A Leicestershire first
Nicky Morgan MP has unveiled one of Leicestershire’s first parcel postboxes on Prince William Road, Loughborough.
As part of our six-month roll out of the UK’s first ever parcel postboxes to make sending parcels as easy as posting letters, the introduction of the first parcel postboxes in Loughborough means that customers can now send parcels with pre-paid postage and their returns in the same way that they do letters.
The 1,400 parcel postboxes are being positioned on high streets, at mail centres and in other convenient locations across 38 towns and cities, including Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff and Leeds, allowing small businesses and online marketplace sellers to despatch customer orders using Click & Drop, our market leading online labelling system.
The new parcel postboxes provide added flexibility to online sellers who might be running a business in their spare time and not keeping regular office hours. Customers will also be able to post some return parcels, using a Royal Mail barcode, at any time, seven days a week.
Our launch of parcel postboxes across the UK will see the conversion of existing meter boxes, which include a wider aperture and secure design. The initiative follows a successful trial of the boxes in 2018.
This is the first time parcel postboxes have been widely introduced in the UK, and represents the first major change of use for the postbox since it was introduced 160 years ago. The launch of parcel postboxes is also one of the biggest innovations in parcels since the launch of Parcel Post in 1883.
Rt Hon Nicky Morgan, Member of Parliament for Loughborough and Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport, said: ‘Small businesses are at the heart of our local economy and, given the changing way we shop and do business, with the rise of the internet and e-commerce, I welcome Royal Mail’s commitment to enable small businesses and marketplace sellers to post pre-paid parcels in the same way they currently post letters.’
