Royal Mail issues apology as new digital postboxes for Derby delayed

Delays meant some postboxes across Derby were unusable

Royal Mail has apologised after several postboxes in a Derby suburb were “wrapped” and left unusable over Christmas leaving people “totally exasperated”.

New digital postboxes “of the future” are being rolled out across the city with almost 30 installed so far.

The postboxes have solar panels to power a digitally-activated drawer, allowing people to deposit small parcels, as well as cards and letters.

It means items as large as a shoebox can be posted in the iconic red boxes. It is hoped the new boxes will make sending, returning and collecting parcels more convenient for people.

But Royal Mail says rolling them out means existing postboxes “are wrapped to protect them from the weather or vandalism during the upgrade”.

Allestree councillor Ged Potter expressed his frustration that the unusable postboxes happened during one of the busiest times of the year when people and businesses send out cards and letters.

In a letter to Royal Mail the former Mayor of Derby said: “My ward of Allestree has seen postboxes being wrapped and signs placed on them stating they are in the process of receiving an upgrade.

“However, bearing in mind this has happened in the busiest period of the year, can you understand the small businesses in the surrounding area of these wrapped postboxes being totally exasperated that their takings on Christmas correspondence has been decimated.”

In a reply to Mr Potter – seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) – the Royal Mail expressed “sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused”.

It told the LDRS that “a very small fraction” of its 115,000 postboxes (approximately 0.5%) “were non-operational over Christmas, as some upgrades took longer than expected”.

A spokesperson for the organisation said: “Our postboxes of the future offer another convenient way for customers in Derby 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 thank residents for their patience whilst we upgrade some of their local postboxes. Our postbox team is working hard to ensure that postboxes of the future are operational as quickly as possible.

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