Postboxes upgraded with solar panels in high-tech parcel trial

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Royal Mail is tested by Royal Mail.

The firm says this is the biggest change to the design of the red mailbox since the launch more than 175 years ago.

Five mailboxes are currently being launched – one in Fowlmere in Cambridgeshire, and four in Hertfordshire, in Letchworth, Hertford, and two in wares.

They are equipped with solar panels, which use a camera used to scan a barcode on the package. This opens a separate gutter to the package that is pressed.

Letters can still be placed by a separate opening in the usual way. Proof of placement is also available via an app.

Royal Mail said it responds to the growing popularity of online market places, where people can sell unwanted items, as well as buyers who send returns.

Greatest change in 175 years

Royal Mail says it makes the biggest design change since the mailbox was introduced more than 175 years ago. But what is the history of the famous Red Box?

1852: Four cast iron pillar boxes were first tried in Jersey, but according to the Posmuseum they were initially green, not red

1853: Pillar boxes started appearing in Britain although there was no set design

1859: Mailboxes have standardized in a larger size for areas with high volume and narrower for elsewhere

1874: The green boxes started painting red as people complained that they had trouble finding it

1930s: Some blue boxes for air mail letters were installed – but it did not last and were painted red for standard post by 1939

<> 2012: British Olympic Gold Medal winners painted mailboxes in their hometowns

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Currently, the mailboxes – of which there are 115,000 in the UK – can accept small parcels.

But Royal Mail said in a statement that “thousands can be adapted to the new design to accept larger parcels”.

Royal Mail CEO Emma Gilthorpe described the upgrade as a ‘historical change to our mailboxes’.

“In an era where letter volumes continue to drop and bleed packages, we give our iconic mailboxes a new lifespan on street corners across the country.”

Royal Mail told Sky News: ‘It makes sense to use it [postboxes] To make the sending of parcels more comfortable and make our mailboxes more useful for the modern Royal Mail customer. “

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