'Postboxes of future' coming to Sunderland

A NORTH East city will be among the areas to get new postboxes which people can use to send parcels as large as a shoebox. Royal Mail is rolling out 3,500 solar-powered "postboxes of the future" across the UK.

- SONIA SHARMA

These will feature a barcode scanner and a digitally-activated drop-down drawer so customers can send parcels. The new design the biggest change to the postbox in its 175-year history was trialled in Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire earlier this year.

It will now be installed in cities including Edinburgh, Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield and Sunderland. Customers scan a barcode on the Royal Mail app to open the drawer, which is designed for parcels too large to fit through the traditional slot.