In Australia, Britain, Mexico and other countries, pneumatic tubes are used in supermarkets to send messages and cash to the store manager.

The technology is still used on a smaller scale. In the United States, a large number of drive-through banks use pneumatic tubes to transport cash and documents between cars and ATMs. Most hospitals have a computer-controlled pneumatic tube system to deliver medications, documents and samples to laboratories and nursing stations. Many factories use them to quickly supply parts on large campuses. Many department stores use these systems to safely transport large amounts of cash from cash registers to back offices and to send change to cashiers. NASA's original Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas, had pneumatic tubes connecting control consoles to personnel support rooms. Denver International Airport is notable for its large number of pneumatic tube systems, including a 25 cm diameter system for moving airplane parts to distant locations, a 10 cm system for United Airlines ticket sales, and a parking lot system for toll plazas.

In Britain, the House of Commons also has a pneumatic tube system.

When pneumatic tubes came into use in the 19th century, they symbolized technological progress and were imagined to be common in the future. Paris in the 20th Century (1863) by Jules Verne includes pneumatic tubes of suspended trains that would extend across the oceans. The Twentieth Century") (1882) by Albert Robida depicts a Paris in the 1950s where tube trains would replace railways, pneumatic mail would be ubiquitous, and catering companies would compete to deliver meals to households via pneumatic tubes. Looking Backward") (1888) by Edward Bellamy has a vision of the world in 2000 where different places are interconnected with tubes for the delivery of goods. Un Express de L'Avenir") (1888), by Michel Verne questions the sensitivity of a pneumatic transatlantic subway. In the novel La Journée d'un journaliste américain en 2889") (1889) by Michel and Jules Verne, underwater tubes transport people faster than aero-trains and the Home Food Supply Society allows subscribers receive meals pneumatically.

Later, due to their use by governments and large companies, tubes began to symbolize bureaucracy. In the novel 1984 "1984 (novel)") by George Orwell, pneumatic tubes in the Ministry of Truth deliver newspapers to Winston's table, containing articles to be "corrected." (In the same year that Orwell wrote his book (1949), Robert A. Heinlein's novel Gulf offers a more neutral view of its use in the provision of postal services in general.)

In 1985, in the film Brazil "Brazil (film)"), which has similar themes to 1984 "1984 (novel)"), tubes (as well as other seemingly anachronistic technologies) are also used to cause bureaucratic stagnation. At the beginning of each episode of the 1998 television series Fantasy Island, a dark version of the original, reservations for future visitors to the island are sent to the diabolical Mr. Roarke via pneumatic tubes from a dusty old travel agency, making the tubes seem not so much bureaucratic as sinister.

The failure of pneumatic tubes despite their potential, as predicted in previous centuries, has placed them in the company of flying cars and airships as ripe for ironic Retrofuturism. The 1960s cartoon series The Jetsons featured pneumatic tubes that people could enter, be sucked upward, and quickly be propelled to their destination. In the animated television series Futurama "Futurama (TV series)"), set in the 19th century, large pneumatic tubes are used in cities to transport people, while smaller ones are used to transport mail. The tubes in Futurama "Futurama (TV series)") are also used to describe the endless confusion of bureaucracy: an immense network of pneumatic tubes connects all offices in New York City to the "Central Bureaucratic Offices", with all capsules deposited directly into a huge pile in the main presentation room, without classification or organization.

In the American television series Lost, the Dharma Initiative research station Pearl has a pneumatic tube system. The Locke character "John Locke (Lost)") put his drawing of a blast door map into the tube without a capsule. It was sucked into the tube, indicating that the system was still working. The Pearl's tubes lead to a reservoir of capsules.

In Kurt Vonnegut's novel Slaughterhouse Five pneumatic tubes are used as a means of transporting information from one place to another when the news is covered by articles.

In Australia, Britain, Mexico and other countries, pneumatic tubes are used in supermarkets to send messages and cash to the store manager.

The technology is still used on a smaller scale. In the United States, a large number of drive-through banks use pneumatic tubes to transport cash and documents between cars and ATMs. Most hospitals have a computer-controlled pneumatic tube system to deliver medications, documents and samples to laboratories and nursing stations. Many factories use them to quickly supply parts on large campuses. Many department stores use these systems to safely transport large amounts of cash from cash registers to back offices and to send change to cashiers. NASA's original Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas, had pneumatic tubes connecting control consoles to personnel support rooms. Denver International Airport is notable for its large number of pneumatic tube systems, including a 25 cm diameter system for moving airplane parts to distant locations, a 10 cm system for United Airlines ticket sales, and a parking lot system for toll plazas.

In Britain, the House of Commons also has a pneumatic tube system.

When pneumatic tubes came into use in the 19th century, they symbolized technological progress and were imagined to be common in the future. Paris in the 20th Century (1863) by Jules Verne includes pneumatic tubes of suspended trains that would extend across the oceans. The Twentieth Century") (1882) by Albert Robida depicts a Paris in the 1950s where tube trains would replace railways, pneumatic mail would be ubiquitous, and catering companies would compete to deliver meals to households via pneumatic tubes. Looking Backward") (1888) by Edward Bellamy has a vision of the world in 2000 where different places are interconnected with tubes for the delivery of goods. Un Express de L'Avenir") (1888), by Michel Verne questions the sensitivity of a pneumatic transatlantic subway. In the novel La Journée d'un journaliste américain en 2889") (1889) by Michel and Jules Verne, underwater tubes transport people faster than aero-trains and the Home Food Supply Society allows subscribers receive meals pneumatically.

Later, due to their use by governments and large companies, tubes began to symbolize bureaucracy. In the novel 1984 "1984 (novel)") by George Orwell, pneumatic tubes in the Ministry of Truth deliver newspapers to Winston's table, containing articles to be "corrected." (In the same year that Orwell wrote his book (1949), Robert A. Heinlein's novel Gulf offers a more neutral view of its use in the provision of postal services in general.)

In 1985, in the film Brazil "Brazil (film)"), which has similar themes to 1984 "1984 (novel)"), tubes (as well as other seemingly anachronistic technologies) are also used to cause bureaucratic stagnation. At the beginning of each episode of the 1998 television series Fantasy Island, a dark version of the original, reservations for future visitors to the island are sent to the diabolical Mr. Roarke via pneumatic tubes from a dusty old travel agency, making the tubes seem not so much bureaucratic as sinister.

The failure of pneumatic tubes despite their potential, as predicted in previous centuries, has placed them in the company of flying cars and airships as ripe for ironic Retrofuturism. The 1960s cartoon series The Jetsons featured pneumatic tubes that people could enter, be sucked upward, and quickly be propelled to their destination. In the animated television series Futurama "Futurama (TV series)"), set in the 19th century, large pneumatic tubes are used in cities to transport people, while smaller ones are used to transport mail. The tubes in Futurama "Futurama (TV series)") are also used to describe the endless confusion of bureaucracy: an immense network of pneumatic tubes connects all offices in New York City to the "Central Bureaucratic Offices", with all capsules deposited directly into a huge pile in the main presentation room, without classification or organization.

In the American television series Lost, the Dharma Initiative research station Pearl has a pneumatic tube system. The Locke character "John Locke (Lost)") put his drawing of a blast door map into the tube without a capsule. It was sucked into the tube, indicating that the system was still working. The Pearl's tubes lead to a reservoir of capsules.

In Kurt Vonnegut's novel Slaughterhouse Five pneumatic tubes are used as a means of transporting information from one place to another when the news is covered by articles.