Monday, July 23, 2018
When the Post Office was Google
Another peek into an unadvertised corner of history. Via American Radio History as always, a 1926 trade journal for phonograph retailers.
Headline: Let Post Office check your mailing list.
The Post Office was a full-service communications portal in those days. Along with delivering mail TWICE A DAY, it included a bank with savings and checking accounts. Here we have a sort of AdSense function, taking advantage of the neighborhood knowledge of postmen. You could ask the PO to update your mailing list to reflect the actual occupants of addresses.
= = = = =
By 1970 our PO had abandoned its central role. The bank was gone, the clerks were replaced by computers, and the goal of serving business was gone. In some Euro countries the PO moved the other way, becoming the coordinator for ALL communication. So it became the manufacturer of the systems as well as the carrier of information.
The Post Office was a full-service communications portal in those days. Along with delivering mail TWICE A DAY, it included a bank with savings and checking accounts. Here we have a sort of AdSense function, taking advantage of the neighborhood knowledge of postmen. You could ask the PO to update your mailing list to reflect the actual occupants of addresses.
= = = = =
By 1970 our PO had abandoned its central role. The bank was gone, the clerks were replaced by computers, and the goal of serving business was gone. In some Euro countries the PO moved the other way, becoming the coordinator for ALL communication. So it became the manufacturer of the systems as well as the carrier of information.
Labels: defensible times
¶ 2:46 AM
