A Royal Mail postal worker has claimed that one type of homeowner who makes their job more difficult while on their route must be stopped immediately. The anonymous postie took to the R/RoyalMail Reddit community to vent about people who get a new front door but place their letterbox at floor level.
According to the official Royal Mail careers page, postmen and women are expected to be physically fit enough to walk up to 12 miles a day in all weather conditions while carrying heavy bags. While their routes may be five or six miles on paper, once they walk up and down paths or to flat blocks, this number will actually double.
Postie's frustration goes viral
The postie went as far as saying there was a "special place in hell" for people who install low letterboxes. They shared a picture of a front door they delivered to, which showed a note attached to a post box that was previously in use on the wall of the home.
The note read: "Please can you use the new post box located in the door." The postie said: "Aaaarrrrgggghhhh! WHY! A special place in hell is waiting for them."
Fellow workers and public react
The post received hundreds of comments, many from other postal workers who agreed with the employee. One person said: "You wouldn’t put a key hole down there. You wouldn’t put the handle down there. So…"
A second added: "Mark inaccessible. Stupid bloody design which contributes nothing. But form over function I guess. I'm not even a postie but every time I see it, it infuriates me when people make life harder for people doing their job."
A third said: "Sod that! Why are people so inconsiderate, besides, what is wrong with continuing to use the wall mounted post box. Some people!"
Safety concerns and regulations
A fourth added: "It's European law for letterboxes to be 1m from the ground, not in the UK. About 10 years ago someone created a petition to get the law changed, unfortunately it didn't get the minimum 100,000 signatures to get read in parliament."
A fifth said: "Thank you for posting this. Many people here saying that it’s inconsiderate and personally I wouldn’t have even thought. I can now confirm when I get a new door it definitely won’t be one with a postbox at the bottom!"
Royal Mail is regulated by Ofcom, which allows posties not to deliver to homeowners in four exceptional circumstances, including health and safety, difficulty of access, absence of users or anticipatory health and safety closure. Some of these points cover issues such as uncontained or aggressive dogs, verbal abuse, overgrown gardens or inability to safely access a property or letterbox.
Although low-positioned letterboxes in the UK are not currently illegal, they are a major concern for postal workers and have been the target of active political and union campaigns. The Communication Workers Union (CWU) launched low-level letterbox campaigns advocating for safer installation heights. The European Standard EN 13724 recommends a minimum height of 70 cm (about 2 feet 3.5 inches) for mailboxes, though this is not universally enforced for existing doors.
