// Royal Mail too roll out 1400 new parcel postboxes around the UK after successful trial
// They will enable small retailers and ecommerce businesses to post prepaid parcels
// Customers can also post some barcoded returns parcels back at any time, 7 days a week
Doing business as an online retailer or shopper is about to get easier as the Royal Mail introduces new parcel postboxes in locations across the UK.
Following a successful trial last year, 1400 parcel postboxes are set to be rolled out over the course of the next six months.
The rollout marks the first major change in use for the UK postbox in the last 160 years.
READ MORE:
They enable small retailers and ecommerce businesses to post prepaid parcels in the same way that they currently post letters and without having to visit a post office branch.
The parcel postboxes will also allow customers to post some barcoded returns parcels back at any time, seven days a week.
Royal Mail said it would convert existing meter boxes which have a wider aperture and secure design, making the posting of larger prepaid items both safe and convenient.
“The wide scale introduction of parcel postboxes is one of the many ways we at Royal Mail are looking to make the lives of our customers easier,” Royal Mail head of campaigns Mark Street said.
“The parcel postboxes trial last year was a success, and we hope that the wider roll-out gives added 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 introduced across the UK in 1853 by Anthony Trollope, the novelist and senior GPO executive.
Royal Mail said the rollout of new parcel postboxes is one of the biggest innovations in parcels since the launch of Parcel Post in 1883.
Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter
