Royal Mail is rolling out 3,500 solar-powered postboxes across the UK, following a successful pilot earlier this year, as the company continues to find ways to make sending, returning and collecting parcels more convenient.
The new design allows customers to send and return labelled parcels – up to the size of a shoebox – through a postbox for the first time. Customers can also request proof of posting, and track their parcel, using the Royal Mail app.
The reimagining of the postbox is the biggest redesign in its 175-year history and includes a barcode scanner which opens a drop-down drawer that can fit parcels larger than those that fit through a traditional postbox slot. A solar panel powers the scanner and the drawer, while retaining a separate slot for letters.
“We are all sending and returning more parcels than ever before. This trend will only continue as online shopping shows no signs of slowing, particularly with the boom of second-hand marketplaces. There are 115,000 postboxes in the UK located within half a mile of 98% of addresses, making them by far the most convenient network of parcel drop-off points in the UK.”
Jack Clarkson, Managing Director, Out of Home and Commercial Excellence, Royal Mail.
The postboxes were piloted in Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire in April 2025 and are now rolling out across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with cities including Edinburgh, Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield and Sunderland among the first locations.
Research from InPost and Retail Economics, released in August, showed that 28 million parcels were returned at pick-up drop-off (PUDO) locations in the last 12 months, making up 12% of all online returns, as demand for convenience drives out-of-home adoption.
Retail Rewired 
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