Royal Mail trials parcel postboxes to give more flexibility to online sellers

Parcel postboxes mean small businesses and marketplace sellers can post pre-paid parcels through securely designed parcel postboxes, in the same way that they currently post a letter.

With a wider aperture and secure design for mailing larger items, the parcel postboxes make the posting of larger prepaid parcels both safe and convenient.

This is the first time parcel postboxes have been trialled in the UK. The trial will last until 5 November 2018. Parcel postboxes represent the first potential major change of use for the humble postbox in its last 160 years of existence.

For the trial, 17 parcel postboxes will be sited in Northampton and 13 in Leicester. At the end of the trial, Royal Mail will review consumer feedback and usage of the parcel postboxes. A decision will then be made whether or not to introduce some parcel postboxes in various locations across the UK.

A spokesperson for Royal Mail Parcels, said “The trial of parcel postboxes is one of the many ways we at Royal Mail are looking to make the lives of customers easier, giving them more options that suit how they want to do business. The trial is aimed at giving more flexibility to online sellers who might be running a business in their spare time and not keeping regular office hours.”

The first ever UK postboxes were trialled in Jersey in 1852. They were subsequently rolled out across the UK in 1853 by Anthony Trollope, the novelist and senior GPO executive.