Post box

[11] The four-footed, free-standing U.S. Mail collection box was first suggested in 1894, following the successful use of such designs in Canada, and quickly became a fixture on American city street corners.

Beginning in 1909, all mail collection boxes were painted a dark green to avoid confusion with emergency and fire equipment.

On 4 July 1955, Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield announced that the Post Office would begin painting all mail collection boxes in red, white, and blue to make them easily identifiable.

Subsequently, the Post Office began painting mail collection boxes in red and blue, with white lettering.

[14][15] In 1971 the United States Postal Service changed mail collection boxes to the current USPS Dark Blue with contrasting lettering.

[12][15][16] The coming of the automobile also influenced American mailbox design, and in the late 1930s, an extension chute or "snorkel" to drive-up curbside collection boxes was adopted.

[11] Beginning in 2019 in New York City, the United States Postal Service began replacing collection boxes with a new model with a thin slit for the insertion of letters, instead of the former pull-down flap, in order to prevent "fishing" for valuable mail.

[17][18] [19] In 1500, a Portuguese sea captain named Pêro de Ataíde lost much of his fleet in a storm off the Southern Cape.

He wrote a message reporting the damage and a warning relating the state of affairs in India, for future Portuguese captains to avoid Calicut, which was now hostile.

Ataíde tucked the message in a boot dangling from a milkwood tree near a spring where sailors often drew water, Aguada de São Brás (Mossel Bay).

Miraculously, the message was retrieved by its intended recipient, João da Nova, admiral of the outgoing 3rd armada, the very next year.

The tree became a de facto post office box, where sailors would exchange letters protected in boots, iron pots, or beneath rocks.

A large post office box shaped like a giant boot has been constructed beneath the tree, where people can send letters anywhere in the world and receive a special stamp.

[12][21] Locks are fitted for security, so mail can be retrieved only by official postal employees, and the box will ordinarily be constructed so as to resist damage from vandalism, forcible entry, or other causes.

[23][24] Entry openings are designed to allow the free deposit of mail, yet prevent retrieval via the access slot by unauthorised persons.

Royal Mail say they needed to increase the type size of the wording on the plate to help those with poor sight, and so there was not enough room to list all collection times throughout the day.