Germany’s telegram era ends with final rush of thousands

The era of the telegram came to an end in Germany with a final flourish of thousands of the once-popular message service, the country’s main postal service, Deutsche Post, said Wednesday.

Deutsche Post said that 3,228 telegrams were dispatched on the final day of service on New Year’s Eve.

That’s in stark contrast to the monthly average of 200 -300 telegrams it had handled in recent years.

Deutsche Post said it was one of the last postal services worldwide that still offered telegram service at all and only domestically in recent years. There’s been no telegram service for destinations abroad since 2018.

The telegram, a 19th-century invention that has long since widely been considered obsolete, came with a hefty price tag. In recent years, sending a telegram of up to 160 characters in Germany cost at least 12.57 euros ($13.31).