On 3 Nov 2004 14:15:06 GMT, (Andrew
Gabriel) wrote:

In article ,
Andy Hall writes:

Do they have one of those systems with wires across the ceiling with
little pots carrying the money to the cashier?

No -- there's too much merchandise hanging from the ceiling
for one of those to work.

I haven't seen one for years. When I was a kid, all the shoe shops
had them.

The V&A had a moch-up of a shop some years back, probably based
on 1920's, with a working one of these. Pull a cord, and the
cannister was pinged across the ceiling on a cable.
As a kid, I recall a number of the stores in Reading using
vacuum tubes with cylindrical canisters, which took your
money to the cashier, and returned the change.

Yep. These replaced the corded ones which were also used in some of
the clothing shops.

Modern versions
of these are still used in supermarkets and the like for carrying
excess cash back from the tills, but not for individual customer
transactions.

B&Q seems to have them in some branches.



--

..andy

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