or two for anyone who may want to try something similar.

-
Jordan Spencer Cunningham
teletype.net

On Fri, Jun 21, 2019, at 8:38 AM, Dave Wade wrote:
> Joe,

> In the UK you can still send that sort of message, but I suspect it travels by e-mail or internet for much of its journey….

> 

> https://www.britishtelegram.com/about-us

> 

> Dave

> G4UGM

> 

> *From:* greenkeys-bounces at mailman.qth.net <greenkeys-bounces at mailman.qth.net> *On Behalf Of *Joe Herdler via GreenKeys
> *Sent:* 21 June 2019 14:04
> *To:* GreenKeys Mailing List <greenkeys at mailman.qth.net>
> *Subject:* [GreenKeys] Your thoughts on a new telegram service

> 

> So, after being up all night at work due to weather, my mind started wandering and of course, (re)turned to my favorite subject, Teletypes.

> 

> I know that WU stopped its' telegram service about thirteen years ago.

> 

> Now I am not a Luddite, and I realize that the digital / internet realm has conquered almost every aspect of life. However, I wonder if there would be any demand for a new telegram service. Unlike texts or e-mail (which itself is on the decline giving way to texts), a telegram is physical and you can hold it, file it, put it in a drawer or even the fireplace. There is a sense of urgency and permanence with a telegram. It is there when the lights go out. It can be put in a scrap book. I have seen old telegrams about everything... birth and death announcements, military service men and women, business and political activities, etc and etc. And a telegram, unlike a first class letter, was a premium service. They were never cheap to send in whatever eras money they were sent with.

> 

> So what do you think? Could some entrepreneur with more dollars than sense start a smallish company and revive wire sent telegrams? Maybe even with modern versions of the old WU telegram form (with a new company's logo, of course) and pasted tape printout.

> 

> Best,

> 

> Joe Herdler KB0TXC 

> 

> Consciousness affects the medium. Think happy, be happy, and happiness will follow you.

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