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The postal company announced in early 2025 that it would be introducing 3,500 new ‘automated’ digital post boxes across the UK, changing the red pillar boxes that have stood in Britain for nearly two centuries.
Now, the first of the new digital post boxes are arriving in Swindon, as more information has been revealed.
Concern was originally raised by residents in the lead up to Christmas 2025 when several Royal Mail post boxes across the town were found covered in black tape and “unusable”.
Some residents speculated that they may have been vandalised.
“The post box I usually use at the Taw Hill GP surgery has been sealed for weeks, but I’ve noticed a few others popping up now with the same black tape all over them,” one Haydon Wick resident told the Adver.
In fact, these selected post boxes have been sealed off in preparation for an upgrade, which will see the red boxes turn digital.
The new “automated system” will include a barcode scanner for tracked items, solar panels with battery backup, proof of posting through the app, and a wider slot for small parcels.
It’s been labelled Royal Mail’s “biggest redesign in its 175-year history”.
Speaking exclusively to the Swindon Advertiser, the postal company has confirmed that of the 3,500 new digital post boxes, 18 of these will be in Swindon.
The company would not confirm the exact locations of where these new post boxes would be, but local reports have already begun to piece together a map of the affected areas.
Taped off post boxes reported to the Swindon Advertiser include the post box near Ellendune Community Centre in Wroughton, as well as one on Maunsell Way, Kellsboro’ Avenue, and outside Taw Hill Medical Practice in the north of Swindon.
Royal Mail has confirmed that the turnaround time from the post box being taped off to a new digital one being installed can be “several weeks”, as each box is individually measured and its door taken off and retrofitted at Royal Mail’s engineering centre in Gloucester.
In the meantime, the boxes have been wrapped in black tape to protect them from vandalism.
“Our post boxes of the future offer another convenient way for customers in Swindon to access Royal Mail’s services, alongside home delivery and collection, our Customer Service Points, Post Office branches, lockers and Royal Mail Shop outlets,” a spokesperson for Royal Mail told the Adver.
