The telegram has been in the news recently. It seems that the last telegram company is shutting its doors next month.
I suppose this has made the news because reporters and editors have found it odd that a telegram company could still be operating today. I don’t find it odd.
Let’s look at a few reasons the telegram company survived in India all these years:
- the telegram was sunk cost, meaning the wires were already in place and the physical infrastructure to support it was money already spent (like phone landlines in the US)
- it was a highly secure system for transmitting legal documents, especially court orders and specific government actions (only in the last few years has the US adopted e-signatures for certain legal paperwork)
- it was easier to train a few people to use the telegram than to train them to use computers
- until everyone had a phone, it was difficult to displace the rapidity of the telegram for communication
- people use what they are familiar with
To read the original article: Telegram for Inventors | it could BE different
