Most Home’s have a letterbox of some description and as a postie I have come across many different and unique designs. However, what makes some householders believe in not identifying their homes? Guessing a house number or name is wrong. Mail can go to the wrong customer, emergency services can waste valuable minutes trying to determine which Home or owner needs assistance, deliveries of any kind can be delayed or not delivered and visitors may wander around and thus miss the start of a party.

Placing a simple piece of paper in the window or on the door as a temporary fix whilst choosing a more pleasing design is fine. Think how annoying it would be if the Councils didn’t put up sign posts or street names and you had to guess. When you go shopping and there are no price labels on goods or aisles aren’t identified then see how many complain or have to ask. I guess it’s like the car drivers who use the roads with faulty indicators (😏😏) or who just can’t be arsed to use them to inform other road users but bleat when they are cut up or cause an accident when it was their own stupid actions that caused the incident in the first place. No thought for others.

Now as for letterboxes. On the whole most are quite acceptable but any postie will tell you that there are many that fall very short of this mark. Why place a box at the bottom of at door? Okay, there maybe a fancy window or such like thing preventing its placement in the middle like most normal designs but in these instances either have a wall box or a cut out in the brickwork. No one likes to bend down and struggle so why expect the delivery person. Then there are the vertical slots with the spring arms, fine when both hands are free but a nightmare when carrying a bundle. Then there are the tiny little cast iron boxes that one has to bend a postcard to get though it. Oh and the dog guards that hinder almost everything including the dog and householder.

More recently I have noticed modern house builders are using an almost impossible system on their “safe by design” houses. These new homes do not have a normal key hole lock on the inside of the door but instead employ a turn latch for quick exits in times of emergency. No real problem there until it comes to the prat who thought that they had to put a plate on the back of the letter box to stop one being able to get a hand through the narrow slot and thus turn the lock and gain entry. It results in nothing being able to be posted. Even without this guard in place, and for those with extremely flat hands and arms, it is impossible to reach this lock from the outside so why on earth anyone would deem it necessary to add it is beyond me. It’s like wearing two belts and braces to hold up trousers with an elasticated waistband with ties. Dumb health and safety at its very best with no regard for the delivery persons scraped knuckles and cut fingers and what little mail is delivered is crushed, creased and damaged.

I have come to the conclusion that no letterbox is actually tested by a postman (oh but it looks so good) and it must be so expensive for a house builder to place a number on the sold home that it prohibits them from adding one.

So the next time you come home to your comfy, clean and safe house take a minute to look at a few simple things. Firstly, is there a clear name or number displayed in an obvious place? Secondly, do I have a postbox and is it in a post-friendly position on the door? Finally, is the delivery point actually useable or does it just look good?

If the answer to any of the above is no then sort it out or suffer the consequences of delayed or non-delivered items, damaged deliveries and fatal accidents due to compromised emergency access.

Sometimes it is a really bad idea to be different.