The Post Box

Even with the advent and growth of electronic data communications and on line shopping, many organisations use the regular postal service, or snail mail, as a method of keeping in touch with their clients, and updating them on products and services available. There is, then, still a requirement for a postal system and letter boxes. Some firms cut their direct mailing budget, but research has found that some people still prefer the traditional method of communicating by post and to receive reminders about some products through their letter box. Despite the wide usage of e-cards which can be sent at birthdays and Christmas, people still prefer to receive a traditional card. At Christmas millions of cards and parcels are sent, and a letter box is required for receiving them. Goods ordered on line has also meant that many more parcels pass through the postal system and letter boxes are still required to deliver notifications if no one is at home.

Direct mail was traditionally used to keep in direct contact with customers who were interested in the company’s products, reducing advertising costs. Catalogues and fliers were sent to the known customers and delivered directly to their door through the letter box. Nowadays, products are often listed on a web site and can be ordered on line, but there is still the need for a letter box in the event of no one being in to receive the parcels so that the postman can leave a note. Some people still prefer to receive a hard copy of a catalogue or brochure through the post box along with the price list.

Traditional greetings cards are habitually sent, regardless of the electronic versions available on the internet. It seems more personal somehow. Technophobes still prefer to receive communications via snail mail. For the elderly, receiving a card through the letter box which they can hold and read is often far preferable to receiving an email or e-card.

Another reason for receiving mail through traditional sources through the letter box is that there is so much spam and junk emails sent, that many people tend to ignore emails which are sent from unknown sources. The sender may be missing the opportunity of making a sale if the customer deletes the email without reading it. It may be company policy therefore to have a mixture of methods of communicating with clients, some through the postal system and others by email. Some clients may prefer to receive mail by traditional methods.

Important documents which must be in hard copy, such as legal documents and bank correspondence, are still sent by traditional methods through the postal system. Security of your letter box is therefore very important and you should ensure that unauthorised persons are not able to access your mail.

Checking the letter box for incoming mail is part of the daily routine, both at home and at the office. Letter boxes are just an important part of life as they were before the technological revolution. Regardless of the growth of electronic methods of communication, the letter box is here to stay for the foreseeable future.

The usage of letter boxes has developed differently in other parts of the world, but in Britain the Post Office introduced the letter box in 1849. Prior to that, outgoing mail was taken to the Post Office and dropped through letter boxes which had been made available in the walls and doors of the Post Office buildings. As the mail delivery system to homes and businesses was established, people were encouraged to make facilities available so that the postman could deliver mail quickly and easily. Letter boxes, or mail slots as they are known in the United States, started to appear in front doors and office buildings started to have multiple occupancy letter boxes which were allocated to businesses who occupied the building. This also applied to multiple occupancy residential properties with each resident being allocated a personal letter box.

In Europe, personal letter boxes did not become popular until the mid to late nineteenth century. In North America, the first letter box was set up in 1863. The Free City Delivery service was established and postal services were improved by the delivery of mail to individual addresses. Prior to that, the postman was obliged to knock on the door of a property and wait for a response. This meant that a lot of time was wasted if people were not at home or were slow in answering the door. For incoming mail, the advent of the letter box made the postman’s life easier and less time consuming. For outgoing mail, it is common practice in the US for mail boxes to be located at the side of the street to save the postman time in having to physically walk up each path individually to deliver the mail. This method is used in rural areas and mail boxes are mounted on posts at the end of a road or track. Mail boxes are often fitted with a flag to indicate that mail has been delivered.

Typical sizes of letter boxes are 30cm by 5cm (12 inches by 2 inches) and the slot is usually cut horizontally in the middle or lower half of the front door. A weatherproof flap is placed on the outside over the slot and this can be made of brass, chrome or other material to complement the style of your door. The inside of the letter box can be fitted with another flap to exclude draughts as well as a cage to catch the mail so it does not drop on the floor. The cage is often known as an indoor post box and catches the mail as it is pushed through the letter box. Both letter boxes and indoor post boxes are designed to accept A4 envelopes, but larger capacity letter boxes and newspaper boxes are also available.

The basic design of the standard letter box used in the majority of houses in urban Britain has changed little since its inception in 1849. The availability of a letter box improves efficiency for the postman which in turn cuts costs to the consumer by keeping the price of postage at an economic level.

Creating a professional environment is essential when setting up or revamping an office space. For example, colour is incredibly important. The instinctive reactions your staff are likely to have to particular colours (e.g. red means danger) will help you to choose the colour tones and shades most conducive to your particular work environment. We had a chat with a design expert; she suggested (for the regular office environment) using warm colours in the foreground (e.g. desks, chairs) and cool colours in the background (e.g. walls, doors) to enhance the perception of depth and welcoming warmth in the central work areas.

But the professional touch isn’t just about paint shades and seat choice. The right building accessories can help to create a fruitful atmosphere. Bespoke options such as mail boxes (we can help there!), space-specific storage (an office full of files and mess looks unprofessional) and company logo-bearing accessories help to cement the integrity of your brand with both employees and clients.

One of our favourite finishing touches is letter box engraving and labelling. We offer both full laser engraving (engraving on the letter box flap or door itself) and steel plate engraving (to affix in place of the Perspex name plate) options on most of our commercial mail boxes (excluding the “Trent” and “Ouse” multi occupancy mail boxes)

Choosing the right peripheral finishing touches to enhance the productivity, professional impression and overall operational integrity of your office is easier than you might think. Start today by browsing through our huge range of mailboxes (and perhaps thinking up a new colour scheme for the office!)

The importance of guaranteed privacy in our growing population should never be underestimated. With a population exceeding 60,000,000 living, working and playing in an area 1/13 the size of Alaska, safeguarding personal space and security is an important step.

Whether at home or throughout the business world, postal services keep us connected and informed, providing a vital daily lifeline that most of us simply couldn’t live without. The security of this lifeline is certainly a valuable asset.

Occupancy
Multiple-occupancy mail boxes can present a problem when installed incorrectly. As unpleasant as it may sound, multiple-occupancy mail boxes often fall victim to vandalism, making their qualities of strength and durability more crucial than ever.

The absolute aim of our designers and instillation experts is the safety of occupant mail (be that from external threats or each other). We’re so confident in our multiple-occupancy mail boxes that we provide unique customer service post-instillation.

Commercial Business
Although potentially exposed to many of the same threats as multiple-occupancy post boxes, commercial business post boxes need be no less strong, professionally designed and installed, or durable. In busy atmospheres commercial post boxes make a fantastic way to guard the individual privacy of a person/business with incredible ease (resulting in far less lost post we’re sure!)

Whatever your mail issues, give one of our team a call to see what our designers and mailbox engineers could do for you in terms of providing workable, cost effective solutions that satisfy your mail needs 100%.

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.

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.

Keeping your correspondence safe is just as important whether you live in a building with three other flats, or a hundred others. With identity fraud on the rise, it might not even be your neighbours you have to look out for, but any number of visitors or contractors that might pass through your building.

Many smaller apartment blocks, and even some larger ones, still do not have individual mailboxes, but instead have a single letter box and let each occupant collect their own mail from the jumbled pile scattered across the floor or stuffed into a recess. If you want to keep your items safe, purchasing – or insisting upon being supplied – your own personal letter box is essential.

Multi-occupancy mailboxes are available in many styles, designed specifically to fit in or outside of any communal dwelling, whether you need two or two hundred. They can be attached to any wall or fitted into any recess meaning that gaining security doesn’t mean you necessarily have to lose a great deal of space. There is also the option to purchase predesigned versions for those who don’t want to have to choose separate letter boxes, surrounds and fixings.

Whatever your needs, Mailbox Mania can meet any requirements you may have, whether you need them freestanding, recessed or wall fixed. There are a wide range of colours to suit any colour scheme and a range of sizes to suit anyone, bringing you great quality, making your life that little bit simpler and giving you peace of mind all at the same time.