[rollei_list] Western Union and REA

At 10:49 AM 7/22/2008, Richard Knoppow wrote:

>    I'm not sure what happened to REA but they used to
>handle baggage for many railroads. Maybe they are in
>disguise and do the same for airlines. No matter what you do
>_your_ bags will the last to hit the carrousel.
>    Postal Telegraph was absorbed by Western Union c.1940.
>Radio stations used to have Postal Telegraph clocks, later
>taken over by WU. These were actually mechanical clocks but
>had a solenoid in them, operated by a pulse over a wire,
>that set the clock exactly once an hour.
>    WU completely misunderstood what electronic mail was
>about and that it would drive them out of business. Postal
>was about one tenth the size of WU at the time of the
>merger. I have in front of me a WU test sounder. 400 ohms,
>made by Manhattan Electrical Supply Company. I can't believe
>the stuff I get interested in.


The classic Western Union scam was to send a first telegram to a friend:

MESSAGE TWO FOLLOWS

and, a day later, to send a second telegram:

DISREGARD MESSAGE ONE

I guess you had to be there.
REA was an outgrowth of the nationalization of the railroads by the US government during World War I. It filed for bankruptcy in 1975, so we are all safe from its services. One of its final actions was a massive lawsuit against UPS which, sadly, ended with the bankruptcy. REA never lost a single shipment to me but UPS routinely muffs the job.
A friend of mine is the daughter of the World War II CEO of Western Union. She is the widow of a retired RN officer who was "the last man off of HOOD", having been sent ashore with dispatches for the Admiralty when HOOD refueled at Scapa on her way to that unfortunate encounter with BISMARCK in the Denmark Straits on Empire Day 1941. 

Marc


msmall@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Cha robh bàs fir gun ghràs fir!

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