Post box

in Moscow A post box (British English; also written postbox; also known as pillar box), also known as a collection box, mailbox, letter box or drop box (American English), is a physical box into which members of the public can deposit outgoing mail intended for collection by the agents of a country's postal service. The term post box can also refer to a private letter box for incoming mail.

in Moscow]] A post box (British English; also written postbox; also known as pillar box), also known as a collection box, mailbox, letter box or drop box (American English), is a physical box into which members of the public can deposit outgoing mail intended for collection by the agents of a country's postal service. The term post box can also refer to a private letter box for incoming mail.

History of post boxes

Europe

era Type B pillar postbox in Hull|thumb|upright]] In 1653, the first post boxes are believed to have been installed in and around Paris. By 1829, post boxes were in use throughout France. The first public post boxes in Poland were installed in Warsaw in 1842. A post box originally installed in the wall of the Wakefield Post Office is dated 1809 and is believed to be the oldest example in Britain. It is now on display at the Wakefield Museum. In Britain, the first red pillar postboxes were erected in Guernsey in 1852. Roadside wall boxes first appeared in 1857 as a cheaper alternative to pillar boxes, especially in rural districts. In 1853 the first pillar box in the United Kingdom was installed at Botchergate, Carlisle. In 1856, Richard Redgrave of the Department of Science and Art designed an ornate pillar box for use in London and other large cities. In 1859 the design was improved, and this became the first National Standard pillar box. Green was adopted as the standard colour for the early Victorian post boxes. Between 1866 and 1879 the hexagonal Penfold post box became the standard design for pillar boxes and it was during this period that red was first adopted as the standard colour. The first boxes to be painted red were in London in July 1874, although it would be nearly 10 years before all the boxes had been repainted. In 2012, to celebrate Olympic gold medals for Team GB, selected boxes were painted gold. The first public letter boxes (post boxes) in Russia appeared in 1848 in St. Petersburg. They were made of wood and iron. Because these boxes were lightweight and easily stolen, they disappeared frequently; later boxes were made of cast iron and could weigh up to . In March 2025, Post Danmark announced it was quitting the letter delivery business at the end of 2025, and as so remove all the post boxes in Denmark. The 1200 post boxes in question would be sold off to collectors, with the money going charity. Paris musee de la poste c. 1850.jpg|First Paris Street letter box from c. 1850 Lamp_Box_2019.jpeg|A Queen Elizabeth II Lamp Box post box of the circa-1954 pattern in Eaves, Lancashire 1977 pattern French wall box at the Colne Valley Postal History Museum, Essex.jpg|French wall box of the 1977 pattern now on display at the Colne Valley Postal History Museum, Essex Brievenbussen Post-NL.jpg|A Dutch "Post-NL" postbox in orange at different heights Mailbox Metropolin in Estonia.jpg|Modern postbox in Estonia Mailbox in Ustroń, Poland.jpg|Modern postbox in Poland Yaiza Playa Blanca - Plaza de la Marina 02 ies.jpg|Post box in Lanzarote, (Canary Islands), Spain Boîte aux lettres à Mons en Belgique - vrijstaande brievenbus in Mons België - Foto Wolfgang Pehlemann IMG 1684.jpg|Post box in Belgium Priority Postbox for COVID-19 testing - 2020-11-25 - Andy Mabbett - 01.png|"Priority Postbox", designated for returning COVID-19 home testing kits, Birmingham, England, November 2020 File:PrivatePOstBoxYork.jpg|A note attached to an old private posting box in St John University (York) File:Edward VII Pillar Box, Arran Quay, Dublin, Ireland - geograph.org.uk - 2566679.jpg|Edward VII Pillar Box, Arran Quay, Dublin. There are old British post boxes from the British era still in used but are painted green.

Asia

The post box arrived in the late 19th century Hong Kong and were made of wood. In the 1890s, metal pillar box appeared in Hong Kong and remained in use until the late 1990s. From the 1890s to 1997 the boxes were painted red and after 1997 were painted green. Postbox Uji Japan shaped as tea caddy.jpg|A public (though unconventional) post box in Japan shaped as tea caddy Japan Post Angle Model 10 Mailbox.jpg|Japanese post box in Matsuda HK SOHO Mail Box 318.jpg|Singapore AA style sheet metal mail box in Hong Kong Hong Kong Post street posting box number 110.jpg|Hong Kong Post box bearing insignia of King George V HKPostbox.jpg|PB27/1 type post box in Hong Kong with "E II R" cypher Post boxes in Gongguan, Taipei City 20070723.jpg|Post boxes in Taipei, Taiwan L164 - Boîte aux lettres - Inde.JPG|A post box in India File:Sogang_Univ_Post_office.JPG|Post box in front of the Songang University Post Office in Seoul, South Korea. File:Chinese_post_box_in_Shanghai.JPG|Older British style pillar post boxes still use in the People's Republic of China.

North America

The United States Post Office Department began installing public mail collection boxes in the 1850s outside post offices and on street corners in large Eastern cities. American collection boxes were initially designed to be hung or supported, and were mounted on support pillars, lamp-posts, telegraph poles, or even the sides of buildings. By the 1880s, these pillar boxes were made of heavy cast iron to deter theft or vandalism. As mail volume grew, the Post Office Department gradually replaced pillar mailboxes with larger free-standing models, though many of the pillar boxes continued in service as late as the 1960s. The four-footed, free-standing U.S. Mail collection box was first suggested in 1894, following the successful use of such designs in Canada, and quickly became a fixture on American city street corners. Unlike Canadian mailboxes, which were painted red, American mail collection boxes were originally painted in red or green. Beginning in 1909, all mail collection boxes were painted a dark green to avoid confusion with emergency and fire equipment. Dark green gave way to olive drab green after World War I, when the United States Army donated a large supply of olive drab green paint to the Post Office. Olive drab green subsequently became the standard colour for all American mail collection boxes until 1955. On 4 July 1955, Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield announced that the Post Office would begin painting all mail collection boxes in red, white, and blue to make them easily identifiable. Subsequently, the Post Office began painting mail collection boxes in red and blue, with white lettering. In 1971 the United States Postal Service changed mail collection boxes to the current USPS Dark Blue with contrasting lettering. The coming of the automobile also influenced American mailbox design, and in the late 1930s, an extension chute or "snorkel" to drive-up curbside collection boxes was adopted. Beginning in 2019 in New York City, the United States Postal Service began replacing collection boxes with a new model with a thin slit for the insertion of letters, instead of the former pull-down flap, in order to prevent "fishing" for valuable mail. The new boxes do not have extension chutes, so are harder to use in drive-up locations. File:Post office drivethrough lane.jpg|USPS "Snorkel" collection boxes for drive-through access in Los Altos, California File:It is in the mail (8080987511).jpg|A USPS collection box without a "snorkel" File:New-style USPS box, detail.jpg|Slit for letters, replacing the flap on a new USPS collection box File:Old USPS Collection Box.jpg|A USPS storage box in Venice, Los Angeles, California, in 2018 with the olive green USPS colouring scheme used between World War I and 1955 File:CanadaPost Mailbox in Markham, Ontario.jpg|Post box in Markham, Ontario, Canada, decorated with postal codes File:Buzón Expresso en México.jpg|A "Buzón Expresso" collection box in Mexico.

Africa

In 1500, a Portuguese sea captain named Pêro de Ataíde lost much of his fleet in a storm off the Southern Cape. He wrote a message reporting the damage and a warning relating the state of affairs in India, for future Portuguese captains to avoid Calicut, which was now hostile. Ataíde tucked the message in a boot dangling from a milkwood tree near a spring where sailors often drew water, Aguada de São Brás (Mossel Bay). Miraculously, the message was retrieved by its intended recipient, João da Nova, admiral of the outgoing 3rd armada, the very next year. The tree became a de facto post office box, where sailors would exchange letters protected in boots, iron pots, or beneath rocks. Seamen would leave their messages behind, trusting that their countrymen would pick them up and deliver them to their correct destination, albeit very slowly. The Post Office Tree, now believed to be approximately 600 years old, still continues to send and receive mail. A large post office box shaped like a giant boot has been constructed beneath the tree, where people can send letters anywhere in the world and receive a special stamp. Presumably, delivery now takes less than a year.

Types of post boxes

Varieties of post boxes (for outgoing mail) include: Lamp box Pillar box Wall box Ludlow style wall box Some postal operators have different types of post boxes for different types of mail, such as, ordinary post, air mail and express mail, for local addresses (defined by a range of postal codes) and out-of-town addresses, or for post bearing postage stamps and post bearing a postage meter indicator. Some countries have different coloured post boxes; in countries such as Australia, Portugal, and Russia, the colour indicates which type of mail a box is to be used for, such as 1st and 2nd class post. However, in Germany and parts of Sweden, because of postal deregulation, the different colours are for the different postal services. Other nations use a particular colour to indicate common political or historical ties. Post boxes or mailboxes located outdoors are designed to keep mail secure and protected from weather. Some boxes have a rounded or slanted top or a down turned entry slot to protect mail from rain or snow. Locks are fitted for security, so mail can be retrieved only by official postal employees, and the box will ordinarily be constructed so as to resist damage from vandalism, forcible entry, or other causes. Bright colours are often used to increase visibility and prevent accidents and injuries. Entry openings are designed to allow the free deposit of mail, yet prevent retrieval via the access slot by unauthorised persons. Image:Double postbox with two apertures, one for stamped, and the other for franked, mail.jpg|A British pillar box with two apertures, one for stamped, and the other for franked, mail File:Burlington House Wall Box, London.jpg|A wooden wall box in Burlington House, London File:Clackmannan Original GR VI Wall Post Box Still in use.jpg|British Royal Mail GR VI Cast Iron Wall Post Box in Clackmannan, Scotland, and still in use File:Royal Mail Lamp Box (Scotland).jpg|Post-GR VI style of Royal Mail Lamp Box used in Scotland, showing the Crown of Scotland instead of the EIIR cypher

Scotland

In 1952, a number of post boxes were attacked in Scotland in a dispute over the regnal number adopted by Queen Elizabeth II, which was displayed as the E II R cypher. This included at least one damaged in Gilmerton Road, The Inch, Edinburgh by a homemade explosive device. This was because many Scottish people did not believe Queen Elizabeth II should take that title. Rather Elizabeth Queen of Scots as Scotland had never had a Queen Elizabeth before. Following a civil case in the Scottish courts, a compromise was reached where the Crown of Scotland was placed upon Scottish pillar boxes in place of the St Edward's Crown, without any reference to the particular reigning monarch. To this day Scottish post boxes and Royal Mail vans use the Scottish Crown with no mention of Queen Elizabeth II or King Charles III.

The Troubles

During 1939 a number of bombs were put in post boxes by the IRA as part of their S-Plan campaign. When the Provisional IRA blew up the Arndale shopping centre in the 1996 Manchester bombing, one of the few things to survive unscathed was a Victorian pillar box dating from 1887 (a type A Jubilee pillar). In Northern Ireland several red Royal Mail post boxes were painted green by Irish Republicans in early 2009, in order to resemble An Post's post boxes in the Republic of Ireland.

United States

Nearly 7,000 USPS collection boxes were removed following the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and the 2001 anthrax attacks in which letters containing anthrax spores were placed in public collection boxes. File:Royal Mail lamp box type LB3426 (Crown of Scotland).jpg|Royal Mail lamp box type LB3426 showing the Crown of Scotland on a steel plate File:Postbox Manchester survived IRA 1996 bomb 20051020.jpg|The surviving pillar box from the 1996 Manchester bombing File:Painting postbox green in Derry for the Green Post-Box Campaign in 2008.jpg|Irish Republicans painting a Royal Mail postbox in Derry for the Green Post-Box Campaign in 2008 File:Wall letter box at Mdina, Malta.jpg|alt=Wall mounted post box in Mdina, Malta|Wall mounted post box in Mdina, Malta. This is similar to the ones mounted in 1862 at Police Stations in 25 towns and villages of Malta and Gozo File:Postboje Steinhuder Meer.jpg|A post box on a buoy in the Steinhuder Meer, Germany

References and sources

Notes

Sources

External links

the-post-box-hunter Letter Box Study Group Post Boxes of Oxford British Postal Museum & Archive Colne Valley Postal History Museum

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1373828886 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.