
‘Postbox of the future' unveiled by Royal Mail
Royal Mail has unveiled its 'postbox of the future' that is solar-powered, has a built-in barcode reader and a large hatch that can accept parcels bigger than letterbox size.
In a historic change to the iconic red pillar box, Royal Mail said the new futuristic looking postbox 'is to maximise choice and convenience for our customers' as the number of letters people send declines but parcels trade continues to boom.
Customers can scan their packages using the barcode scanner - powered using solar panels on the black lid that aim to store energy when there is no sun - and put it in the large draw that will open.
They can then use the Royal Mail app to request 'proof of posting', a new feature recently introduced so that people can post small, barcoded parcels in a postbox.
Five of the new postboxes are being piloted in Ware, Hertford and Fowlmere areas across Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, before Royal Mail intends to roll them out across UK.
Emma Gilthorpe, 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.'
Royal Mail hope the new postboxes will make it easier for people to send parcels using their services, as there are 115,000 postboxes in the UK, located within half a mile of 98 per cent of addresses. While the pillar boxes already accept parcels small enough to fit through a letterbox, thousands across the country could be adapted to accept larger parcels.
The parcel boom shows no sign of dying as more Britons continue to use parcel courier services to buy and sell online. Research from Virgin Media O2 Business and Depop in December found that 23.8 million Britons were turning to online secondhand selling platforms.
As the cost of living increased, second hand shopping became more important for a quarter of shoppers, with one in five increasing their use of second hand shopping apps in the final quarter of 2024.
As well as updating their postboxes, Royal Mail has more than 21,000 locations where customers can drop off and collect parcels, including 1,000 lockers, 7,000 Collect+ stores, 11,500 Post Office branches, 1,200 Royal Mail Customer Service Points and 1,200 parcel postboxes.
The new postbox pilot comes before Royal Mail's parent company, International Distribution Services, is set to be sold to Czech energy billionaire Daniel Křetínský's EP Group in a £3.57 billion deal.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Metro
8 hours ago
- Metro
Millions could be paying off debt well into retirement amid 'pension postcode lo
A 'postcode lottery' means people face carrying hefty mortgage debt well into retirement, an analysis has found. Years of putting off home buying amid rising property prices and extended mortgage terms mean some Britons will be paying off loans for decades. According to the study released today, 48% of over 50s are in some form of debt, with 14% having yet to pay off their mortgages. But regional inequality is rife in the UK, with at least 20% of over 50s in Northern Ireland being set to pay off home loans well into their golden years, the highest number in the UK. They have an average of £50,409.09 in outstanding debt. The highest percentage of debt-raddled over 50s in England is in the North West, at 19%, with an average mortgage debt of £48,839.55. But 30% of the age group in the region have no private pensions, with the average income being less than £25,000. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video London faces what the survey-maker called a 'perfect storm' of low homeownership, mountainous debt, financial anxiety and pay cheques that barely cover the bills. Just 55% of older Londoners own their home, while many take only £31,164 each year, far lower than in other regions. Over 50s cough up around £1,230 each month for their homes in the capital, far above the average payment elsewhere in the UK at £887. While fewer over 50s in East Anglia have mortgages to repay, the region has the most eye-watering average mortgage debt at £96,471.43. The South East is not far behind with an average debt of £95,905.77. In Scotland, more than half (53%) of the surveyed age group are in debt. Mark Screeton, CEO of SunLife, the life insurance group behind the survey, said: 'Our research shows a clear 'postcode lottery' when it comes to retirement, where people's ability to enjoy later life appears to be impacted by where they live. 'Whether it is mortgage repayments dragging into retirement or higher levels of consumer debt, older people in some areas are facing greater financial concerns than others.' More Trending The retirement age in the UK is 66 for men and women, which is when people receive their state pension. SunLife said that of the 2,000 people aged over 50 polled, the cost of living remains a top concern in certain regions. Worries over spiralling costs were highest in: Northern Ireland (74%) Scotland (71%) East Midlands (68%) London (56%) View More » Screeton added: 'For homeowners over 55 – even those with an outstanding mortgage – equity release could offer a way to clear debts, stop monthly repayments, and unlock the value in their home without having to move. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Map reveals the 5 cheapest London postcodes where properties cost less than £300,000 MORE: I loaned my parents a few hundred quid — then they stole thousands MORE: Here's how you can find out if you're owed money from your state pension Your free newsletter guide to the best London has on offer, from drinks deals to restaurant reviews.


New Statesman
8 hours ago
- New Statesman
The shame of Labour's austerity doctrine
Photo byThe first thing the Chancellor Rachel Reeves wants you to know is that her spending review is not 'austerity'. That was how she opened her statement, it's how her team has been briefing the plans, and it's also how almost every chancellor I remember in recent years have framed their budgets. During the first pandemic summer in 2020, Boris Johnson promised: 'We are absolutely not going back to the austerity of ten years ago.' In fact, austerity – the spending cuts inflicted since the coalition government was elected in 2010 – ended in 2018, when the then prime minister Theresa May and her chancellor Philip Hammond declared that it was over ahead of the autumn Budget that year. Can't you tell? The truth is, Britain is trapped in Forever Austerity. You can pledge £39bn to build more affordable homes – but council planning departments are in shreds so they won't be held to decent standards. You can raise NHS spending by 3 per cent a year – but the elderly will still be stuck in hospital beds and hospitals full because social care is so stretched. You can cap bus fares at £3 – but potholed roads, hollowed-out high streets and low-wage jobs that rely on ever-diminishing welfare top-ups rather dampen the experience. Just look at the 100-hectare Thamesmead Waterfront site, ready and waiting for thousands of new homes, shops and local amenities – a prime stretch of brownfield to show off the government's housebuilding promises. It needs an extension of the Dockland Light Railway to unlock that building: an infrastructure project overlooked by the spending review. And so it continues. At the time of writing, we don't yet have the figures for how squeezed departmental budgets will be, but that increase in NHS spending means 'virtually nothing on average for current spending elsewhere', warned Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies. From 2026-27 onwards, day-to-day spending is not rising for anything but the NHS. That means policing, councils, things people notice in their everyday lives. And people have noticed. A quarter of Britons think we are returning to austerity, and a further 27 per cent think that Britain never left austerity, according to polling by More in Common. When Labour took power, the Chancellor was left a bombsite of an economy, littered with clever little landmines like just £8.9bn in fiscal headroom (much lower than the £26.1bn average since 2010), and 3.3 per cent yearly cuts to unprotected spending with no plan for where they would fall. Whether or not blaming the last government for leaving a £22bn black hole is rhetoric or reality, the public finances Labour inherited seemed to guarantee further cuts. Reeves's predecessor, Jeremy Hunt, admitted this to me when I spoke to him ahead of the spring statement last week: 'She's made a big thing of saying 'we shouldn't have austerity', and what are we going to see next week? We're going to see cuts in unprotected departments. She's doing exactly the same thing that she criticised me about in opposition.' When I asked why he had left so little headroom, and baked in such drastic cuts, he didn't 'want to particularly go over all those arguments'. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe But it's not just the Tories, and it goes beyond cuts. Labour has been warned for years that the same old tinkering with the budget – essentially, making sure the numbers on the NHS and schools go up, shuffling bits and bobs around for everything else, and tired regions-first rhetoric without investment to match – won't bring about the 'renewal' it craves. Even the party's own former adviser on levelling up, the former Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane, has been dismayed by the lack of creativity, writing in the New Statesman's Spotlight supplement that the Chancellor's 'major announcements have been reheated leftovers from the Treasury's freezer'. The UK is set to be poorer per person than Poland by 2030, and than both Hungary and Romania by 2040. The north of England (including the Midlands) is already poorer than east Germany. It's a comparison that captures the scale of ambition successive British governments have failed even to imagine. The German government spent €2trn 'levelling up' east Germany following reunification. For all the talk of rebalancing the north-south divide, nothing comparable has ever been attempted by the modern-day UK Treasury. 'In 1992, east Germany had a productivity which was 20 per cent of west Germany. Now, 30 years on, it's 85 per cent of west Germany,' wrote the development economist Paul Collier. 'East Germans see that, and they're angry. If you think that's a failure, come and look at Britain.' [See also: Revealed: Labour's welfare cuts will take people out of work] Related


North Wales Chronicle
14 hours ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Evri tie-up with DHL's UK parcel arm being probed by competition watchdog
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it will look into whether the deal could 'result in a substantial lessening of competition' in the postal delivery sector. It is initially gathering comments on the tie-up, with a deadline for submissions of June 25, before formally launching its investigation. 'The CMA is issuing this preliminary 'invitation to comment' to allow interested parties to submit to the CMA any initial views on the impact that the transaction could have on competition in the UK,' it said. Yorkshire-based Evri last month unveiled the deal to merge with rival DHL's UK ecommerce business in a move which will see it also enter the UK business letter market for the first time, competing further with Royal Mail. German-owned DHL Group will acquire a 'significant minority stake' in Evri as part of the merger. We're looking into the proposed EVRi merger with DHL eCommerce UK. Both companies operate parcel delivery services: — Competition & Markets Authority (@CMAgovUK) June 11, 2025 The two operations, which will operate as Evri Group, will bring together more than 30,000 couriers and van drivers, and 12,000 further workers. Evri, which was previously part of the Hermes parcel group, was snapped up by US private equity firm Apollo for around £2.7 billion last year. Apollo will remain the majority shareholder in the business. The combined company will deliver more than one billion parcels and one billion letters each year, the firms said. They said the merger will offer 'greater choice and cost-competitive solutions' to businesses and consumers, and expand import and export capabilities. The business will be led by Evri chief executive Martijn de Lange, according to the groups. The deal comes amid a raft of mergers and acquisitions in the sector, with Royal Mail owner International Distribution Services being bought by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky's EP Group in a £3.6 billion takeover. In April, Polish parcel locker firm InPost also struck a £100 million deal to buy UK rival Yodel, combining the home delivery and collection networks to form one of the largest logistics groups in Britain.