Low level letter boxes

[postperson46]

Are low level letter boxes banned on new builds?

[einastronaut]

No. Every so often an MP picks up the cause and tries to raise it in parliament but they never manage to get it to a vote. New builds all over our DO are still installing them. In the meantime, they're the letters you boil when you would otherwise have to cut off that day. Consider them second class letter boxes.

[postperson46]

Thanks for the reply

[SpacePhoenix]

No. Every so often an MP picks up the cause and tries to raise it in parliament but they never manage to get it to a vote. New builds all over our DO are still installing them. In the meantime, they're the letters you boil when you would otherwise have to cut off that day. Consider them second class letter boxes.

Politically it's probably considered a very low priority when there's probably still plenty of Brexit related legislation to deal with

[yellowbelly]

No. Every so often an MP picks up the cause and tries to raise it in parliament but they never manage to get it to a vote. New builds all over our DO are still installing them. In the meantime, they're the letters you boil when you would otherwise have to cut off that day. Consider them second class letter boxes.

Politically it's probably considered a very low priority when there's probably still plenty of Brexit related legislation to deal with

It's a (obviously minor) part of a review of Building Regs following Grenfell.

[wallan]

CWU should have Shares in the Major House Builders & ask Questions at the AGM,s as to why this is still hapening

[dohnut]

I hate these things, have 5 in a row on one of my streets, and nearly every time someone has new door fitted it’s a low level letterbox.

[RICARD020191962]

New estate in my area of over 200 houses, every one got letter box approximately 9 inches from the ground.
My fingers are getting ripped to shreds trying to force pizza leaflets through from an impossible angle.
Getting majorly hacked off but what can you do?

[redneck]

Wasn't it banned by the EU? But we now are in a new world where these are allowed by our lords and ladies?

[weedkiller]

I had a new build development - all the new houses have low level slots the older properties have "Sterling Elegance" outside boxes which are equally awkward - Fixing screws inside obstruct letter as it needs bending to drop in. C4 materials and flyers need both hands to deliver. The foreman of the building company has been really helpful when new residents move in and the houses are defined by site numbers rather than door numbers and always was available to assist me finding the address. I told him I would love to meet the architect who specified all the low level letterboxes as they were difficult to access. He was genuinely concerned and said it had never crossed his mind that all the shiny new slots presented a problem for posties.

So there is a complete lack of awareness and "we" Royal Mail and the union are responsible. Just needs to be put in the building regs same as wider disabled friendly doors - Light switches and sockets "Easily reachable .... between 450 and 1200mm above FFL" etc etc. Union should be lobbying government on this with a strong dedicated team. It is our backs that are suffering.

The whole system - domestic and commercial - of receiving letters and parcels needs a complete overhaul and the pandemic has proved it. Hardly an address anywhere in the country that is:
1. easily found by a delivery driver, emergency ambulance etc
2. capable of receiving a large letter, packet or parcel that can be left secure and all without accessing the sleepy/busy/absent resident (By far the greatest cause of delay in my opinion).

Present arrangements are completely inefficient in every way. How fast would you get round if every delivery was a one handed drop into a sensible unobstructed box with possibly a scan of well positioned QR code for proof of delivery.

Time for radical changes to building regulations. They did it for disabled and for energy efficiency. Time to do it for deliveries

Maybe Amazon will design and specify - and sell a new receptacle which will be reachable by van drivers (and robots and drones!!). Discounted delivery if you have it. Extra charge if you don't. That should get the ball rolling

[SpacePhoenix]

1. easily found by a delivery driver, emergency ambulance etc

It should be made law for every property to have it's house/building number, house/building name (if there is one) clearly visible from the roadside

2. capable of receiving a large letter, packet or parcel that can be left secure and all without accessing the sleepy/busy/absent resident (By far the greatest cause of delay in my opinion).

Not 100% practical, if another courier has already delivered an item then any receptacle won't be available to use. If it is still available to use then it's not a safe place and so will still have to go back to the DO

[TopperGas]

1. easily found by a delivery driver, emergency ambulance etc

It should be made law for every property to have it's house/building number, house/building name (if there is one) clearly visible from the roadside

2. capable of receiving a large letter, packet or parcel that can be left secure and all without accessing the sleepy/busy/absent resident (By far the greatest cause of delay in my opinion).

Not 100% practical, if another courier has already delivered an item then any receptacle won't be available to use. If it is still available to use then it's not a safe place and so will still have to go back to the DO

Not true, I deliver to a customer where the parcels drop into the box from a shelf when you close the lid, there's no way, without the key, to gain access to the parcels previously delivered.

An alternative is to move to larger letterboxes where the majority of packages i.e. Boohoo/Zara/M&S clothing etc could fit though, the standard size letterbox for letters is really no longer viable, or have parcel boxes with entry only access, I wonder if any other country is ahead of the UK on that score?

[weedkiller]

1. easily found by a delivery driver, emergency ambulance etc

It should be made law for every property to have it's house/building number, house/building name (if there is one) clearly visible from the roadside

Or make everyone add the geographic co-ordinates to their address
10 Downing Street,
LONDON,
SW1A2AA,
51.5034° N, 0.1276° W

[TrueBlueTerrier]

It should be made law for every property to have it's house/building number, house/building name (if there is one) clearly visible from the roadside

It is already against the law - Towns Improvement Clauses Act 1847 as amended (latest 2016)

Numbers of houses to be renewed by occupiers.
The occupiers of houses and other buildings in the streets shall mark their houses with such numbers as the commissioners approve of, and shall renew such numbers as often as they become obliterated or defaced; and every such occupier who fails, within one week after notice for that purpose from the commissioners, to mark his house with a number approved of by the commissioners, or to renew such number when obliterated, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding [F22[F23£20]][F22level 1 on the standard scale], and the commissioners shall cause such numbers to be marked or to be renewed, as the case may require, and the expense thereof shall be repaid to them by such occupier and shall be recoverable as damages.

[mjd24]

1. easily found by a delivery driver, emergency ambulance etc

It should be made law for every property to have it's house/building number, house/building name (if there is one) clearly visible from the roadside

Or make everyone add the geographic co-ordinates to their address
10 Downing Street,
LONDON,
SW1A2AA,
51.5034° N, 0.1276° W

Or their what3words words.