Trust Royal Mail to send your letters and parcels. We've been delivering mail in the UK for over 500 years. Compare prices for posting in the UK and abroad, buy stamps and redirect your mail if you move house. Following a successful trial in 2018, Royal Mail is now set to introduce the UK’s first ever parcel postboxes in locations across the UK. Royal Mail Postboxes has 688 members. This group is for photos of Royal Mail (and equivalent overseas) Postboxes. To be clear these are boxes where you post letters to await collection by the postal service, rather than mail boxes at the edge of your property. Photos are welcome of either just the box, or landscape photos that include a box. Find Your Nearest Postbox. Britain got her first post boxes during the 1850s. Apart from a short period when we posted mail in ‘anonymous’ post boxes, so called as they did not carry a royal cipher, (sometimes spelled cypher), the Post Office quickly settled on using the cipher of the reigning monarch on all letter boxes.

• Location: UK

Royal Mail: Black Postboxes by Royal Mail

Royal Mail will has unveiled four special-edition black postboxes around the UK to mark the beginning of this year’s Black History Month.

The social media-activated postboxes are painted black with a striking gold trim, and each feature a figure of significance to the British black community, who has also appeared on a Special Stamp.

Those featured include: Sir Lenny Henry CBE; Yinka Shonibare CBE RA; John Barnes, Nicola Adams and Marianne Jean-Baptiste

The postboxes highlight the prominence and nationwide success of all the Black Britons featured.

A full list of Black Britons who have appeared on Special Stamps over the years can be found by scanning a QR code on the boxes, which link through to a dedicated online gallery on the Royal Mail.

If you’ve ordered a postal test, the process couldn’t be simpler. Your testing kit will arrive with a leaflet of information, which includes clear and detailed information on what exactly you will need to do.

Post Office Boxes Size

While the test itself is relatively simple, sending your sample back can be tricky, as you need to find a ‘priority postbox’.

So what is a priority postbox, and how can you find your nearest?

Here's everything you need to know.

What is a priority postbox?

(Image: Royal Mail)

What is a priority postbox?

The Royal Mail describes itself as a “key partner for the government's coronavirus testing programme.”

'We are collecting completed test kits from priority postboxes or from homes as part of the government programme,” it’s said.

It’s likely you’ll be asked to post your completed coronavirus test kit to one of Royal Mail’s 35,000 specially selected priority postboxes. These can be identified by the NHS/Royal Mail sticker affixed to them.

If you are expecting your local postbox to carry such a sticker, but you arrive to find it does not, you can still use it, though Royal Mail requests you let them know by calling 0345 266 8038 Monday to Friday 8am – 6pm.

There's nothing else special from a visual standpoint about these post boxes other than their stickers.

How does a priority postbox work?

The idea behind priority postboxes is that the Royal Mail can use them to get completed test kits back to the NHS as quickly as possible.

Designating certain post boxes as priority ones can also help to reduce the number of post boxes that are used to collect coronavirus samples.

This means fewer postboxes come into contact with the virus, thus minimising the risk of spreading the infection.

Royal Mail says it has worked “in partnership with the Chief Medical Officer to ensure that the process is safe for our colleagues.”

How do I find my nearest priority postbox?

(Photo: Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Details on how to find your nearest priority postbox are laid out clearly in the instruction booklet that arrives with your test kit.

But if you’re still having trouble, you will also be able to find your nearest priority postbox on the Royal Mail app or the Royal Mail website.

If you’re unable to access a computer or smart device, you can call 0345 266 8038.

This line is open 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday.

For more information on the Royal Mail’s priority post boxes, head to the website

Royal Mail Priority Post Box

A version of this article originally appeared on our sister title, the Scotsman