[Ammi]

Royal Mail is rolling out 3,500 solar-powered “postboxes of the future” across the UK.

The new design – the biggest change to the postbox in its 175-year history – features a digitally activated drop-down drawer so customers can send parcels as large as a shoebox.

It was trialled in Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire earlier this year and will now 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 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, the 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. Labels can be printed from home but will otherwise still need to be bought from Post Office sites.

Knitters needled by solar panels

The roll-out is happening after knitters were left up in arms by the new postboxes.

Crafters cannot decorate the modern pillar boxes with knitted and crocheted “toppers”.

Melanie Delaney, 51, said she was unable to decorate her local postbox in Hertford after it was replaced with one of the five solar-powered postboxes that were trialled.

Delaney, a science teacher and member of the Secret Society of Hertford Knitters, told The Telegraph earlier this year: “The thing about the postboxes is the public really love seeing them decorated.”

She added: “I have a postbox which has the solar panels on it just down the road from me and I’ve had a look at it and we wouldn’t be able to decorate it.”

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

https://uk.yahoo.com/news/solar-pane...091309594.html

[Ammi]

…sad news for knitting clubs who like to seasonally top their local postboxes…

[bots]

they are trying to compete with outher couriers that have pickup/drop off points

[Beso]

We are getting new street bins as well that can hold much more waste by having a large hole dug deep into the ground. The bins are emptied by hoisting them out the ground.

[bots]

it's over engineering and cost wasting at its finest