Earlier collection times coming to post boxes in southeast London

Postal services across southeast London are being quietly cut back – with early collection times putting next-day deliveries out of reach for many residents.

For years, last collections at most postboxes have been at 5.30pm on weekdays and noon on Saturdays. But from July 1, the last collections at many post boxes will pushed forward to 9am on weekdays, and 7am on Saturdays.

The change has already taken place in other parts of the country but is now being rolled out in southeast London, with the only notice being small stickers attached to post boxes. 

Earlier this year residents in Croydon spotted the tiny notification on post boxes, while many residents in the central SE1 postcode lost their later collections on Monday.

The change has already taken place in the DA postal area and in much of Eltham, as well as in Catford, Lee and Lewisham. Post boxes in the City, West End and east London are also now collected much earlier in the day.

Stickers have been spotted on boxes in SE3, SE7 and SE18 warning of the change.

Royal Mail could not confirm exact details of which areas would be affected, and instead directed The Greenwich Wire to maps on its website. 

While times have not been updated, a few postboxes are marked “late”, which in areas where the change has already happened, indicates a collection in late afternoon or early evening. These are mainly those outside post offices and sorting offices, although one at Asda in Charlton also carries the description.

Royal Mail said: “Rather than decommission uneconomic low-use postboxes, since 2014 we have been improving the efficiency of our collections arrangements by using our Collection on Delivery initiative.

“This means the mail collection from these postboxes will be carried out by the local postman or woman on their delivery route, at a time dependent on where the postbox is located on that route. This has enabled Royal Mail to protect the 115,000 postboxes across the UK.”

The 500-year-old Royal Mail was privatised by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition in 2013, four years after Labour abandoned plans for a partial sale. The company has struggled in the private sector and has lobbied to be released from commitments to deliver six days a week and to slow down second-class post.

Last month its parent company accepted a takeover bid from the Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský, an issue the incoming government will need to decide on after the general election.

The postbox finder can be found at royalmail.com.