The Federal Chancellery relies on 19th-century technology for its internal communication: Around 2,400 transactions are transported by pneumatic mail per month at the government headquarters. This is the result of a response from the Digital State Minister Dorothee Bär (CSU) to an FDP inquiry quoted by the "Saarbrücker Zeitung".
The pneumatic tube, in which shipments are sent through tubes with the help of compressed air, is therefore indispensable for the Chancellery. "A more cost-effective form of transmission is not available until the introduction of the electronic file in the Federal Chancellery," according to the newspaper in Bär's letter.
The CSU politician is usually considered a notorious technology optimist. She has been known to use her smartphone excessively, repeatedly stressing that airline taxis could solve traffic problems.
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Messengers more expensive than pneumatic post
As an alternative to the pneumatic tube in the Chancellery but only three messengers would be considered, writes the Minister of State accordingly. The personnel costs for it cheat 137,000 euros annually. Maintenance and repair costs of the pneumatic tube system are significantly cheaper. Since 2014, according to Bär spent between 9000 and 12,000 euros per year for the maintenance of the extensive system in the Chancellery.
Pipe mailing systems have been installed in various cities since the mid-19th century. Today, for example, the technology is still used in large hospitals.
The FDP evaluated Bär's commitment to the pneumatic tube as proof that the federal government had no concept in terms of digitization. "The fact that with Dorothee Bär just the Minister of State for Digitization says that the antiquated pneumatic post office is virtually no alternative, leaves a deep view," said the Parliamentary Director Marco Buschmann.