On 2007-12-28 20:00:21 +0000, The Natural Philosopher said:

Jules wrote:
On Fri, 28 Dec 2007 02:11:02 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Pneumatic railways have been used for decades. The former Post Office
railway in London could be reused as a London backbone of the network,
if it hasn't been filled with optical fibre.
The routing gets too complicated, and its just as energy inefficient as
anything else, and very constraining with respect to packet size.
All uyou need fotr package delivery is a simple intyernet routing
system, but instead of IP packets they are barcoded square parcels,
with a terminal every few miles. Any vehicle going in a certain
direction loads up with whatever is suitable for that route, and gets
paid.

Yep, I've been saying that for quite a while now... it seems bonkers
that so many separate deliveries are done to homes - and that (with the
exception of refuse disposal) it's almost all one-way (i.e. something gets
dropped off at a house, but nothing gets put back in the vehicle to fill
that space).

A combination of services seems sensible - and in this day and age we now
have the technology to make it a bit more intelligent (i.e. via the 'net
the individual can flag when they have something that needs picking up
from the house)


Very good case for a nationalised subsidised postal service...

Let's not go tooooo far.....