The commenters can't agree whether the punchline is horrifically outdated or not

[conuly]

So I thought I'd make a poll!

Poll #29595 Luann comic

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 70

View Respondents

Does your bank still (if it ever did) use pneumatic tubes and capsules?

View Answers

Yes
31 (44.3%)

No
39 (55.7%)

Comments

[lauradi7dw]

The PNC bank my mother used has them at the drivethrough.

[pauamma]

Not that I've seen, but my supermarket does.

[calimac]

It's not pneumatic.

They're used in drive-through windows as a way of transferring loose money and documents through the security tray between clerk and customer.

[readerjane]

I don’t know. Since online banking (especially depositing checks with my phone) became a thing, I haven’t physically been to the bank.

[jhetley]

Both bank and credit union use them for drive-through.

[kengr]

Oops. I forgot. They use them for the ATM in the outer lane of the drive-thru."

So that means you've got one "No" that should be a "Yes"

[conuly]

I know you can revote, though I don't remember how.

[kengr]

Now there's a "change your vote" link, which I have used.

[conuly]

I suppose that makes sense....

[gingicat]

That's what many banks in our area do.

[oursin]

Not sure about banks, but I remember them in shops

[dewline]

Not at my bank. I've seen such used at a local Home Depot, though.

[cactuswatcher]

No, but my bank in Missouri had them at the drive-thru 20 odd years ago, before switching to all ATMs. Long ago one of our department stores had them so they didn't have cash registers all over the sales floor.

[larryhammer]

Of one of the nearby branches, the drive-through has two lanes, and the outer one still has the tubes.

[melannen]

My bank has actively been putting in tubes and taking out ATMS, believe it or not.

[conuly]

First, you should absolutely go over there and leave that as a comment. I don't know if anybody is still reading new comments, but if they are, they'll appreciate it.

Secondly, do you know why they're doing that?

[melannen]

Nope! They're a small local credit union, so I think they might mostly be trying to save money by replacing a teller window and an ATM with one tube station, as more people are using apps/non-bank ATMs for routine stuff? I'm not sure! But the one that was most recently renovated (admittedly about five years ago) went from having two drive-up ATMs and one lobby ATM, to one drive-up ATM, one drive-up pneumatic tube station, and two walk-in tube stations. (And no no-tube tellers.)

They have now added back a lobby ATM because people did not want to have to deal with a tube just to deposit a check and did not want to have to always do the drive-through, but all the live tellers are still tube-based.

[thewayne]

I take that back, my vote should have been yes - they use them for the drive-ups.

I remember there was a fabric store in Phoenix when I was young that used pneumatic tubes for sales that sent the sales slip and cash paid back to the office where change was made, a receipt printed, and all sent back. It was pretty fast, and very cool to my eyes.

[lilly_c]

My bank doesn't use them but Morrisons supermarkets used to have them at their staffed tills years ago before self service became a thing.

[movingfinger]

I haven't used one lately, but those canisters are for the drive-up and my mother is certainly still using them often!

I don't think I've seen a pneumatic cash management system in use.

[zhelana]

i mean my bank is strictly online. They pay my fee if I use another bank's ATM and otherwise everything is online.

[conuly]

So that's a "painfully outdated" vote, then?

[zhelana]

yeah I'd say so. I loved watching those tubes when I was a kid though!

[siderea]

I know of a bank locally that still did as of 2018, which is when last I happened to be in the car when tn3270 was doing some banking on D's behalf. The drive through used them, which enchanted me.

Also, ISTR back in 2012 or 2013, I discovered that the embedded bank in the grocery store nearest the clinic I was working at was using them internally for some reason. I think maybe they had a back room not directly connected to the front teller desk?

[adafrog]

What else would they use for drive-up?

[conuly]

Well, I've walked up to the bank's drive through window when their keycard machine at the door was broken, and they just have a regular ATM there.

[adafrog]

THat's true.
Hospitals use them, too.

[hafnia]

the credit union I bank with has the tubes as well as the windows with trays, depending on location! (the window-with-trays is at the small campus branch where you can also walk up, there's a separate lane for it and everything.)

[imhilien]

When I was a kid, a department store in town had them. Since then, I've never seen them elsewhere since.

[kareina]

I had forgotten about those. I never used one myself, but I remember going through the bank drive through with my mother when I was little, in the 1970's and seeing her use them. I was quite disappointed when I got old enough to find out that they weren't beaming the container, like in Star Trek, but there was actually a tube it was traveling through.

However, for me, the whole cartoon is seriously outdated. I haven't lived somewhere that uses checks since I left the states in 2003, and I haven't carried cash in at least 10 years (if you don't count vacations to another country, and these days I prefer the debit card for that, too, as they no longer charge the extra fees for every international transaction). In fact, I don't even have a clear idea of what Swedish cash looks like.

[kengr]

Related bit.

I recall a department Store in the 60s having an overhead system with wire baskets carrying paperwork and small items around the store.

[dancing_crow]

in the drive-up window? They're quite modern now, the capsule is made of plexiglass with a fancy rotating lid

[acelightning73]

Pneumatic tubes are great for when you have to move physical objects (documents and the like) within a building. The big Jordan Marsh department store in Boston used them to collect and distribute cash to the registers. I've seen them in use in Costco near me.

[thekumquat]

I very much doubt it. Cash is such a tiny amount of their business now, and cheques are just put in a pile for clearing at the end of the day, because there's so few of them.

I haven't seen a pneumatic tube in 20 years in a shop.