| A post box is a special lockable box, meant for collecting letters and postcards.
The history of the post box:
Stone-made mail boxes were established by the crew of Britain’s ships in the 16th century at Cape of Good Hope for handing over letters onto other ships. Similar stone boxes were available with Dutch seamen.
In the 18th century, ship captains traveling from England to America, used linen bags as mail boxes, which were hung in the halls of hotels and in coffee houses for the collecting of letters.
In Austria, the mail box was hanging on the belt of the postman and he carried it with him.
In Germany, mail boxes were of big sizes and distinguished by decorative elegance and woodcarving.
In London (Great Britain), express mail boxes were created. The sender dropped a letter into such a box and a coin to pay for the services and pressed the special lever and with the help of a signal that was issued at the nearest post office about the receipt of the letter. Having received the signal, a courier was sent from the post office to collect the letter.
Types of post boxes, with respect to correspondence type:
For incoming correspondence — for collecting the mail of a specific subscriber; it can be kept at the residence address (for individuals) or at the actual address (for legal bodies);
For outgoing correspondence — for collecting outgoing letters and postcards; it is mounted near post offices and also at key locations in inhabited sectors. |
