l-dopa

Effective January 27, 2006, Western Union will discontinue all Telegram and Commercial Messaging services. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you, and we thank you for your loyal patronage. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact a customer service representative.

Only once did I ever send/get a telegram, but for some reason, this really bums me out. End of an era and all that. But for some people, this has much bigger ramifications. Low-wage immigrants often use Western Union to wire money back home to their families. It avoided the entanglements of banks and didn’t involve technological or financial hurdles.

Link via kottke.org

Update: Money transfers are still available. They are just stopping telegrams in the text sense.