Something I was reading earlier today reminded me of something that I can only vaguely remember from when I was very young. It was in some shops; perhaps the Co-op. You would pay for whatever you were buying, and the assistant would put the money into a container, which she would then put into a tube, and send it whizzing off to some other part of the shop. After a short while, the container would come whizzing back with your change in it. I seem to remember finding those things a bit frightening. Thinking back on it now, it was like a crude version of email, but much noisier and not at all virtual
I remember that from when I was just a little kid, Harbal.
I can only remember one shop Mum took me in that used to do it.
The little contracption used to run along a wire across the shop didn’t it.
Gosh, that takes me back. Showing our age arent we. 
Yes I remember two kinds of contraptions. The vacuum tube and the wire and spring system. I suppose it was for security having all cash in one more secure location. Like lift drivers, a thing of the past.
The vacuum system lasted far longer than the wire and spring in my experience as I recall some older department stores still using them toward the end of the 20th century
It was probably cutting edge technology at the time, Mups. 
I remember that too… and yes it was the Co-op.
Fascinating things they were, especially when they came whizzing back along the wire and they emptied your exact change from them. 
Those were the days!
And petrol pump attendants who filled your tank for you. You didn’t even have to get out of the car.
I wonder if there were ever any injuries.
Only if you didn’t duck your head when it flew overhead! 
Yes, I do remember those. Our local grocery come general store, Walton, Hassell & Port had one. I can remember being fascinated by the way it whizzed of to the cashier then came back with the change. Far more fun that waving a card over a machine, I think.
Gosh, there’s a name I haven’t heard for years too, Tiff.
I don’t think I had any notion of where it went. I just knew it came back with the change; I just sort of accepted it without wondering how or why.
Yes!!..I do remember the vacuum tubes with the cylindrical container that contained messages, accounts and other paperwork that would fit when I wasa little kid They used them in the big department stores. THey were about 9 inches long and about 2 inches wide and had a soft pad at each end. You could close the tube at the receiver’s end so it would stop at their station. Only one capsule could be in the network at one time. Saved people running up and down stairs. Early version of email ?
Perhaps it was a reckless comparison, now I come to think of it. 
No I was serious. Exactly the same principle. Probably more reliable as well.
I worked as a “Saturday boy” in a Millets store in the 1960’s.
Millets/Milletts
In the UK after the first and second world wars there were many retailers trading under the name Milletts or Millets. There are tales that the original Millett family had many daughters and they gave each a dowry of one or more stores that were then run by their sons-in-law under separate company names with qualifiers in brackets after the name such as (1928) Ltd or (Bristol) Ltd etc. They all sold government surplus clothing and equipment including camping and outdoor leisure goods.
A pneumatic tube system was used for receipt of cash/return of change and receipt:
https://i.ibb.co/YtSdgfV/Pneumatic-tube.png
Pneumatic Tubes
http://www.cashrailway.co.uk/pneumatictube.htm
The pneumatic tube was introduced into department stores in the 1880 by John Wanamaker, the Philadelphia retail magnate (Golden book of the Wanamaker stores, 1911, p.68). He had previously installed such a system in the US Post Office while he was postmaster general. The Manufacturer and Builder (Jan. 1881) states that there were two tubes to each counter - one for each direction. Each carrier was of the exact diameter of a silver dollar and could hold 30 such coins (so the tubes must have been quite narrow compared with later systems). “By means of steam engine and exhaust pump in the cellar, with proper attachments leading therefrom, the air is being constantly exhausted at the cashier’s end of the tube and the counter end of the tube of each pair.” The system ws also claimed to improve the ventilation of the building.
The shop interior looked a lot like this - old, dark and dingy …
Our hospital used the vacuum tubes to send samples to the pathology dept - not sure if it still does.
I remember the cash tube system in shops, but also years ago I worked in a company that sent tubes to another floor and when my floor ran out one of us would call on the intercom ‘tubes please’. Found that fascinating but also wondered if that was preferable to going up and down stairs to pass documents on?!
I’m sure our Tesco’s still used those up until a few years ago (SE). I thought it was an excellent way of moving money out of the till and therefore reducing any chance of theft.
Of course, accidents did happen occasionally. I remember one day, as the tube was moving up the pipe, the screws came loose and the pod went flying across the store, hitting an elderly man in the cobblers. He was ok though, just having a new heel put on his shoe. 
Yep. Packets! 
They had a tub of broken biscuits by the counter too & Mum would sometimes buy them. Certainly not hygienic now.