General Business Training Part 2

Diving into the first topic of discussion from the book

General Business Training: Chapter 10 Mail

 

In the introduction to this series,  I was unable to date this book. Based on the postage rate of three cents, I am going to place this book somewhere between 1917 and 1952, the date ranges when US postage was three cents.

 The first few sections address the various types of mail classes, insurance, COD, and special delivery / handling. But section 3, Addressing Envelopes and Packages, caught my eye.  We live in a digital age. Many of us remember our mothers forcing us to handwrite thank you letters to family and friends for various occasions. I suspect that many parents are not carrying on with this tradition. Personally, I know the number of thank you cards I received has dwindled.

I did however, receive this thank you card in the mail, written and addressed by hand.

Some people still get it.

 

So, for those of you afraid of snail mail, like your granny is afraid of the computer, here is what the book says:

 

The Address:

“The name of the person to whom the letter is sent, the street address, the city, and the state should be written or typed on separate lines as in figure 72. The ordinary address on a letter should have at least four lines. If the name of a company or business is given in addition to the name of the individual, the address may have five or more lines. “

 

The Return Address:

The address of the sender should be placed in the upper left -hand corner so that the post office can return the letter to him if the one to whom it is addresses cannot be located. This addres is usually printed on the stationary used by the business, but if it’s not printed, it should be written. “

 

Now you try it. Think about a person or business that has made you grateful this week. Pick up a pen and some paper, and write them a thank you note! You don’t need special paper, or expensive stationary. Trust me. They will just be grateful for the time you took to write it.

When did you last get a thank you note? How did it make you feel?

General Business Training Part 1

I love old books. When I was given this one it really intrigued me. The date page is gone so it is obviously quite dated. But I wondered as I thumbed through it , how many of those skills are still needed and not taught ? How has business changed since this was written? And what insights can we learn from the past that we could apply to business today?

Summer Book Review

So just for fun this summer, I’d like to do a mini review of this book in the form of a series focusing on how things have changed, how they stay the same, and some things, perhaps, that we may have forgotten, that maybe we shouldn’t have. So let’s get started.

This book was designed to be a textbook and looks as though quite a few students have had their hands on it before me. In the preface it states:

“General Business Training in its first edition pioneered in emphasizing the general non-technical values in junior business education. These values are now commonly recognized as being of greatest importance. The recognition of their worth has been accelerated in recent years through observations of teachers and businessmen, and as a result of several surveys which have been made by those interested in business education.”

Values lost

It seems to me that some of these values have been lost, not that they’re any less important. They are simply not taught, and not understood.

I’ve been involved in several areas of teaching and training. And recently was asked to participate in designing a training program to teach soft skills to new hires. It seems to me there is a gap between expectations of knowledge and what’s being generally taught as important.

Hope you join me over the next few days as we learn together from the past.

Commodore 64

Yeah… remember that one?

That was my very first computer.  I was recently asked to go to our local public radio station, 88.3FM  WNIN and record a bit for the “Plugged In”  show. Plugged In is a weekly technology show. They discuss technology news and topics with a focus on how they affect our daily lives.

They have a segment called “Ye Old Tech”.  I went in to tell about my Commodore 64 and came out with the realization that this gift may very well have been the gift the turned me geek – for life.   Enjoy…

Listen to it Here: Commodore-64