Why don't buildings use these anymore?

Discovered in a friend's apartment hallway, I realized that I see these things everywhere. Office buildings, "luxury" apartments, even places like hell-on-earth Penn Station have similar shoots, now out of use. A quick online search turned up less than nothing on the history of these shoots. Where do they go? Who used to sort it all? Why aren't they used anymore? I don't know about you, but I wouldn't mind seeing these return to use.