Royal Mail delivers postbox of the future: New solar-powered design will take parcels as well as letters as mail bosses fight back against Amazon

Britain’s iconic red postboxes still have some life in them yet, as Royal Mail begins to rollout new ‘postboxes of the future’.

Around 3,500 of the new solar-powered postboxes are set to be rolled out across the UK.

The new designs feature a digitally activated drop-down drawer which will enable customers to send parcels as large as a shoebox.

It is the biggest change to the postbox in its 175-year history.

However the new postboxes, which are a throwback to their original Victorian design, are not abandoning their primary use and will still feature a separate slot for letters. 

It comes as Royal Mail looks to stage a fight back against Amazon, which has risen quickly to become the new delivery giant. 

The new installations have been trialled in Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire earlier this year and will not be installed in cities including Edinburgh, Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield and Sunderland. 

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 postboxes allow customers to send and return parcels – up to the size of a shoebox – through a postbox for the first time.

The boxes will use the often unreliable British sunshine to power the scanner and drawer mechanism, with a solar panel fitted on the top of the installation.

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% 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.’

Royal Mail said the rollout is part of its drive to make posting, collecting and returning parcels as convenient as possible.

Alongside its home delivery and collection services, the company said there are now more than 23,500 parcel points across the UK, including lockers, Collect+ stores, Post Office branches, Royal Mail customer service points and existing parcel postboxes.

Employees across central London will now take to the streets with carts filled with packages instead of driving from house to house, Amazon said

The pilot scheme is taking place in Hackney, Westminster and Islington and will see employees refill their carts from stocked-up vans around the city

Earlier this year Amazon began its own move into Royal Mail’s traditional turf when it launched a delivery service on foot. 

Delivery associates – as they are called by Amazon – across central London are now taking to the streets with carts filled with packages instead of driving from house to house, the firm said.

The pilot scheme is taking place in Hackney, Westminster and Islington and will see employees refill their carts from stocked-up vans around the city.

It comes as part of a wide range of measures by Amazon to cut delivery emissions, after the firm pledged to become carbon neutral by 2040.

Amazon insists the new plans will not delay or slow down deliveries, including of Prime parcels.

The company is also expanding its fleet of electric vehicles and using electric rail services for the first time.

The move meant Royal Mail no longer had the only postmen visiting homes in the UK.

And now Royal Mail have responded by aiming to counter Amazon’s convenience, with its postboxes.

Change: From 28 July, Royal Mail will axe the six-days-a-week service for second class letters

It comes after Royal Mail was given the green light to scrap Saturday deliveries for second class post and switch to an alternate weekday service instead from July.

Royal Mail axed the six-day-a-week service for second-class letters, but will maintain Monday to Saturday deliveries for first-class post.

Ofcom said it would keep the target for second class letters to arrive within three working days despite the changes, which come after a lengthy consultation and aims to ‘help the universal service to survive’.

Royal Mail’s parent company, International Distribution Services, welcomed the regulator’s announcement, stating it was ‘good news for customers across the UK’.

Ofcom revealed it had also launched a review of the price of stamps amid concerns over affordability.

The regulator said reforms of the Universal Services Obligation reflected changing behaviour of customers, with fewer letters being sent across Britain.

Less than a third of letters are sent now than 20 years ago, and this number is forecast to fall to about a fifth of the letters previously sent.

The regulator said it could end up saving the postal delivery service between £250million and £425million each year.

Ofcom requires the Royal Mail to deliver 90 per cent of first-class post the next working day and 98.5 per cent of second-class post within three working days  (file photo)

The firm has just been taken over by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky (pictured) via his EP Group for £3.6billion

Royal Mail failed to deliver one in four first-class letters on time in the months after it was taken over by the Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, it has been reported.

The postal service, which is already under scrutiny after it increased the cost of a first-class stamp to £1.70 in April, is failing to meet the targets imposed by the watchdog.

Ofcom requires the Royal Mail to deliver 90 per cent of first-class post the next working day and 98.5 per cent of second-class post within three working days.

However, new figures revealed on Sunday that just 75.9 per cent of first-class letters and 89.3 per cent of second-class post were delivered on time between the end of March and June.

The stats are the first to be released since the postal service – which traces its lineage back to Henry VIII – fell under foreign ownership for the first time.

Mr Kretinsky’s £3.6million takeover of the Royal Mail was completed earlier this year following a national security assessment – but sparked backlash from across Westminster.