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Pneumatic Cash Systems

J

jake

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those things they put the money in and sent it along a wire to an office, then wait for your change and divvy ticket to come back down the wire

jake
 
I well remember the things wizzing around with the change in them. My first job when I left school was on the CO-OP milk at Hall Green depot with horse and carts. Thur. Fri and Sat the assistant (me) had to deliver all the milk on the run, then go back and find the roundsman. Then we had to write the divvy tickets out while he gave change and the like. A lot of people did not bother with their divvy so I wrote all those ones with my moms number.
 
Thanks Lloyd wrote about this couple of years ago couldn't find what they were called
 
Lewis's department store used the Paragon pneumatic (Vacuum actually) system - I remember the "Phflop" as the little container was sucked away from the counter to the cash department, then another one would return the receipt and change a couple of minutes later.
 
Sainsbury's used those Pump type for the checkout Staff a few years back and not so long ago in real terms.
 
When I was a kid (in Chichester not Birmingham) I was intrigued by the (older) system they had in the shop my mother worked in. Here (on one floor) the money was put in a wooden ball that unscrewed, and the ball was placed on a track with a downward slope towards the cash desk. After carrying out the transaction, the change and receipt were put back in the ball and this was placed in another track starting at the ceiling and with a downward slope to the counter. I think (50 years later) there must have been separate tracks to each counter (probably 4 or five counters)
When it was dismantled (1953 or so) my mother brought home some of the balls. I regret thay are now long-gone. I assume simialr systems were used in smaller shops in Brum.

Mike
 
Hi everyone

Remember going to the Co-op in Deritend to do the grocery shopping,and to the one in Gooch Street that sold the clothing. Not forgetting of course the big Store in Birmingham. The money being put in the containers and zooming their away along to the cashier. Then they had the ones that operated by the vacumn system. I can even remember my Nan's and my Mum's divi number after all these years.

There is still a co-op store near me on Kingshurst, and the co-op funeral parlour on the Chester Road in Castle Bromwich.

Christina
 
I dont recall seeing that one but I did see one like a tube and a torpedo like container with the money in it went along this tube.
 
Lloyd, it seemed so efficient in the days when I wore short grey trousers that made my legs sore. It would be a bit grim now in a supermarket wouldnt it? Thanks for the info.
 
There used to be a Lamson Rapid Wire in the Bearwood Road branch of Fosters menswear shop, two long counters one each side and a cash handling area at the far end of the shop. Each counter had a Wire system to the cash girl, who dealt with the money and change. Even in my young days (fifty years ago now!) it seemed a waste of time, the shop was never busy, we were the only ones there when my dad took me in to buy something.
 
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Yes Lloyd, you saying that has caused me to remember Fosters and Burtons in Acocks Green they had the same system and were never busy. Ha Ha.
 
Strange that I always thought Lamson was Lampson, but it seems that I was not alone. That link you gave Lloyd is fascinating; who'd have thought so much would have been documented about 'cash railway systems'.
This is what history websites are all about.
Ted
 
I remember those systems in different shops in City centre.
In particular, the Army & Navy store and various shoe shops where the boys/mens department were down stairs
 
I went in somerfield in Chelmsley wood last week and they were selling Co op cheese, I thought that was strange, and then I saw a banner saying Co op were now part of Somerfield.
 
Morning Mariew, Who has taken over which? do you know. I hadn't heard any talk about the amalgamation. I can still remember my mother Coop number. Miriam.
 
In Reading, my nearest town, there's a very, very old-fashioned shop called Jackson's. It has a working pneumatic system (I think that's the right term) for sending money around the shop. I didn't pay with cash when I was there the other day, so couldn't see it in action. However, you do have to go to a special counter where they have a machine that takes credit cards - then you get a handwritten receipt!
If anyone is ever in Reading, Jackson's is well worth a visit.
 
Maria
Below are photographs of Jacksons system, the pump that makes the suction, the containers for the money and where you put them

jacksonsreading004.jpg

jacksonsreading002.jpg

jacksonsreading001.jpg
 
I remember Woolworths (and I think Littlewoods) on Hawthorn Road having this pneumatic system Mike. That would've been right into the 1960s, maybe even the 1970s. I always thought they were fascinating things. Viv.
 
I remember the big stores in Brum city centre having that kind of system, it used to fascinate me when I was little.

A couple of establishments I've been to recently are adopting the system again.

When I worked in the Birminghham Co-Op's No6 grocery branch, on Moseley road there was a gadget that shot a cup along a wire to a central kiosk which had the cashier lady sitting in it. Having registered the sale she would put the change in the cup and shoot it back to the counter.

I think there were four of them in that shop.
 
I remember going with my nan to a very upmarket ladies shop in town somewhere, and being enthralled watching the containers zipping up and down and the bells ringing.
paul
 
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