How did you check silver and gold spot prices back before the internet? Was it on tv 24/7? Was the news constantly covering it?
The previous day's close would be printed in the commodities table in the financial section of most newspapers. What's a newspaper? . . . a subject for another thread.
Also, you could call your broker using a dial tone phone. What's a dial tone phone? In a lot of houses, it's usually near the newspaper.
Google wasn't around before the Internet. It's been interesting watching Google get better and better. Before Google changed the computing landscape I had a love/hate relationship w/ Boolean searches. Google turned out to be a pretty good investment - went public around $80 it closed today $1,433.00. Pre split the price would be $2,866 per share.
This thread got my mind reeling. It’s funny to think of life before cell phones and the web. When I started in the construction industry..... The important people wore beepers. Businesses all had receptions to answer phone calls. Documents had to be mailed. Really urgent documents would go via courier. I remember the first time I was asked for a fax number and I had no clue what the caller was referring to. Taking donuts to meet a client was a big ice breaker. Now the ladies in the office will run you off if you come in with donuts. You could gauge the success of the day by how often your office phones rang. We mailed bills and wrote checks to pay for our bills. We could buy drinks at lunch for our clients without worrying about a lawsuit. I could go on all day. I enjoyed the trip down memory lane.
Before word processors & photocopy copy machines, carbon paper was placed between sheets of paper then rolled into a typewriter to make copies of documents. When I think of it I look for Ticker Tape Machines covered in a glass dome. They sell very quickly.
Data was sent from stock exchanges and other businesses over 22gauge analog copper telephone wires to ticker tape/teletype machines where the data was interpreted then posted on a moving tape that was read by the recipient. If I remember correctly (fat chance) data printed on a scrolling roll of paper were called teletype machines. Ticker tape and teletype machines were noisy that's why they were covered over the working mechanisms. One of my first jobs was working as a clerk for the local office of Furness Withy steamship company. They had teletype machines constantly receiving data from around the world. We had two "tea breaks" a day, free roundtrip to Bermuda on a company liner each year. Received a nice bonus at Christmas time.
Telegrams were used for important messages to people to insure prompt delivery. Unfortunately telegraphic code was different from Morse code or I could have had a job while in high school...but I did get to work in a pharmacy And I still remember code. I handled 1000+ phone patches to VietNam to our soldiers during the war and many were joyful, more were so sad. Jim ( 50+ yr. ARRL member ), WAS (Novice), DXCC, former Div.VP. etc. Times fly by faster as you age........
Used to haul livestock to the market and set an watch the ticker tape machice. Their was a guy there who would read the tape and write the current maket prices on a board in chalk. We always kept up daily with the markets for farm products. Using newspapers, the radio, and the tv.