Royal Mail has been in the news today, requesting for new legislation for setting the appropriate height for a letter box opening. This has been brought on my the increasing back and knee problems by postmen who constantly have to bend to deliver mail into low letterplates usually sited on front doors. Of course another problem with low letter plate openings is that they are at pet height. A growing number of postmen are getting bitten by dogs as a result of this (over 3000 attacks in 2018). In some extreme cases, postmen have actually had fingers bitten off. Having the letterplate too high has also caused injury to post men and women, although the main issue is the very low letterbox openings with many as low as 15cm from the ground.

This is not new, Royal Mail first requested new legislation way back in the 1950's. In those days they asked that letter openings in doors should not be below 2' 9" (840mm) and not higher than 4' 9" (1450mm). Some years ago Ireland, Portugal and Belgium introduced laws to govern the height a letter opening needed to be sited.

These days, the request is to have the letterplate between 700mm and 1700mm from the ground. Royal Mail are not asking for this height range to be compulsory but are suggesting that future builds should work within these boundaries. This however is far from ideal especially when there is no space to put a mail opening, a full glass door for instance.

The obvious solution is to place your letterbox opening elsewhere. Depending on the property, a front opening mailbox could be placed on a suitable area to the side of the door. The Lettasafe Kingsbury and Bloomsbury front retrieval mailboxes are ideal for this application. The letterboxes have a lockable front access door which is supplied with 2 keys and are simply screwed to the wall securely with the fixings supplied. Mail is delivered into the waterproof letter container keeping your letters safe and dry and preventing draughts entering the property. The mailbox can be sited at any height which would encourage the postman to be more careful with your mail and small parcel deliveries. Of course with the British weather, your mailbox needs to be protected as well as being secure and looking good. The castings for Lettersafe post boxes are made from solid LM6 aluminium which is treated and given a powder coat primer before a final low bake powder coat enamel finish in a choice of colours and finishes. For even more durability the centre sleeve is made from galvanized steel and the internal fittings are made from stainless steel or solid brass.

If you prefer for your mail to be delivered inside your home we supply a range of through wall letterboxes and chutes. Our range of through the wall mail boxes covers every eventuality. From small mail chutes for transferring letters into a porch or garage to complete mail collection letterboxes for fitting into brick piers. We also manufacture large opening mailboxes with secure lockable collection boxes for small to medium sized parcels and packages.