Talk:Pryce Pryce-Jones

Mail order

May have been an entrepreneur but it seems unlikely that he invented mail order or the world's first mail order business. This must have started soon after the invention of the postage stamp in 1840. Philafrenzy (talk) 00:57, 12 November 2013 (UTC)

You may have thought so but no. Parcels were sent sometime after letters, but not at first. But the article is not stating that he was the first to send an item to someone as part of a business deal, but that he set up a business around it. He came up with the idea of sending catalogues to people with his wears listed that they could then order through the mail. This was his innovation. FruitMonkey (talk) 07:55, 12 November 2013 (UTC)

According to the article he was able to do it because of the introduction of parcel post in the UK (1883) and the arrival of the railway in his town. But parcels had been sent by rail almost since the invention of the steam engine and in 1874-5 in Germany, for instance, 38 million parcels were sent after parcel post was introduced there. I think it is probably more correct to see him as an innovator in the scale he did things than having come up with any new ideas as such. Check out parcel post for more background. There is an article on JSTOR if you have it. Philafrenzy (talk) 11:20, 12 November 2013 (UTC)

Unfortunately not. But like I stated before, he was not an innovator of parcel post, I agree that already existed. He was the first true Mail order innovator, he created a catalogue and people bought items via mail from it. FruitMonkey (talk) 17:55, 12 November 2013 (UTC)

The argument for the role of Pryce-Jones in the establishment of a parcel post in the UK seems to be based on this quote:

"In 1882, while Pryce Jones was campaigning to become Conservative MP for the Montgomery Boroughs, he met the Post Master General and suggested the idea of developing a parcel post to him. A letter post already existed but parcels had to be sent by road and rail carriers, sometimes at great expense - obviously an important consideration for a mail order business. The Post Master General took up his idea and the Parcel Post was developed as a result." here

This site seems to be one for local history reminiscences and stories from a variety of unknown authors. It's well done but I am afraid that I don't find it particularly authoritative and I note that 1882 is well after parcel post was discussed at the 1880 UPU conference. Do you have any stronger sources? Philafrenzy (talk) 22:29, 12 November 2013 (UTC)

See the parcel post talk page for more comments. Philafrenzy (talk) 22:45, 12 November 2013 (UTC)

Hmmmm... I find that dubious. I wouldn't back those claims. FruitMonkey (talk) 23:43, 12 November 2013 (UTC)

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