Royal Mail to unveil high-tech postbox in Burnham-On-Sea for small parcels

A new solar-powered postbox that can take small parcels is set to be introduced in Burnham-On-Sea by Royal Mail.

The pillar box in Burnham’s Rectory Road has been sealed off in black plastic with a poster stating it is ‘out of service: automated system coming soon.’

Royal Mail says it will soon become one of the company’s brand new solar-powered postboxes with a built-in barcode reader and a hatch to accept parcels larger than letterbox size.

In the “biggest change to postbox design since their introduction more than 175 years ago”, the new hi-tech pillar boxes have a black, chequered lid which acts as a solar panel to power the scanner. Royal Mail began trialing them in April in Hertfordshire.

The new postbox’s extra-large opening hatch offers a new way for the postal service to cash in on a roaring parcel trade.

While letter volumes are in steep decline, Royal Mail says Britain is in the grip of a secondhand selling boom as consumers use sites such as Vinted to make extra cash.

The new postboxes can also be used to drop off packages that have barcoded postage.

Once customers have scanned their code – the postbox’s batteries store energy to power its scanner when there is no sun – the drawer on the front opens. They can then use the Royal Mail app to request “proof of posting”.

With competition fierce among delivery services, Royal Mail says the redesigned postboxes will make it easier and more convenient for customers to use its network.

The red pillarbox has a storied history, with the author Anthony Trollope proposing their introduction in the 1850s when he was working as a surveyor’s clerk for the Post Office.

The design was not standardised until 1859 when two sizes with a cylindrical shape, painted green, were settled upon. However, people complained that green was difficult to spot and, in 1874, the distinctive red colour was chosen to replace it, although it took 10 years to repaint them all.

Royal Mail’s chief executive, Emma Gilthorpe, says that “in an era where letter volumes continue to decline and parcels are booming, we are giving our iconic postboxes a new lease of life on street corners across the nation”.

News of the postbox pilot comes amid the sale of Royal Mail’s parent company, International Distribution Services, to the Czech energy billionaire Daniel Křetínský’s EP Group in a £3.57bn deal.