I remember the Costco on in Santa Clara near the Alameda had pneumatic tubes back in the 80's and 90's when I was growing up. Looking back I think they were use

I remember the Costco on in Santa Clara near the Alameda had pneumatic tubes back in the 80's and 90's when I was growing up. Looking back I think they were used for exchanging cash between registers, and submitting requests for expensive items held in the back room. But as a kid, those tubes were a bit of magic, even when I knew exactly how they worked. I used to think how great it would be to have one big enough for people to ride in -- you could go to work in near record time on a roller-coaster ride! I think technology of that era had a certain appeal because it operated at human-scale limits. We could see the inner workings and comprehend the ingenuity involved. Sadly as technology has advanced we no longer have that basic, primal connection to the operation of the state of the art :( I wonder if kids are able to get as excited about the inner workings of a fiber optic cable as I was staring at those pneumatic tubes as a child...