Those old
familiar
post boxes
may soon
be
disappearing
 

The days of the familiar red post boxes in our streets may be numbered. Despite rendering useful service to the public for over 150 years, the signs are that they are being phased out by reducing their practical worth.

These red metal letter containers, free standing, set into a wall or, more particularly, the famous pillar boxes which can be seen in many streets around the country, have become an iconic symbol of the nation and recognised the world over. They first appeared in Britain in 1853 at the suggestion of Anthony Trollope, the Victorian novelist, then working as a surveyor’s clerk for the Post Office, who had spotted similar roadside boxes in successful use while visiting France and Belgium.

They have been with us ever since, always standing sentinel somewhere in the neighbourhood as a reminder that the Royal Mail was at the ready to deliver a letter or postcard overnight to any address in the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, this service has been in decline for many years and following the government sale of its 60% stake in the business in October 2013 for an undervalued £3.3 billion, it is now widely regarded as unreliable and that economies are in the offing to cut costs. Several months before the deal was done, one of our own postmen here in Bourne predicted that once privatised, the post boxes would be among the first to go and it would appear that he is being proved right with the closure of the one in the foyer at Sainsbury’s supermarket in Exeter Street earlier this year.

Now, changes in collections from many of the others around town, including the one I frequently use in Northfields (pictured above), are being made that will certainly make them less convenient and therefore reduce their usage because the last daily collecting time has been switched from 5.30 pm in the evening to 9 am in the morning on weekdays, 7 am on Saturdays, a ridiculous hour for anyone to post a letter or card and to do so afterwards would mean that it would not be collected until the following day. However, the notice on the box now reminds customers that they can go to either the pillar box in North Road half a mile away where there is a 4 pm collection or to the main Post Office in West Street where the last post is at 6 pm although to catch that, it will now mean a long trek into town with all of the attendant hassle of finding somewhere to park.

It is therefore obvious that fewer items will be posted in these boxes, a situation which will eventually give the Royal Mail the opportunity to withdraw them from service on the grounds that because so few people are using them, they are no longer economical. This seemingly minor change may therefore be regarded as a policy decision to reduce the current postal service even further.

We only have to take a look at the arrangements for posting and delivering letters a century ago to realise how poorly we are now being served. In 1905 for instance, when the postal service had become universally popular and extremely well used, the arrangements were quite surprising when compared with today and Kelly’s Directory for Lincolnshire that year recorded the system operating in Bourne:

Letters from London, by mail cart, via Peterborough, arrive at 4 am and are delivered by 7 am. A second mail arrives at 11 am and is delivered to callers at 11.30 am. A third mail arrives by rail at 2.27 pm and is delivered by 3 pm and a fourth mail at 6 pm and is delivered by 7.20 pm. Letters from Folkingham arrive by mail cart at 7.45 pm and despatched thereto at 4 am. Letter box closes for town and district at 5.45 am, for general despatch at 10.30 am, at 3 pm for all parts, 5.30 pm for Dyke, at 6 pm for Wales, Scotland, Ireland, North and Midlands counties; London and all parts at 7.20 pm and 7.55 pm; Folkingham at 8 pm. Sundays boxes cleared at 7 pm. Wall letter boxes: Eastgate cleared at 8.55 am, 2.30 pm and 7.05 pm; South Street at 8.35 am, 2.20 pm, 3;15 pm and 6.45 pm; West Road at 7.50 am, 4.30 pm and 6.50 pm; North Road at 8.45 am, 3.50 pm and 7 pm.

Tales abound of the confidence the public had in the postal service and any collector of old postcards will know of frequent messages on them telling of an arrival later that day, the card having travelled on the train to its destination only a few hours earlier.

Today, despite the cost having risen to astronomical proportions when compared with the penny post of old, second class mail is likely to be delivered at any time while the delivery of first class mail next morning cannot be guaranteed and even if it does arrive the following day as promised, it may not, as happens in our street, be with you much before lunchtime, sometimes even late afternoon. It therefore appears that the Royal Mail has given up on providing the efficient service for which it was famous of old and with the advancement of electronic technology and the continuing growth of private courier and delivery companies it can only be a matter of time before the entire system is phased out completely and the grandly named Royal Mail consigned to history.

From the archives: The day delivery of letters in Bourne, which previously took place shortly after 3 o’clock in the afternoon, now commences about 11.30 a m. The train, which heretofore was due at Bourne at 10.58 a m, is now timed so as to reach Bourne at 11.20. By this alteration, a letter posted in London early in the morning may be delivered at Bourne the same day about noon. – news item from the Stamford Mercury, Friday 9th November 1860.

WRITTEN DECEMBER 2014

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