[escape_goat]

I'm not sure where you got that story from, but there was pneumatic tube mail in New York city from 1897 to 1953, operated under contract to the USPS. Networks existed in four other cities but New York's was the largest. It eventually halted because it was ridiculously expensive compared to moving mail on trucks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumatic_tube_mail_in_New_Yor...

[jessaustin]

An example of USPS operating them doesn't really contradict parent's story about USPS forbidding anyone else from operating them.

Trucks probably weren't very competitive in 1897.