Post box
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The yellow box is for express mail.
A post box (UK & others, also written postbox), or mailbox (US, Canada & others) is a physical box used to collect outgoing mail, that is mail that is to be sent to a destination. Post box can also refer to a letter box for incoming mail.
Varieties of post boxes (for outgoing mail) include:
- Lamp box
- Ludlow wall box
- Pillar box
- Wall box
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[edit] Types of post boxes
Some postal authorities have different types of post boxes for different types of post. For instance, there may be separate boxes for regular post and express post, for local addresses (defined by a range of postal codes) and out-of-town addresses, or for post bearing postage stamps and post bearing postage meter indicia.
Another type of box is called variously a drop box and a relay box (pictured left). That box is not for the deposit of mail by the general public; instead it is a receptacle where city carriers leave mail on the line of travel for later pickup and delivery by another carrier. These boxes are used to avoid continual returns to the postal depots by people delivering post.
[edit] Clearance
Post boxes are cleared (emptied) at times usually listed on the side of the box. In metropolitan areas, this might be once or twice a day, while in country areas this might be once or twice a week [citation needed]. Busy boxes might be cleared at other times to avoid overflowing, and also to spread the work for the sorters.
Since 2005, most British post boxes have had the time of only the last collection of the day listed on the box, with no indication of whether the box is cleared at other times earlier in the day. The reason given for this by the Royal Mail is that they needed to increase the font size of the wording on the "plate" listing the collection times to improve legibility for those with poor sight and that consequently there was insufficient room for listing all collection times throughout the day.
[edit] Colours
- Australia - red (Express Post - yellow )
- Belgium - red
- Canada - red with grey footings; storage bins are GREY
- Cyprus - yellow
- Czech Republic - orange
- France - yellow
- Germany - yellow
- Guernsey (British Channel Islands) - blue
- Since 1969, when responsibility for mail was devolved from the British Post Office.
- Following independence in 1922, existing red British pillar boxes were retained, and repainted green.
- Japan - red
- Jersey (British Channel Islands) - red
- Colour unchanged when responsibility for mail was devolved from the British Post Office in 1969.
- Norway - red
- Poland - red
- Sweden - yellow
- Thailand - red
- United Kingdom - red
- Standard post boxes are painted red since 1874. (Prior to 1859 there was no standard colour although there is evidence that, sometimes, the lettering and Royal cypher were picked out in gold. In 1859, a bronze green colour became standard until 1874).
- United States - dark blue; relay boxes are olive green
[edit] Symbols
- Australia - a styled red letter "P" on a white circle, "P" standing for "Post"
- Germany - a horn, such as the postman sounds to announce his coming.
- Japan - a "T" with another bar above it (〒)
- United States - the United States Postal Service eagle logo, except that boxes for Express Mail use the USPS Express Mail logo
[edit] Gallery of Post Boxes from around the world
 British Post Box in front of Mansfield College, Oxford |
 French Post Box at Ile de Bréhart |
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 Icelandic Post Box |
 Post Box of Indian Postal Service |
 Indonesian Post Box in Jakarta |
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 Japanese Post Box at the Osaka Central Post Office |
 U.S. Post Box in front of the Post Office in Conneaut, Ohio |
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 Post box incorporated into a red telephone box in Warrington, Cheshire, England |
 Post box mounted on a post in Menai Bridge, Anglesey, Wales |
 A Victorian wall box in Brough, Derbyshire, England |
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 A Victorian hexagonal red post box outside King's College, Cambridge. Traditionally UK post boxes carry the Latin initials of the reigning monarch at the time of their installation: in this case VR for Victoria Regina.]] |
 Self-Automated Machine and Postboxes of Singapore Post outside the Westmall Branch. |
 German mail box with an old Post horn with Flashs from the Deutsche Bundespost, up the new Post horn from Deutsche Post AG |
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 A Polish Post Box |
 Swedish post box |
 A post box in Funningur, Faroe Islands |
[edit] See also
- Post Office box, used for incoming mail
[edit] Articles with mentioning or with pictures of post boxes
