The carrier pigeon handlers really were the originators of textspeak. Truly only able to carry a “short message” on light, almost translucent paper rolled into a tube attached to their legs. A short hand speak or code between two locations — especially in war time — was not uncommon.
How commonly were pigeons used? In 1860, Paul Reuter, who later founded Reuters press agency, used a fleet of over 45 pigeons to deliver news and stock prices between Brussels, Belgium and Aachen, Germany, the terminal of early telegraph lines. Their reliability lent itself to occasional use on mail routes, such as the Great Barrier Pigeongram Service, which was possibly the first regular air mail service in the world.
Pigeons were still employed in the 21st century by certain remote police departments in Odisha state in eastern India to provide emergency communication services following natural disasters.
While we don’t need to rely on pigeons to deliver short messages any longer, we do appreciate their historical importance and the trust that great leaders throughout history put in them.
Nothing like our feathered icons of the past, we host our service in data centers across the country instead of a bus. Our customer portal, known as Roost, is accessible from any browser.
Pidj.co is a steadfast, reliable and (dare we say so ourselves) a really fun way to comminicate with your leads, customers, parishoners, employees, team members and more (basicially anyone with a smartphone). Since 97% of us in the U.S. carry a text-enabled phone, if there’s someone you need to contact, we’re here to help.
