Editing Post box (section)

===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>