I was debating with a postal worker for the USPS about how we should replace the whole mail system with tubes. Like the Internet, but bigger tubes to send real things. It would be like the tubes at the bank using simple compressed air. This is already a well understood system since in physics it's a very simple pressure model.

The system would be a network of routers much like the Internet to route packets aka capsules to their destination. You'd simply write the destination and put into the capsule what you wanted to send and the system would encode the source and send the capsule. It would travel without stopping except when in the router buffers (machines that hold and redirect capsules). Each router would communicate to manage traffic much like normal Internet routers. It would also be set up as service oriented to track packages.

There would be larger tubes for different sized objects. Each capsule would support a protocol along with attributes to control routing such as maximum g-forces the object inside could sustain among other things. When sending capsules the normal TCP congestion rules apply. You can only send without overloading routers.

This system would first start with a standard system of tubes and routers for sending mail and small boxes and be upgraded with larger tubes as the system progresses. Pretend a company needed to ship a thousand items across the country. The old system would be to pay a trucking company. The new system would be to place each item into a tube and send it on its way using a unified shipping model.

As the technology progresses a tube will be built that's 1 meter large for larger objects and people. (Think Futurama but safer). You could have one installed at your house that connects into the cities natural routing system to take you to work or anything. Unlike a PRT system this system doesn't require complicated tracks and wheels or power. It simply uses a compressed air system to push objects along.

Also much like an Internet protocol the system can support stacks over the standard protocol sizes. A 1 meter tube could be wrapped in a magnetic ball bearing enclosure and passed into a magnetic track for easy travel at 500 mph. Not suggesting for people but for packages that require essentially fiber optic delivery times.

I'm thinking about submitting a proposal to We the People when that service is online. Would anyone support such a system? I think in it's simplicity it's much much easier to standardize than any other transportation system.

Also from a security standpoint it has a lot less human involvement than a normal mail system which usually has tens of people handling packages. It also turns the mail and transportation system into a skilled workforce requiring maintenance, programming, and design leaving itself open for improvements over time. The same can't be said for vehicles.

The only thing your plan is missing is a tube that connects Earth to Mars. Then it would be perfect.

As a side note, you might want to look in vacuum-driven sewers.
As personal experience however they used to be fairly expensive and scaled pretty bad with size. A country-sized grid would be really expensive, unless you live in a very small country but even in that case, we're probably talking about a considerable investment.
I like the idea, but I don't think it's viable. Maybe maglev will do, but not now for sure.

Place timed explosive devices into containers.
Send containers to multiple locations.
Wait for explosions.
Cripple whole mail/package delivery network.
Watch country crumble.
Enjoy 'the lulz'.

Also, enjoy your mass unemployment due to a sudden removal of 'unskilled' labour, many of whom won't be able to step up to the new skilled labour required, which would likely require less people and get filled by some of those already out of work but with the 'skills'.

Hmm... How do you plan to deal with packet duplication and othee problems? lulz

It would be better with cube shaped capsules, they could go in tubes, or go in air or random big tunnel hanging from a wire. Cubes could be combined into bigger cubes (theres all sizes of cubes, you can have mini cubes and larger cubes to form a big cube for shipping on ships n stuff. like 8 normal cubes=1 bigger one, but 1 of the normal cubes could be made of 8 small ones.

Air pressure system too hard to make and needs either mucho magnets or mucho oil.

Unlike a PRT system this system doesn't require complicated tracks and wheels or power. It simply uses a compressed air system to push objects along.

Except for all those tubes... and the magnetic ball bearings... oh, and the power going into whatever compression system you use (giant fans?).

Place timed explosive devices into containers.
Send containers to multiple locations.
Wait for explosions.
Cripple whole mail/package delivery network.
Watch country crumble.
Enjoy 'the lulz'.

Also, enjoy your mass unemployment due to a sudden removal of 'unskilled' labour, many of whom won't be able to step up to the new skilled labour required, which would likely require less people and get filled by some of those already out of work but with the 'skills'.

Multiple routings to each destination to provide redundancy... such a system could even survive a nuclear attack... but not a 13 year old kid in his bedroom performing a DDoS...

CargoCap. Invented in 1938.

Also, see here.

Cripple whole mail/package delivery network.[/quote]

We might need such a network much sooner and more urgently.

Email has started putting serious pressure on post offices. Unless they start living off subsidies, either FedEx and Co. will need to take over for everything (not profitable) or infrastructure impact will be considerable.

Expect to see quite some post office defaults in next several years or a decade.

Wait for explosions.[/quote]
X-Ray all the things. It's cargo network. And unlike airplanes, there is no crucial weight limit, so the pods could be kevlar padded or something.

It seems like the system would have an incredible upfront cost, and even if we moved past that high maintenance costs as well.

The biggest issue (to my mind) is that you have so little flexibility. A tube or container must be built for all sizes and weights of packages. The system would need protection for fragile objects. A small rural area would need to have tubes run out to it regardless of the volume of mail they use (provided that it's over zero).

Vandalism could easily shut down a whole mail segment, requiring time and money to repair, and with millions of miles of tubes it would be very hard to prevent vandalism or other interference. There would be little safeguard against theft. And a natural disaster, even a minor one, could ruin huge swaths of the network.

Using people to deliver mail doesn't have these drawbacks, though it does have others. It might be more feasible in a denser area (like with sewer and electrical systems), or if used for low-weight objects that are exchanged frequently (like tubes that are used in office buildings now), but even then I have a hard time imagining the system being more efficient than using current systems.

How about instead of using the naturally serialized structure of a pipe, we use a series of cannons and trampolines to bounce your packages from source to destination. The sources are all cannons that fire to dispatch trampolines, which pivot to direct packages along the trampoline network. Your mailbox would then be replaced by a pillow, which inhibits future bouncing of your package. This way, the system can't get 'clogged', as in the tube case.