Royal Mail has placed a notice on the postbox outside Old Sarum View, Stratford Road, advising that effective from 10 July, 'the final collection of mail from this postbox will be made no earlier than
9 am'. Recently this postbox has been the only one on Stratford Road to have an afternoon collection at 4 pm.
Other postboxes on Stratford Road at Dean's Farm, Castle Cottage and by the junction with Waters Road, are already advertising that the last collections are made at 9 am Monday to Friday and 7 am on Saturdays with no Sunday collections. (If the 'last' collection is at 9 am, then in practice surely this can only result in it being the ONLY collection for that day? Ed.)
There is a priority postbox at the Royal Mail Delivery Office in Fisherton Street, near the railway station where the final collection is made at 6.45 pm Monday to Friday and 1 pm on Saturdays with no Sunday service. Afternoon collections are also made from the Post Office inside Waitrose.
Royal Mail advises that the reason for this change is:
"In order to improve efficiency we're reviewing our mail collection arrangements and revising collection times."
There are around 115,000 postboxes across the UK and with a significant decline in letter volumes, many postboxes contain very few items of mail.
Our village history group has looked at Kelly's Directory of Wiltshire for 1903, 120 years ago, for the last collection times then. It was 8.45 pm.
Post office. - Mrs Sabina Newman, sub postmistress. Letters arrive from Salisbury at 4:00 am; delivered at 6:30 am; dispatched at 1:20 & 8:45 pm; Sunday 6:00 pm…….. Wall letterboxes, adjacent to Deans farm, cleared at 1:10 & 8:15 pm Sundays at 5:40 pm ; Stratford road, cleared at 12:30 & 8:30 pm; Sundays, 5:30 pm
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