Editing Post box (section)

== Terrorism and political vandalism ==

=== United Kingdom ===

====Scotland====
{{Main|Pillar Box War}}
In 1952, a number of post boxes were attacked{{how many|date=June 2022}}{{Where|date=June 2022}} in [[Scotland]] in a dispute over the [[regnal number]] adopted by [[Queen Elizabeth II]], which was displayed as the '''E<small>II</small>R '''[[Royal cypher|cypher]]. This included at least one damaged in Gilmerton Road, [[The Inch, Edinburgh]] by a homemade explosive device. This was because many Scottish people did not believe Queen Elizabeth II should take that title. Rather Elizabeth Queen of Scots as Scotland had never had a Queen Elizabeth before.<ref name="scotsman">{{cite news |last=Mclean |first=David |title=Lost Edinburgh: the Queen and the exploding post box |work=Arts and Culture |publisher=[[The Scotsman]] |date=3 September 2014 |url=https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/lost-edinburgh-queen-and-exploding-post-box-1527366 |access-date=24 June 2022 }}</ref><ref name="edinburghlive">{{cite web |last=Dalgetty |first=Lee |title=The Edinburgh post box war that saw a bomb go off in a housing estate |work=History |publisher=edinburghlive.co.uk |date=6 June 2022 |url=https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/history/edinburgh-post-box-war-saw-24155234 |access-date=24 June 2022 }}</ref>

Following a [[MacCormick v Lord Advocate|civil case in the Scottish courts]], a compromise was reached where the [[Crown of Scotland]] was placed upon Scottish pillar boxes in place of the [[St Edward's Crown]], without any reference to the particular reigning monarch. To this day Scottish post boxes and Royal Mail vans use the Scottish Crown with no mention of Queen Elizabeth II or King Charles III.<ref name="scotsman"/><ref name="edinburghlive"/>

====The Troubles====
During 1939 a number of bombs were put in post boxes by the [[Irish Republican Army (1922–1969)|IRA]] as part of their [[S-Plan#Events June 1939 - December 1939|S-Plan]] campaign. When the [[Provisional IRA]] blew up the Arndale shopping centre in the [[1996 Manchester bombing]], one of the few things to survive unscathed was a Victorian pillar box dating from 1887 (a type A Jubilee pillar).

In [[Northern Ireland]] several red Royal Mail post boxes were painted green by [[Irish Republicans]] in early 2009, in order to resemble [[An Post]]'s post boxes in the [[Republic of Ireland]].<ref>{{cite web |first=Louise |last=Quinn |date=4 February 2009 |title=Green postbox row MLA told to say sorry |url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/green-postbox-row-mla-told-to-say-sorry-14169746.html |work=[[The Belfast Telegraph]] |access-date=20 April 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Anger over green postboxes |url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/anger-over-green-postboxes-15000124.html |work=[[The Belfast Telegraph]] |date=10 November 2010 |access-date=20 April 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Seeing red on green postboxes |url=http://www.derryjournal.com/news/local/seeing-red-on-green-postboxes-1-2129548# |work=[[Derry Journal]] |date=10 September 2008 |access-date=20 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120503102338/http://www.derryjournal.com/news/local/seeing-red-on-green-postboxes-1-2129548 |archive-date=3 May 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===United States===
Nearly 7,000 [[USPS]] collection boxes were removed following the aftermath of the [[September 11 attacks]] and the [[2001 anthrax attacks]] in which letters containing anthrax spores were placed in public collection boxes.<ref name="npm1" />

<gallery>
File:Royal Mail lamp box type LB3426 (Crown of Scotland).jpg|Royal Mail lamp box type LB3426 showing the [[Crown of Scotland]] on a steel plate
File:Postbox Manchester survived IRA 1996 bomb 20051020.jpg|The surviving [[pillar box]] from the [[1996 Manchester bombing]]
File:Painting postbox green in Derry for the Green Post-Box Campaign in 2008.jpg|Irish Republicans painting a [[Royal Mail]] postbox in [[Derry]] for the ''Green Post-Box Campaign'' in 2008
</gallery>

{{Clear}}

=== Colours ===
[[File:Map of colours of post boxes.svg|thumb|upright=1.4|Colors of post boxes for standard mailings]]

;Red: [[Argentina]], Australia, [[Bahamas]], [[Barbados]], [[Belgium]], Canada, Denmark ''([[Post Danmark]])'', [[Gibraltar]], [[Greece]] ''(express post)'', [[Greenland]], [[Hungary]], [[Iceland]], [[India]], [[Isle of Man]], [[Israel]], Italy ''(domestic post)'', [[South Korea]], Japan, [[Jersey]], [[Macau]], [[Malaysia]], [[Malta]], [[Mauritius]], [[Mexico]], [[Monaco]], [[Netherlands]] – surviving heritage and PTT boxes, [[New Zealand]], [[Norway]] ''(national and international mail)'', [[Pakistan]], [[Poland]], [[Portugal]], [[Romania]], Spain ''(express mail)'', South Africa, [[Sri Lanka]], [[Republic of China|Taiwan]] ''(airmail and prompt delivery)'', [[Thailand]], [[Uganda]] ''([[Posta Uganda]])'', United Kingdom<ref>All Royal Mail / GPO post boxes were painted BS 538 Post Office Red between 1874 and 1969. With the introduction of the K8 [[Telephone booth|Telephone kiosk]] in 1969, a new "red" colour was adopted for GPO street furniture, designated [[British Standards|BS]] 539 Post Haste Red. After [[British Telecom]] and [[Royal Mail]] were split by the British Government, BT continued to use BS539 exclusively, whilst Royal Mail use both BS538 and BS539 in a seemingly random way. Prior to 1859 there was no standard colour although there is a document in the [[BPMA]] archive indicating that optionally, the lettering and Royal cypher could be picked out in white or black. In 1859, a bronze green colour became standard until 1874. It took ten years for every box to be repainted during this period).</ref>
;Yellow: [[Algeria]], Australia ''(Express Post)'', [[Austria]], [[Bosnia-Herzegovina]], [[Brazil]], [[Bulgaria]], [[Croatia]], [[Cyprus]] ''(red before 1960)'', [[Democratic Republic of the Congo|D.R.Congo]] ''([[Congolese Posts and Telecommunications Corporation|scpt]])'', [[Finland]] (2nd class), France, Germany ''([[Deutsche Post]])'', [[Greece]] ''(regular and international mail)'', [[Iran]], [[Lithuania]], [[Malaysia]] ''(Express Post)'', [[Montenegro]], [[Morocco]], [[Norway]] ''(local mail)'', Russia ''(1st Class)'', [[Rwanda]] ''([[National Post Office (Rwanda)|iposita]])'', [[Serbia]], [[Slovakia]], [[Slovenia]], Spain ''(regular mail)'', [[Sweden]] ''(national and international mail)'', [[Switzerland]] (and [[Liechtenstein]]), [[Tunisia]], [[Turkey]], [[Ukraine]], [[Vatican City]], [[Vietnam]]
;Blue: [[Belarus]], [[Finland]] ''(1st class)'', [[Faroe Islands]], Germany ''(many private postal companies)'', [[Guernsey]], [[Alderney]], [[Dominican Republic]], [[Sark]], Italy ''(Air Mail only)'', United Kingdom ''(Air Mail – 1933–1940)'', [[Portugal]] ''(1st Class (Blue Mail) only)'', [[Sweden]] ''(local mail)'', Russia, United States
;Green: [[People's Republic of China|China]], Hong Kong ''(red before 1997)'', [[Republic of China|Taiwan]] ''(regular mail)'', [[Sudan]] ''([[SudaPost]])'', [[Republic of Ireland]] ''(red before 1922)'', ''Some heritage boxes in the United Kingdom, notably [[Stoke on Trent]], [[Rochester, Kent|Rochester]] and [[Scunthorpe]]''
;Orange: [[Czech Republic]], [[Estonia]], [[Indonesia]], [[Netherlands]] (''[[TNT N.V.]]/[[PostNL]] (red before 2006))''
;White: [[San Marino]], Singapore
;Gray: [[Philippines]]
;Gold: United Kingdom ''(only for [[2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics gold post boxes|2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics gold medal winners]])''<ref name="ennisgold">{{cite news |date=8 August 2012 |title=Jessica Ennis gold postbox in Sheffield vandalised |publisher=[[BBC]] |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-19177730 |access-date=8 August 2012 |quote=A postbox that was painted gold in [[Jessica Ennis]]'s home city of Sheffield, to celebrate her Olympic triumph, has been vandalised.}}</ref><ref name="trottgold">{{cite news |date=8 August 2012 |title=Laura Trott golden postbox painted in Harlow by mistake |publisher=[[BBC]] |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19137832 |access-date=8 August 2012 |quote=The Royal Mail has promised to paint a postbox in Olympic cycle champion [[Laura Kenny|Laura Trott]]'s home town gold, after first painting one in the wrong place.}}</ref><ref name="ukgoldboxes">In 2012 UK post boxes mostly in the hometowns of [[Team GB]] gold medal winners in the [[2012 Summer Olympics]] were painted gold.</ref>
;Black: United Kingdom ''(only for 2020 [[Black History Month#United Kingdom (1987)|Black History Month]])''<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54344961|title=Black History Month: Postboxes painted to honour black Britons|date=30 September 2020|work=[[BBC News]]|access-date=1 October 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/01/some-efforts-to-mark-black-history-month-tokenistic-say-activists|title=Activists criticise 'tokenistic' efforts after rebrand of Royal Mail postboxes|last=Rawlinson|first=Kevin|date=1 October 2020|work=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=1 October 2020}}</ref>