Royal Mail confirm roll out of ‘postboxes of the future’

Royal Mail are rolling out 3,500 solar-powered “postboxes of the future” across the UK, featuring a digitally activated drop-down drawer so customers can send parcels as large as a shoebox.

The new design, the biggest change to the postbox in its 175-year history, was trialled in Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire earlier this year, and sees the new designs being rolled out in Cumbria.

Photos of Royal Mail’s new postbox of the future, which are being rolled out across the country. (Image: Royal Mail)

A spokesperson for Royal Mail said: “Our postboxes of the future offer another convenient way for customers to access Royal Mail’s services, alongside home delivery and collection, our Customer Service Points, Post Office branches, lockers and Royal Mail Shop outlets.

“We’re pleased to see positive feedback from customers in areas where the new postboxes have already been introduced, and we’re hopeful that Cumbrian residents will find the upgraded postboxes just as useful and convenient.”

Two postboxes are currently being upgraded in Penrith and Maryport and will be operational in the coming weeks.

Royal Mail expect more to be rolled out across the county in “due course.”

Customers scan a barcode on the Royal Mail app to open the drawer, which is designed for parcels too large to fit through the traditional slot.

The redesigned boxes also feature a separate slot for letters, as well as a solar panel to power the scanner and drawer mechanism.

Proof of posting and parcel tracking is available through the Royal Mail app, with the new service aimed at those sending or returning items purchased online.

Jack Clarkson, managing director of out-of-home and commercial excellence at Royal Mail, said: “We are all sending and returning more parcels than ever before.

“This trend will only continue as online shopping shows no signs of slowing, particularly with the boom of second-hand marketplaces.

“There are 115,000 postboxes in the UK located within half a mile of 98 per cent of addresses, making them by far the most convenient network of parcel drop-off points in the UK.

“Our message is clear, if you have a Royal Mail label on your parcel, and it fits, put it in a postbox and we’ll do the rest.”