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Residents on Windsor Road in Penarth have seen their traditional post box taken out of service as part of Royal Mail’s rollout of 3,500 “post boxes of the future” across the UK and wider rollout in Wales.
The replacements are part of what Royal Mail describes as the biggest redesign in the post box’s 175-year history.
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “Our post boxes of the future offer another convenient way for customers in Penarth to access Royal Mail’s services, alongside home delivery and collection, our Customer Service Points, Post Office branches, lockers and Royal Mail Shops.
“We’re pleased to see positive feedback from customers in areas where the post boxes have already been introduced, and we hope that Penarth residents will find them just as useful and convenient.”
The new boxes, which are solar-powered, allow customers to send and return labelled parcels up to the size of a shoebox and request proof of posting using the Royal Mail app.
The rollout began nationally in August 2025 following a successful pilot in April 2025.
The upgraded boxes include a barcode scanner that opens a drop-down drawer for larger parcels, a separate slot for letters, and a south-facing solar panel to power the device.
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 post boxes 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 post box and we’ll do the rest.”
The launch follows Royal Mail’s wider efforts to expand parcel convenience, with more than 23,500 locations now available for sending, returning, and collecting packages, including Collect+ stores.
