Editing Post box (section)

==History of post boxes==
===Europe===
[[File:VR Pillar box, Hull.JPG|A [[Queen Victoria|Victorian]] era Type B [[pillar box|pillar postbox]] in [[Kingston upon Hull|Hull]]|thumb|upright]]
In 1653, the first post boxes are believed to have been installed in and around Paris.<ref>{{cite web | last = Lawrence | first = Ken | title = Before the Penny Black | publisher = Ken Lawrence | url = http://www.norbyhus.dk/btpb.html | access-date = 15 August 2008 }}</ref> By 1829, post boxes were in use throughout France.<ref>{{cite web | last = Batcow | first = Stan | title = The Post Boxes of Blackpool, England | date = 2 December 2001 | url = http://www.ausgang.com/collect/post.html | access-date = 15 August 2008 }}</ref> The first public post boxes in Poland were installed in [[Warsaw]] in 1842.<ref>{{cite book |title= Encyklopedia filatelistyki|last=Hampel|first=Tadeusz|year= 1993|publisher= Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN|location=Warszawa|isbn= 83-01-11373-1|page=509}}</ref>

A post box originally installed in the wall of the Wakefield Post Office is dated 1809 and is believed to be the oldest example in Britain.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/southwestwales/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8207000/8207489.stm |title=Putting history on an envelope |work=BBC NewsSouth West Wales |date=18 August 2009 |location=London |quote=The earliest known surviving posting slot was placed in the wall of Wakefield Post Office in Yorkshire in 1809 |access-date=8 August 2012}}</ref> It is now on display at the [[Wakefield Museum]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bradford/content/articles/2009/08/18/slaithwaite_postbox_stamp_feature.shtml |title=BBC Slaithwaite gets the stamp of approval! |publisher=BBC |date=24 August 2012 |access-date=9 May 2014}}</ref>

In Britain, the first red [[Pillar box|pillar postboxes]] were erected in [[Guernsey]] in 1852.<ref>{{cite web|last=Barford |first=Vanessa |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21668477 |title=Are there places more British than the UK? |publisher=BBC |date=2 March 2012 |access-date=10 March 2013}}</ref> Roadside wall boxes first appeared in 1857 as a cheaper alternative to pillar boxes, especially in rural districts. In 1853 the first pillar box in the United Kingdom was installed at Botchergate, [[Carlisle, Cumbria|Carlisle]]. In 1856, [[Richard Redgrave]] of the Department of Science and Art designed an ornate pillar box for use in London and other large cities. In 1859 the design was improved, and this became the first National Standard pillar box. Green was adopted as the standard colour for the early Victorian post boxes. Between 1866 and 1879 the hexagonal Penfold post box became the standard design for pillar boxes and it was during this period that red was first adopted as the standard colour. The first boxes to be painted red were in London in July 1874, although it would be nearly 10 years before all the boxes had been repainted.<ref>{{cite web | last = Wicks | first = Paul | title = History of British Letter Boxes – Part 1: Victorian Letter Boxes | publisher = Paul Wicks | year = 2002 | url = http://www.wicks.org/pulp/part1.html | access-date = 15 August 2008 }}</ref> In 2012, to celebrate [[2012 Summer Olympics|Olympic]] gold medals for [[Team GB]], [[2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics gold post boxes|selected boxes]] were painted gold.<ref name="royalmail2">{{cite web |date=24 July 2012 |title=Royal Mail goes Gold this summer |url=http://www.royalmailgroup.com/royal-mail-goes-gold-summer |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120818043345/http://www.royalmailgroup.com/royal-mail-goes-gold-summer |archive-date=18 August 2012 |access-date=24 August 2012 |work=Royal Mail |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

The first public letter boxes (post boxes) in Russia appeared in 1848 in St. Petersburg.{{Citation needed|date=August 2008}} They were made of wood and iron. Because these boxes were lightweight and easy to steal, they disappeared frequently; later boxes were made of cast iron and could weigh up to {{convert|45|kg|lb}}.{{Citation needed|date=August 2008}}

<gallery>
Paris musee de la poste c. 1850.jpg|First Paris Street letter box from c. 1850
Lamp_Box_2019.jpeg|A [[Elizabeth II|Queen Elizabeth II]] Lamp Box post box of the circa-1954 pattern in [[Eaves, Lancashire]]
1977 pattern French wall box at the Colne Valley Postal History Museum, Essex.jpg|French wall box of the 1977 pattern now on display at the Colne Valley Postal History Museum, [[Essex]]
Brievenbussen Post-NL.jpg|A Dutch "''Post-NL''" postbox in orange at different heights
Mailbox Metropolin in Estonia.jpg|Modern postbox in [[Estonia]]
Mailbox in Ustroń, Poland.jpg|Modern postbox in [[Poland]]
Yaiza Playa Blanca - Plaza de la Marina 02 ies.jpg|Post box in [[Lanzarote]], ([[Canary Islands]]), [[Spain]]
Boîte aux lettres à Mons en Belgique - vrijstaande brievenbus in Mons België - Foto Wolfgang Pehlemann IMG 1684.jpg|Post box in [[Belgium]]
Priority Postbox for COVID-19 testing - 2020-11-25 - Andy Mabbett - 01.png|"Priority Postbox", designated for returning [[COVID-19]] home testing kits,<ref name="RMPP">{{cite web |title=Priority postboxes - Delivering coronavirus tests to NHS staff |url=https://www.royalmail.com/priority-postboxes |publisher=[[Royal Mail]] |access-date=25 November 2020}}</ref> Birmingham, England, November 2020
File:PrivatePOstBoxYork.jpg|A note attached to an old private posting box in St John University ([[York]])
File:Edward VII Pillar Box, Arran Quay, Dublin, Ireland - geograph.org.uk - 2566679.jpg|Edward VII Pillar Box, [[Dublin quays|Arran Quay]], [[Dublin]]
</gallery>

===Asia===
The post box arrived in the late 19th century Hong Kong and were made of wood. In the 1890s, metal pillar box appeared in Hong Kong and remained in use until the late 1990s. From the 1890s to 1997 the boxes were painted red and after 1997 were painted green.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hongkongfp.com/2015/10/05/hongkong-post-to-cover-royal-cyphers-on-59-historic-post-boxes/|title=Hongkong Post to cover royal cyphers on 59 historic post-boxes to 'avoid confusion' – Hong Kong Free Press HKFP|date=5 October 2015|website=hongkongfp.com|access-date=16 April 2018}}</ref>

<gallery>
Postbox Uji Japan shaped as tea caddy.jpg|A public (though unconventional) post box in Japan shaped as tea caddy
Japan Post Angle Model 10 Mailbox.jpg|Japanese post box in [[Matsuda, Kanagawa|Matsuda]]
HK SOHO Mail Box 318.jpg|''Singapore AA'' style sheet metal mail box in Hong Kong
Hong Kong Post street posting box number 110.jpg|Hong Kong Post box bearing insignia of King George V
HKPostbox.jpg|PB27/1 type post box in Hong Kong with "E<small>II</small>R" cypher
Post boxes in Gongguan, Taipei City 20070723.jpg|Post boxes in [[Taipei]], Taiwan
L164 - Boîte aux lettres - Inde.JPG|A post box in [[India]]
</gallery>

===North America===
The [[United States Post Office Department]] began installing public mail collection boxes in the 1850s outside post offices and on street corners in large Eastern cities.<ref name="npm1">{{cite web | last = Marsh | first = Allison | title = Postal Collection Mailboxes | publisher = [[National Postal Museum]] | date = 20 March 2006 | url = http://www.arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=1&cmd=1&mode=&tid=2032051 | access-date = 15 August 2008 }}</ref> American collection boxes were initially designed to be hung or supported, and were mounted on support pillars, lamp-posts, telegraph poles, or even the sides of buildings.<ref name="npm1"/> By the 1880s, these pillar boxes were made of heavy cast iron to deter theft or vandalism.<ref name="npm1"/> As mail volume grew, the Post Office Department gradually replaced pillar mailboxes with larger free-standing models, though many of the pillar boxes continued in service as late as the 1960s.<ref name="npm1"/>

The four-footed, free-standing ''U.S. Mail'' collection box was first suggested in 1894, following the successful use of such designs in [[Canada]], and quickly became a fixture on American city street corners.<ref name="npm1"/><ref name="shaman">{{cite web |last= Shaman |first= Tony |title= Antique Street Letterboxes |publisher= Antique67.com |url= http://www.antique67.com/articles/antique_letterboxes/antique_letterboxes.html |access-date= 16 August 2008 }}</ref>

Unlike Canadian mailboxes, which were painted red,<ref>Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation, ''History in a Box: Red Forever!'', Civilisation.ca. http://www.civilisations.ca/cpm/histbox/canad_e.htm</ref> American mail collection boxes were originally painted in red or green. Beginning in 1909, all mail collection boxes were painted a dark green to avoid confusion with emergency and fire equipment.<ref name="npm1"/>  Dark green gave way to olive drab green after [[World War I]], when the [[United States Army]] donated a large supply of olive drab green paint to the Post Office. Olive drab green subsequently became the standard colour for all American mail collection boxes until 1955. On 4 July 1955, Postmaster General [[Arthur Summerfield]] announced that the Post Office would begin painting all mail collection boxes in red, white, and blue to make them easily identifiable. Subsequently, the Post Office began painting mail collection boxes in red and blue, with white lettering.<ref>http://www.uspostalbulletins.com/PDF/Vol76_Issue19867_19550809.pdf U.S. Post Office Bulletin 19867, 9 August 1955</ref><ref name="npm2">{{cite web |last= Marsh |first= Allison |author2=Pope, Nancy |title= Orr & Painter mailbox |work= Postal Collection Mailboxes |publisher= [[National Postal Museum]] |date= 28 April 2006 |url= http://www.arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=2&cmd=1&id=76927&img=1&pg=1 |access-date= 16 August 2008 }}</ref> In 1971 the [[United States Postal Service]] changed mail collection boxes to the current USPS Dark Blue with contrasting lettering.<ref name="shaman" /><ref name="npm2"/><ref>''[http://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/ttabvue-91185802-OPP-34.pdf United States Postal Service v. Lost Key Rewards, Inc.]'', U.S. Patent and Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, Opposition No. 91185802 (15 November 2010). Retrieved 23 January 2012</ref>

The coming of the automobile also influenced American mailbox design, and in the late 1930s, an extension chute or "snorkel" to drive-up curbside collection boxes was adopted.<ref name="npm1" /> Beginning in 2019 in [[New York City]], the United States Postal Service began replacing collection boxes with a new model with a thin slit for the insertion of letters, instead of the former pull-down flap, in order to prevent "fishing" for valuable mail. The new boxes do not have extension chutes, so are harder to use in drive-up locations.<ref>{{cite news |first=Angi |last=Gonzalez |url=https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2019/01/29/usps-replacing-all-nyc-mailboxes-for-new--anti-fishing-model- |title=USPS Replacing All NYC Mailboxes for New 'Anti-Fishing Model' |publisher=[[NY1]] |date=January 29, 2019 |access-date=September 27, 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=David |last=Winter |url=https://cbsaustin.com/news/nation-world/us-postal-services-new-blue-boxes-are-designed-to-thwart-crime-not-for-ease-of-use-mail-fishing-usps-crime-rates-big-blue-postal-boxes-tamper-proof-slots |title=US Postal Service's new blue boxes are designed to thwart crime, not for ease of use |publisher=[[WKRC-TV]] |date=May 5, 2023 |access-date=September 27, 2024 }}</ref>

<gallery>
File:Post office drivethrough lane.jpg|[[USPS]] "Snorkel" collection boxes for drive-through access in [[Los Altos, California]]
File:It is in the mail (8080987511).jpg|A USPS collection box without a "snorkel"
File:New-style USPS box, detail.jpg|Slit for letters, replacing the flap on a new USPS collection box
File:Old USPS Collection Box.jpg|A USPS storage box in [[Venice, Los Angeles]], California, in 2018 with the olive green USPS colouring scheme used between [[World War I]] and 1955
File:CanadaPost Mailbox in Markham, Ontario.jpg|Post box in [[Markham, Ontario]], Canada, decorated with [[postal codes#Canada|postal codes]]
</gallery>

===Africa===
<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-post-office-tree-mossel-bay-south-africa |title=The Post Office Tree: South Africa's First Mailbox |website=www.atlasobscura.com |access-date=13 June 2019}}</ref> In 1500, a Portuguese sea captain named [[Pêro de Ataíde]] lost much of his fleet in a storm off the [[Southern Cape]]. He wrote a message reporting the damage and a warning relating the state of affairs in India, for future Portuguese captains to avoid Calicut, which was now hostile. Ataíde tucked the message in a boot dangling from a [[Sideroxylon inerme|milkwood]] tree near a spring where sailors often drew water, Aguada de São Brás ([[Mossel Bay]]).

Miraculously, the message was retrieved by its intended recipient, [[João da Nova]], admiral of the outgoing [[3rd Portuguese India Armada (Nova, 1501)|3rd armada]], the very next year. The tree became a de facto post office box, where sailors would exchange letters protected in boots, iron pots, or beneath rocks. Seamen would leave their messages behind, trusting that their countrymen would pick them up and deliver them to their correct destination, albeit very slowly.

The [[Post Office Tree]], now believed to be approximately 600 years old, still continues to send and receive mail. A large post office box shaped like a giant boot has been constructed beneath the tree, where people can send letters anywhere in the world and receive a special stamp. Presumably, delivery now takes less than a year.