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Royal Mail has just unveiled the UK’s ‘postbox of the future‘

It’ll allow Brits to send bigger parcels across the country without going to the post office.

Amy Houghton
Written by
Amy Houghton
Contributing writer
New UK solar-powered postbox
Photograph: Royal Mail
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In exciting news for anyone with a thriving Vinted side hustle, Royal Mail has just unveiled its new and improved ‘postbox of the future’, set to make sending stuff across the UK much, much simpler. 

This is the biggest change to Britain’s postboxes since they were born more than 175 years ago. They don’t look significantly different – they’re still sporting that iconic bright red – but they’ve been given a few futuristic upgrades. Most notably, the boxes have built-in barcode readers powered by the sun. How very modern!  

There’s a extra large hatch so that people can now send bigger parcels without having to queue up at the post office. You simply scan a barcode then the drawer will open for you to drop the package in. And if you have the Royal Mail app, you’ll still be able to request proof of posting. 

Close-up of new UK postbox barcode scanner
Photograph: Royal Mail

The first of the modernised postboxes will be piloted in Ware, Hertford, Letchworth and Fowlmere before they’re rolled out throughout the rest of the UK. 

Emma Gilthorpe, the CEO at Royal Mail, said: ‘In making this historic change to our postboxes, our goal is to maximise choice and convenience for our customers. In an era where letter volumes continue to decline and parcels are booming, we are giving our iconic postboxes a new lease of life on street corners across the nation. 

‘You can now drop your parcel in any postbox where it fits - you just need a label with a barcode.’

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