The Post Box

The Royal Mail has announced that they will be painting a post box in the hometown of Olympic champions gold, to celebrate the gold medal success of athletes in the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games.

The gold post boxes are cropping up all across Great Britain, and is testament to the success that is being enjoyed by Team GB in the medal tables, with the iconic red post box in towns across Great Britain being painted gold, in honour of the achievements of the Team GB Olympic champions. You can see if there is a gold post box located in your area by visiting an interactive ‘Gold Post Box Finder’ map that is available online.

So far Andy Murray’s hometown of Dunblane has seen one of it’s traditional pillar box red post boxes painted gold, in celebration of the tennis champion’s gold medal win on Saturday, when Scotsman Murray beat the Swiss tennis player Roger Federer at the Wimbledon re-match in the Men’s Tennis Final of the London 2012 Olympics.

Penzance in West Cornwall is now also home to a much-prized gold post box, thanks to the rower Helen Glover, who took gold in the Women’s Pair Final, rowing Team GB to victory and their first gold medal of London 2012.

Bradley Wiggins, gold medal winner, and victor of the Tour De France, the first British man to win the epic cycling contest in France, secured his hometown of Chorley a gold post box for his efforts in the men’s time trials, having missed out on any hardware in the men’s road race in the opening days of the London 2012 Olympics.

Heptathlon champion and London 2012 poster girl Jessica Ennis has earned her home city of Sheffield a gold post box, with the post box located outside Sheffield’s city hall adorned gold in celebration of her incredible achievements in the women’s heptathlon on Saturday, 4^th August.

A second post box is due to be painted gold, following a mix up which saw the wrong post box being painted to commemorate the gold medal won in the team pursuit in the velodrome by cyclist Laura Trott, with the first post box being painted in the wrong town.

As well as seeing a post box in their hometown being painted gold, Olympic champions will also be celebrated with a commemorative stamp, which go on sale within 24 hours of a gold medal win, available from 500 post office branches.

The Royal Mail has a duty to deliver your mail to your letter box.  The Royal Mail also has a strict privacy policy and it is illegal for them to deliver your mail to someone else’s mail box.  It is your responsibility to ensure that the letter box is clean, meets the terms of the Royal Mail and is easily accessible.   Some people who live in the country have their letter box at the end of a drive.  These are called roadside letter boxes and it is also your responsibility to ensure that the contents remain safe.  If a key is required to access the letter box, the Royal Mail offers a service whereby they have a key to the letter box.  There is a small annual charge for this but ensures that the postman can access the letter box if necessary.

You should always ensure that you empty the letter box regularly, preferably daily, so that new mail can be delivered.  If you are going on holiday, you can ask the Post Office to hold mail for you until your return.   Travellers can take their letter box with them and get mail delivered to the nearest Post Office for collection.

We all take the postal service for granted, and we expect our mail to be delivered to our letter boxes to be trouble free and that we receive our mail without any problems.  However, if there is a problem and we do not receive mail which is expected, we can refer to the Post Office and try to find a solution.   In some areas, letter boxes are vandalised by being broken into or set fire to.  Instances of this should also be reported to the Post Office, although it is ultimately your responsibility to provide a letter box.  Mail can also be stolen from letter boxes and again this should be reported to the Post Office so that they can build up a picture of the problem.  If your mail is constantly being delivered to the wrong address, you can complain to the Post Office who will make the necessary investigations.

The Post Office provides a vital service, especially in outlying areas and is important to support rural post offices wherever possible so that we can keep our mail being delivered to our letter boxes.  With the recent increases in postal charges, fewer people are likely to use the postal service due to the expense.  The Post Office may be forced to reduce services to remote areas and people living in those areas will be required to collect their mail from the sorting office instead of it being delivered through the letter box.  Some analysts consider that parts of the Royal Mail will be privatised resulting in a reduction in services.  The growth of e-commerce and electronic mail has already reduced the amount of mail being delivered through letter boxes, but it remains an essential service with many people relying on the services of the Royal Mail.

There are many letter boxes on the market, but the style most commonly used is a slot in the door.  The problem with this style of letter box is that the mail falls on the floor and can be eaten by the dog, picked up by the children, or, if your door leaks, it can get wet.   You can fit an indoor letter cage on the back of the door so that your letters do not fall to the floor.  This is a very simple addition to your letter box and serves to keep mail together instead of all over the hall floor.  Letter cages could also be fitted on the reverse of through the wall letter boxes.

If you are concerned that your mail will be set alight while it is in the letter box, you can purchase anti arson post boxes which are fitted with heat sensitive fire extinguishers.  The extinguishers come into play when the temperature in the box rises.  Anti arson post boxes are available in steel, stainless steel and cast aluminium and are heavy duty.  In addition to protecting your mail from arsonists, the post boxes also protect the surrounding area as they prevent the fire from spreading.

With an increase in identity theft, security of your mail is important.  Personal documents such as passports are often received through the post, although they will usually be signed for.  However, the legal profession and financial institutions do not send letters by this method unless they are requested to, and mail is received through a standard letter box.  You should always have a key for your letter box so that mail cannot be retrieved by anyone other than the person for whom it is intended. Lockable letter boxes are the norm these days, and you should always keep the key in a safe place.   If you live in an apartment block, there is usually a bank of letter boxes and you should have a key to your own post box so that you can collect your own mail.  If you move into a multi occupancy block, or if your office is in one, you should always make sure that you are given a key to the correct post box.

There are a few other ways in which you can protect your mail.  The obvious one is to be available when the postman calls so that he does not have to put your mail in the letter box. If you are very concerned about theft of your mail, you can set up a post office box so that you have collect all of your mail from the post office, though this may not be very convenient.  Instruct banks and other professional services to only send your mail by recorded delivery or registered post so that you have to sign for it.  This may not be convenient either, as the post office may not be local, and you will have to go there to collect your mail and provide identification.

Letter boxes are generally sold in hardware stores, but there are specialist shops in some towns. The growth of internet shopping also includes letter boxes for sale on line.  You can see the types and styles of letter boxes on line before visiting your local hardware store, or you can order direct from the internet. Some companies offer next day delivery if you order before noon, which is a quick and efficient way of purchasing a letter box and saves you having to search the high street shops which may not offer you such a wide range of letter boxes. Basic letter boxes are often available in larger supermarkets and stores but may not be such good quality as those sold by specialist retailers.

Do  it yourself and outdoor leisure stores often have letter boxes for sale at very reasonable prices.  It will depend on where you live as to whether there are such outlets in your area.  If you live in a remote area with few shops, it may be easier to go on line to select your new letter box.  On line stores often have special offers and discounts available, giving you even more options for purchasing your new letter box.  You can pay on line through a secure payment site. Most internet stores offer a range of ways to pay such as via Paypal or providing your credit card details.   There are often several delivery options, so if you want to receive your new letter box quickly, you can select a fast delivery service.  If you are not in a hurry, you can choose the standard delivery option.

Prices of letter boxes can range from as little as £17 for a letter plate which fits on your door or gate to over £300 for a top of the range large capacity rear retrieval letter box which can be mounted on a free standing post.  It will depend on your requirements, budget you have available and even how easy it is to fit.

Your mail box is important as it provides one of method of communicating with the outside world.    If you live in a multi occupancy building, you may not have a choice as to the type or colour of letter box you have.  It will already be in situ. However, for individual residences, as with any purchase, you will have certain criteria which your letter box must meet. You may want a certain colour, a style which complements the design of your property, or a large capacity letter box if you receive large quantities of mail or packages. You will certainly want the letter box to be weatherproof so that your letters are not spoiled. There is a wide variety of letter boxes available and it will depend on whether local retailers sell what you need. Alternatively, you may choose to purchase your new letter box on line in any case. Finding a local supplier might prove time consuming if you live in a remote area, and it may be more cost effective to buy over the internet.

Letter boxes are available in many styles and can complement your property.  Cast iron ornamental letter boxes look more attractive in the environment of an old cottage than a modern stainless steel letterbox. The colour of the letter box can also be made to fit with the environment, and ornamental cast iron letter boxes are available in black, white and green.  Cast aluminium letter boxes with rear retrieval can be recessed into a wall or a pillar outside your country cottage and can be embellished with your own design on the front.   Letter boxes which are designed for outside the building should be weather and vandal proof.  Brushed stainless steel post boxes do not corrode and will last for many years.  They may not, however, suit your style of building, so you may decide on a heavy duty cast aluminium letter box which has anti corrosive and rust properties.

Stainless steel letter boxes are better suited to more modern buildings and some styles have newspaper holders which are very useful.  If you have a lot of newspapers delivered, they will often not fit in the standard letter box.

Letter boxes designed for multi occupancy buildings can also complement the style of the building. Large capacity boxes with individual lockable sections and fitted with fire extinguishers are suitable for putting outside apartment or office blocks.  More traditional multi occupancy post boxes for use outside or inside the building can be mounted on a post.  The most common style of letter box used in a multi occupancy premises is a bank of horizontal stainless steel letter boxes inside the foyer of the building.  There are other styles of post boxes designed for use in multi occupancy buildings which look like stackable box files and are vertical with openings at the top or in the front of the box.

The traditional style of letter box in the UK is either a slot in the front door of domestic premises or square boxes located to the side of the door.  If the building is in a remote area, letter boxes may be mounted on a post, but again are generally square.  Letter boxes in the United States are very distinctive in their curved design and often have a lever which is raised when the mail has been delivered.

Whatever the style of letter boxes, whether they are for modern individual buildings, cottages, or for multi occupancy premises, they must be secure.  Security of mail is very important, and some letter boxes have built in fire extinguishers in case someone tries to set fire to the contents.  Most letter boxes are lockable and with the person to whom the mail is addressed being the only key holder.

A letter box which complements the style of your property is a nice finishing touch, and can be unobtrusive to its surroundings, while being obvious to the postman about where to deliver your mail.   Selecting your new letter box from all the styles available can be a lengthy business.   You are spoilt for choice!

Security of your mail is very important, especially when documents containing your personal information are sent through the post and delivered through your letter box. There is a growing number of cases of identity theft when mail has been fished out of letter boxes and information used to access bank accounts, apply for credit cards and even apply for passports. There are anti arson letter boxes available which are designed to extinguish any fire started in the letter box and also prevent the documents from reigniting. Lockable letter boxes may deter all but the most determined criminal, and there are guards available can be installed on the letter box so that the perpetrator cannot see much when they look inside. With a traditional letter box which is a slot in the door, the mail will fall on the floor, so a would-be thief will not be able to retrieve your mail by hand. Use only good quality letter boxes which are not easily removable from their fixings,

There are various other ways to protect your mail, such as ensuring that the incoming mail does not stay in the letter box for very long. This is easy to monitor if you are at home all day, but the postman will inevitably call when you are at work, so the documents will remain in the letter box all day, giving a potential thief an opportunity to steal them.

If you are expecting important documents from the bank, for example, you can arrange to have it delivered by registered post to your place of work. If this is not possible, then you can ask the post office to hold any registered mail so that you can collect it. Having a lockable letter box or an anti arson letter box will go some way to protect mail delivered to your letter box and give you peace of mind that your mail is less likely to be tampered with.

You should report any instances of suspected mail theft, tampering with your letter box, destruction of your mail or attempts at arson to the Royal Mail. If you are going on holiday, you can ask the Royal Mail to hold your letters for a specific period. If you are expecting a bank statement or cheque book and it does not arrive, contact your bank.

The growing trend of identify theft is very worrying and you should take as many precautions as possible to prevent your mail from being stolen from your letter box. In remote areas letter boxes may be situated at the end of long drives and cannot be seen from the house giving a potential thief a further opportunity to steal your mail. Familiarise yourself with the postman’s routine and delivery times and retrieve the mail as soon as possible after delivery so that your mail does not remain in the letter box for long. Make it as difficult as possible for a potential thief to retrieve the mail from your letter box by having a lockable mail box and from being destroyed by fire by having an anti arson letter box.

Letter boxes are part of life, and are often something we take for granted. They are, however, one of the ways we communicate with the outside world, as mail delivered to our property can be important – though a lot of junk mail is delivered as well!

We do not often give a thought about our letter box, what it is made of or what style or colour it is. All we think about is receiving our mail. However, there is a wide range of colours of letter boxes on the market and if the letter box is fixed to your front door, you might want to consider how aesthetically pleasing it is. When developers are building new properties, they will not often consider the style of letter box required, but install a standard front door with a slot design. In new buildings, the letter box will be of a colour to complement the colour of the front door. This can of course be changed at a later date.

There are four basic designs of letter boxes - 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 letter Boxes can be made from stainless steel, aluminium, cast iron, uPVC and even plastic. Within the basic four designs, there are different styles of letter boxes to suit the style of your home.

The simple slot in the door design of letter box is generally a standard size of 30cm by 5cm (12 inches by 2 inches) to accept the standard A4 envelope. These letter boxes are available in uPVC, steel and aluminium to suit the style of your front door. There are also different colours of letter boxes. A slot design of Letterbox is often pre-fitted into a new door, whether it is uPVC or of timber construction. However, you may at some stage want to change the letter box, due to it becoming damaged or has started to rattle. It is relatively easy to amend the size of a timber door, should the new letter box be slightly larger, but it is not so easy to resize a uPVC door, and you may need to call in a professional to get his advice.

Letter boxes which are attached to the wall beside the door can be of many styles and colours and you will have more choice. There is also a wider range of materials used in constructing the letter box and of course it will be much easier to change. There are letter boxes available with newspaper holders built in, large capacity newspaper letter boxes, letter boxes which are more stylish made from non corrosive plastic, and letter boxes made from decorative cast aluminium which is more suitable for an older style property.

All letter boxes should be weather proof. If you live by the coast you may want to consider a letter box made from non corrosive materials so that your letter box does not rust and allow water in which will damage your mail.

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.

There are many styles of Letter Boxes on the market, and it will depend on whether you live in a house which is an individual dwelling or a multi occupancy building as to which type of Letter Box suits your requirements. Multi occupancy buildings such as apartments and office blocks will often have a Mail Box with individual compartments either inside or outside the building. This will make the postman’s job much easier, as he will not have to visit every individual apartment or office in the building to distribute the post, unless he has to deliver a package which must be signed for.

As with Post Boxes for individual residences and businesses, there are many styles and designs of multi occupancy Mail Boxes on the market. These can be horizontal or vertical, mounted on supports or fixed to a wall inside or outside the building. When a new apartment or office block is commissioned, the style and location of the multi occupancy Mail Box will often have been decided by the developer. Security of the mail should be taken into account, and each individual Mail Box will have a key so that the recipient can retrieve the delivered mail. Each box will be labelled with the name of the person or the office or apartment number to ensure that the mail goes to the correct addressee. The Mail Boxes are usually made of stainless steel or steel and are fire resistant.

The sizes of the Mail Boxes will depend on whether the building is a residential or commercial premises, and there are multi occupancy Mail Boxes which are of a larger capacity than the standard A4 and will accept bigger C4 mail without bending as well as more post.

Communal Mail Boxes in large apartment blocks are often the target of vandals, so they must be fire proof so that a fire started in a Post Box will not spread to other parts of the building. Some Mail Boxes are specifically designed to extinguish fires and are fitted with fire extinguishers which detects the fire and puts it out before it can spread to other parts of the building. It is always important to protect the important documents which are delivered to your premises, so investing in a Mail Box with the additional feature of being anti arson is money well spent. If you are moving to new premises which already has a multi occupancy Mail Box you can ask whether it is fireproof, and if it does not have this feature, it would be worth lobbying the other occupants of the building to agree to a new Mail Box for the building. If the building is still under development and are considering a lease for an apartment or office within the block, you can request the management company to negotiate with the builders to agree the style of the multi occupancy Mail Box which is fire proof. Often these details are overlooked in the rush to finalise and commission a building.

The General Post Office encouraged standard Letter boxes as a slot in the front door as early as 1849. They made it easier for the postman if the Letter box was in a consistent place where possible, making the work of the postman easier and quicker. The standard design of Post Boxes for outgoing mail were first made available at post offices so that people could deposit their mail without having to go into the post office. Roadside Post boxes were not introduced in the United Kingdom until 1852, although they had been used on the continent for some years. This meant that people in rural areas did not have to wait for the post office messenger to arrive as they could deposit their mail in the post box.

The first pillar boxes were introduced into St. Helier, Jersey, in 1952, and at Botchergate, Carlisle, in 1953. London’s first pillar box was placed at the at the junction of Fleet Street and Farringdon Street in 1855. The main instigator of the British post box was the novelist Anthony Trollope who worked at the Post Office as the Surveyor’s Clerk. The idea of roadside post boxes was not new and had first been suggested by Roland Hill in 1840, but was not taken up. Roadside wall post boxes were introduced generally in 1857 as they were cheaper to manufacture than the pillar boxes.

As the use of post boxes grew, the basic design remained the same so as to be easily recognisable, but had some variations, some being hexagonal and others cylindrical. The distinctive red cylindrical pillar boxes and post boxes are a British institution and were designed in 1879 although some of the early Victorian models were green. The cylindrical post boxes were of type “A” (large) and type “B” which was smaller. The type “C” post boxes were oval in shape and had separate openings for town mail and country mail and were first introduced in London in 1899. When post boxes are installed, it is traditional for them to have a plaque with the Latin initials of the reigning monarch, VR for Victoria Regina and GR for George Rex

The General Post Office as a government department ceased to exist in 1969 and services were transferred to a statutory corporation known as the Royal Mail. Services were expanded, but the distinctive red post boxes remain in situ, joined by the red telephone box, some of which had stamp dispensers. Post boxes are still very important, even in today’s electronic world of emails and i-phones. Legal documents and statutory notices are still sent by the Royal Mail, often known as snail mail. Post boxes are still required, especially in rural areas, and the postal service is just as important as it was when it was first conceived. There is now a wide range of designs of letter boxes available to suit individual and business requirements, but the basic design of the post box has not changed since Victorian times.