Why are mailboxes red

It is a rare example of a piece of street furniture that perhaps more than any other object helps create a quintessentially British landscape. The red phone box is largely gone. The red postbox remains. The denizens of conservation areas still jealously hang on to their heritage phone boxes. But will the red postbox face the same fate, reduced to a pleasant rarity? Many of us still give directions to our own homes using the cast-iron box as a landmark. Its design has changed little since For many communities, they are a reassuring presence - a cheerful, red splash that has stood out on British streets for a more than a century and a half.

But with privatisation looming - possibly this year - are other colours set to usurp the familiar red? There is now an inexorable shift to email from the traditional letter. The peak for Royal Mail deliveries was in when some 84 million items were delivered every working day. Today it's roughly 58 million, according to Royal Mail. Much of that is business mail that never plops through a traditional postbox.

The first pillar boxes were erected at St Helier in Jersey in , at the recommendation of novelist Anthony Trollope - who was an employee of the General Post Office at the time. The first boxes were erected in Britain a year later. Designs varied but in an improved cylindrical design was adopted for standard use nationwide. While the USPS doesn't require homeowners or property developers to use a specific color for their mailboxes, it does require the use of specific carrier flag colors.

Under the USPS's requirements, the carrier flag on curbside mailboxes can be any color except green, brown, blue, yellow or white. Why can't you use a signal flag in one of these colors? They are typically the least visible when used with traditional curbside mailboxes, meaning mail couriers could fail to see a raised carrier flag if it's green, brown, blue, yellow or white.

You can choose any color for your curbside mailboxes, but it needs to contrast with the color of the carrier flag. In other words, you can't use a black mailbox with a dark gray or indigo carrier flag, nor can you use a red mailbox with a pink carrier flag. The color of your curbside mailboxes must contrast with their respective carrier flag.

The purpose of using contrasting colors is to improve the visibility of the carrier flag. If features a similar shade or tone as the mailbox itself, mail couriers may not see it. Welcome to Forsite! They are relatively affordable and simple to install.

Click here to see peel and stick replacement mailbox flag on Amazon. You might need a way for your mail to get picked up before you have a chance to install a flag. Fortunately, you still have some options. You can try to place the mail in a way that the carrier can see that it needs to be collected. However, there is always a chance your mail carrier might think the mail in your mailbox was delivered from a previous day.

You can also choose to place a sticky note on the mailbox. This will notify your carrier that you have mail to be picked up. There are also some cute magnets that can be attached to magnetic mailboxes to notify your mail carrier that you have mail needing to be collected.

Mail carriers are required to stop at mailboxes that have the flag up whether they have incoming mail or not. Keep this in mind when deciding the best way to signal your mail carrier to collect your outgoing mail. Otherwise, if you want to be extra sure your mail will be sent, drop it off at your local post office or post office box. Putting the mailbox flag up signals to the mail carrier that you have outgoing mail you need to be collected.

You can also have the mailbox flag pointing out. Whether the flag is up or out, as long as the flag is in a position that differs from its usual spot, your mail carrier will understand that you have mail to send. The most common and easiest mailbox flag color to buy is red.