The Post Box

Even with the advent of the digital age, it is thought that the Royal Mail delivers 72 million letters every day. Having a letter box to receive incoming mail is still an important part of life. At Christmas, there is a phenomenal growth in the numbers of letters, cards and parcels delivered our letter boxes, and the mail service is stretched to the limit. Temporary postmen are employed and the site of your letter box is even more important to make it easy for the postman to find your letter box. If your letter box is easy to find and accessible, it will speed up the postman’s job of delivering the mail and allow him to get home early.

Where you live will in the main dictate where the letter box is located, and the type of letter box you will have. If you live in an urban area with terraced housing, the majority of letter boxes are in the front doors or on the wall adjacent to the door. The post box should not be at the rear of the property, unless that is the door facing the road and other houses in the road have their post boxes at the back door. Make it easy for the postman by locating the post box at the same side of the building as your neighbours.

Houses with gates and gardens may have the letter box on the gate post or in the garden to make it quicker and more convenient for the postman to deliver your mail. In rural areas, especially farms, there may not be a letter box at all, but the postman knows by experience where to put the mail. You can make it easier for the postman by putting a post box at the end of your track so that he does not have to physically drive up to the house to deliver your mail, unless there is a package to be signed for. If you live in an apartment block, you will not have a choice about where to locate the letter box as this will have been decided by the developers and the management committee when the block was built. This will also apply to office blocks.

The most important point to take into account when deciding on a site for your letter box is that is convenient and easy to access, but also it must be visible to the postman who may not be familiar with the area. You will also want to take into account security of your mail by having a lockable or arson proof post box.

The provision of a letter box in which your mail can be placed safely and securely allows the postman to fulfil his duties efficiently. If the letter box is easy to find and sympathetically sited, it will make his job easier, especially in the winter on days when the weather is bad and the postman just wants to get home. Think about the postman when deciding on the location for your new letter box, and if you have a choice of places it might be sited, make sure it is easy to use.

Even in these days of emails and other electronic transmission of correspondence, the humble Letter Box is of paramount importance for your communications.   There are four main designs of Letter Boxes for incoming mail – a simple slot in the door,  a box attached directly on to your house, a Post Box on the street and a unit which is designed for multi occupancy buildings which provides Letter Boxes for individual residents.

The simple slot in the door style of Letter Box by far the most commonly used in the United Kingdom, especially in urban areas.   It is convenient for the postman as he can simply deliver the mail without having to open individual receptacles.  The Letter Boxes are often pre-fitted into new doors and can be made of aluminium, chrome, brass, uVPC or stainless steel.  The design of the Letter Box allows weather proofing by having an interior draught excluder.  Many Letter Boxes have spring loaded flaps to ensure that they close automatically and are weatherproof.   The slots in the door are usually horizontal, but can be vertical, and measure 30 cm by 5cm (12inches by 2 inches).

Letter boxes which are directly attached to your property  may be more beneficial if you regularly receive larger envelopes which will not fit through the standard slots.  .  The Letter Boxes can be mounted on the door and be made of stainless steel, cast aluminium, uVPC or wood.  Security of your mail may be an issue with this style of letter box and the slot should be small enough so that the mail cannot be retrieved once it has been delivered.  The front of the box usually has an aperture which can be opened with a key by the owner of the letter box.

Standard letter boxes on the street in North America consist of a metal box mounted on a post, usually with a tag which can be reset to indicate that mail has been delivered.  In the UK,  there is a selection of letter boxes which can be mounted by the roadside on posts or on walls for the convenience of the postman.  If you have a dog who does not like the postman, this may be an option for you as you can mount the post box outside the gate so that the postman does not have to come into the garden.  To keep your mail safe, the post box will have a key so that mail can be retrieved only by the owner.

Letter boxes for multi occupancy buildings usually consist of a bank of individual boxes with keys.  This style of letter box can be located either inside or outside the building with the numbers on the boxes corresponding to that of the apartment or office.   The Letter Boxes can be constructed to suit each building, with the same number of individual boxes made available for each company or residence.

All in all, Letter Boxes continue to be an important part of any communications, despite the phenomenal rise in the usage of email and electronic messaging.

Are you an individual with a big personality? If so, you probably love being different, and trying to stand out from the crowd. Well, here’s another way to do that—decorate your postbox! Why not make it a statement of your creativity and personality? Here are some ideas on how to decorate a postbox or letter box.

First, gather together some craft materials. You can use stickers, vinyl cling-ons, paints, glitter glue, and anything that you could glue onto the postbox or draw onto it with.

Now, get some ideas down on paper. Do a rough sketch of what you have in mind so that you can work from it with your final design. That way you will make fewer mistakes and you will have a basic idea of how your letter box will look when it’s finished.

If you want to do a flower/garden theme, you could use flower stickers and paint stems and blaids of grass with green paint. Be sure to use waterproof paint, or go over the whole box with a waterproof finish when you are done so it won’t be spoiled by the weather.

Another idea is to paint the outside with little windows and doors as if it were a house or barn. You could even paint little animal faces looking out of the windows of your barn.

Bring a smile to the faces of everyone who sees your new post box. Be creative, colourful, and express your personality to the world.

If you are planning to buy a letter box for your house or flat, you may be unsure of what type of box to buy, or where to buy it. Here are some ideas and suggestions to help you decide form a variety of letterboxes.

First, find a company that offers a good variety of choice, such as Mailbox Mania. They offer many different styles, sizes, shapes, and colours of letterboxes.

Now, figure out what kind of letterbox you need. Do you get a newspaper delivered? If so, you will want a box large enough to hold your post along with a newspaper. Do you have parcels delivered? Again, you’ll need a large box. Do you like traditional looking boxes? You may want a red one or a stainless steel one. Or, if you want a modern looking one, you could ven choose a plastic one.

Decide what will look good on your gate, fence, door, or the side of your house. For instance, if you have a red door, a red box might look good — but then it might also be harder for the postman to spy from the road and he might not realize you have a box. Choose a colour that is visible but that you think looks good.

Mailbox Mania offers letter boxes in the following colours: red, green, black, white, silver, and stainless steel. There should be something for everyone.

Once you find the box you like, simply purchase, and have it put up on your door or gate, or wherever you want it mounted. If you need permission first, make sure to obtain it.

We’re certainly a nation that loves nostalgia! Here are a few odds and ends we discovered about that most British of street furniture institutions – the red postbox!

•    The very first postboxes (pillar boxes to be precise) were erected in Jersey during the Post Offices’ 1852 campaign of modernisation. It’s commonly thought the idea hailed from France.

•    It was another five years before roadside postboxes were a common sight along the highways and byways of Britain. It was during this time that the Birmingham District Council commissioned what is now cited as the traditional post box design of a single column.

•    Pillar boxes always bear the monogram of the reigning monarch. Take a look at any old-looking post boxes in your area to see if the monogram “V.R” resides on its front. If so, it’s dates from the reign of Queen Victoria!

•    Windsor Castle has a blue post box. The now-redundant air mail boxes remained in service for less than a decade and are a incredibly rare sight.

•    The oldest working red post box in Britain is over 150 years old.

•    One of the conditions cited when Consignia took over Royal Mail was that all current postboxes be preserved as heritage icons.

The good old British postbox is certainly one of our favourite icons of the UK. And whilst we can’t provide you with your own cast iron Victorian pillar box, we can supply personal and commercial use mailboxes that will stand the hardy test of time (many of them come in red too!)

It’s one of the most popular post destinations in the world. All of us are likely to have sent letters there on a few occasions. In fact his mail box must be one of the largest, most study and magnificent mail boxes in the world!

The hopeful little children of the 1800’s didn’t invest their dreams and wishes in the postal service. The tradition of burning your letter in your home hearth, safe in the knowledge it would pop up in old St Nick’s mail box was the custom of the day.

Flash forward a few decades and we see less home hearths and more electric heaters – oh no! The practice of popping a letter to Santa in the general post is a harmless one. However is does create a hefty amount of, dare we say… waste! The Royal Mail actually provides an excellent reply service, sending notes back to the mail boxes of good little boys and girls all across the UK!

In the USA, a little town rather jauntily named “Santa Claus, Indiana” receives hundreds of thousands of crayon-addressed letters to Santa every year. The good people of Santa Claus actually make the effort to reply to as many as they can too!

Our team couldn’t quite decide on which of our mail boxes Santa might choose, suffice to say it would almost certainly be red! And just in case you’re in the mood for a little festive wishing and maybe dropping a note into Santa’s mail box….

Santa/Father Christmas,
Santa’s Grotto,
Reindeerland,
SAN TA1

We all love our pets, but if the dog gets his teeth into that new bank debit card you’ve been waiting for you might just…! Pet-proofing your mail used to mean the singular option of weak metal or plastic cages to catch the day’s post. We’re pretty sure our old granny could pull those things off the door, never mind our hyperactive Labrador!

Choosing the right letter box to keep your little ball of fur firmly separated from the post is crucial. Protecting your pet from harm is as much of a reason as any to install one of our letterboxes or sturdy mail cages. Creepy as it might sound, you quite simply never know what might come through the door, meaning the health and well-being of your pet could be at stake alongside the health and well-being of your bank statement!

This blog entry could have been very short because almost all of our letterboxes are pet-proof! One of our most popular products is the Brass Indoor Letter Cage (which is actually galvanised steel coated in tasteful brass). Evolved from the flimsy cages of old, our model is strong enough to take on the fiercest pooch (or granny!), and comes with a five year warrantee (testament to our confidence in its performance).

Installing the most appropriate letter box pertaining to your particular needs is something about which our telephone team can offer great advice.

We may live in the digital era, but a vast majority of security-sensitive information still travels via postal services. Generally, post is sealed. But in an age where we sometimes don’t feel safe walking our local streets at night, the extra precaution of a custom letterbox designed to optimise the security of your post, your home and your peace of mind is no foolish step to take.

Our range of post boxes is unsurpassed in terms of strength, durability and reliability. Indeed they present a formidable task to any would-be burglars, thieves or vandals. Over the past three years we’ve really seen it all in terms of security threats and damage potential, which is exactly what’s helped to shape our fantastic designs. Personal use or commercial use, the risks are shockingly similar.

Anti-Arson Post Boxes
It’s not a very cheery subject to cover, but the issue of arson in both the home and commercial environments is unfortunately prevalent in our society. Our range of anti-arson letter boxes is designed to protect your home/office environment by quenching any fire that begins inside the box via an advanced heat sensitive fire extinguisher that activates instantly when a certain temperature is detected.

Whatever the security needs and concerns of your home or business, we’re confident that the mail box solution can be found in our catalogue. Call our staff on 01943-463-998 and talk through any concerns, seek advice or place an order.

You know the old saying “Don’t shoot the messenger”? Well, we often feel like that here at Mailbox Mania. Whilst we can provide you with durable, top quality mail boxes, we can’t stop a lot of the drivel that get’s pushed into them! Here are a few facts we’ve gathered about pesky junk mail, followed by a few handy tips to reduce it.

•    In a single year, almost 700 items of junk mail could wiggle their way into your letter box.

•    That’s roughly 18 billion pieces of junk mail annually circulating the UK.

•    According to the Environment Agency, by recycling a single ton of junk mail seventeen trees, 2.3 cubic metres landfill, 31,400 litres of water, 4,200 kilowatt hours energy, 1,600 litres oil and 26kg air pollutants can be avoided.

So, how do we keep this troublesome monster at bay and out of our letter boxes? There are varies opt-out schemes. Arguably one of the most opulent sources of information for junk mail practitioners is the electoral register. Although the opt-out option exists, many folks simply aren’t looking for it, making their juicy addresses and demographic details tasty fodder for junk mail list creation. Contact your local council for detail concerning how to remove yourself from the 50% of voters currently opting-in to junk mail lists.

Registration with the Mailing Preference Service is a great way to avoid unwanted, unaddressed direct mail. Similarly, opting-out via the Royal Mail’s opt out service ensures your friendly neighbourhood postman won’t be stuffing your mail boxes with unaddressed junk mail.

Buying any product is now both easier and harder than ever before. There is a huge range of every imaginable invention and not only a plethora of places to purchase on the high street but also online. The downside for the more indecisive of us is that suddenly we are faced with such choice that making the right one can often seem a huge task.

Every home needs a mail box, and even the most indecisive of us may well find ourselves having to choose from the vast array of mailboxes on offer. However, at least here there are certain criteria you can check to see if you are getting the right mail box for you.

Location – where you want it standing will have a big impact on what style you buy. Choose your location first, knowing whether you want it on a wall, in a porch or at the end of a driveway.

Material – mailboxes standing at the side of the road will likely need to be much more hard-wearing than one inside the porch. Consider weather conditions as a plastic mail box will likely be blown down if you experience high winds, while certain metals may rust. You may also want to consider cast iron for a more rustic look, while stainless steel would add a very modern feel.

Size – if you receive large quantities of post, size will be important to ensure the post doesn’t overflow and disappear.

If you still need guidance as to what you might need, we at Mailbox Mania are sure to be able to help.