What are these boxes?

dublincc2

I’ve seen a few around my area, I know they are something to do with An Post but I’m not sure what. They aren’t letterboxes, they have a door that’s accessed by a keyhole and that’s it. The stranger part is that they seem to disappear, for example one where I live was there for several years and then disappeared for another few years and it’s now back again, another one was gone for a few months and the same one is back there now, so they obviously are not fixed.

Skerries

enable protocol 17! someone has spotted them!

SuperBowserWorld

Post office boxes.

Places they leave mail for delivery nearby I guess.

dublincc2

Better quality image

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121694792#Comment_121694792

Yes, as far as I know, they are drop-off points where the vans leave local post so that the ladies and gents on bikes/foot can pick them up without having to return to the PO distribution office.

dublincc2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121694812#Comment_121694812

I have seen post office vans parked beside them, but how does that explain their removal and reinstalling every few months?

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121694889#Comment_121694889

Maybe people are tampering with them, breaking them.

dublincc2

I believe there is an electrical connection to the boxes because I have heard humming when walking past.

Part of the reason I’m so curious is many years ago my daughter was on her bike and turned a corner and hit her head off one of them. I assumed at the time it was an electricity box of some sort because of the noise from it but then I saw the An Post vans beside them.

dublincc2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121694898#Comment_121694898

Not in my area, and there’s no damage done, they are in just the same condition when they return.

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121695309#Comment_121695309

Hmmmm.

I'd call the post office and just ask what are they doing.

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121694889#Comment_121694889

They can't take the secret-agent out at the kerbside, he needs to be unbuckled and removed back at the mail-handling centers.

Sam Russell

They are either for mail delivery purposes or for collection of franked mail.

If they appear and disappear, it would not make sense for franked mail as they would be required to always be in the same place. So I would assume they are for mail delivery, which would allow a postie on a bike to pick up more mail mid round.

Just a point of interest, I have not seen the electric bikes with a big box on the back for quite a while, so maybe this is a new approach.

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121695739#Comment_121695739

Carickmines (Foxrock) use the bike-caravan thingy on some of their routes.

Sam Russell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121695774#Comment_121695774

Our postie had one before Christmas, but now back on the bike. I have not seen one in a while, but then I am hibernating (or so it seems).

Allinall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121694900#Comment_121694900

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121695405#Comment_121695405

This is specific to agents code named "Humming Bird".

BoardsBottler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058333886/what-are-these-boxes

Honestly i've no idea, can only speculate. could be an emergency defib or first aid kit inside, or some spare battery thing if postal vehicles break down, or something for post men to use to put the returned letters into without having to leave route and go back to the office. not really sure to be honest. Could even be a 4g/5g signal thingy, or something the miltary has scattered around public places so they can jam signals or do a power cut at the touch of a button, or emergency weapons for the police incase of an uprising or martial law lol. Really though i have no idea and i would like to know also. Maybe a phone.

Well there's only one way for us to know whats inside it, smash it open!

Best of luck to everyone wanting to know whats in these.

BoardsBottler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121694898#Comment_121694898

yeah but in fairness they're totally asking for it

i dont agree with destruction of property, but they could be where some clampers keep their clamps locked up instead of carrying them around all the time maybe?

bk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121696098#Comment_121696098

Err... Clampers use vans, they keep their clamps in the van.

BoardsBottler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121696305#Comment_121696305

yes normally, but i can imagine them having some nearby for back up lol. incase who knows what.

either way i'm only guessing and speculating. How much does a clamp even weigh? i imagine they are heavy.

what do you think could be inside these boxes? maybe money? car battery to recharge civil vehicles?

bk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121696426#Comment_121696426

You wouldn’t be able to fit even one clamp in a small box that size!

It is clearly an An Post box, might be the local post workers lunch :)

BoardsBottler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121696481#Comment_121696481

food? FOOD! FREE FOOD! what are you waiting for? SMASH IT AND GET THE FREE MEAL! its an adult version of a kinder egg!! there could be a toy inside! A SEX TOY!! LMAO!! i'm having a right laugh with these boxes!

all jokes aside though, to everyone reading: i don't condone breaking any of these just to be nosey, its more fun to speculate and guess at what they could be, breaking them is not only destruction of property and illegal, but also takes all the fun out of it entirely

zg3409

These boxes are used by post people on bikes. The vans drop the presorted mail to these boxes along the route. With the number of parcels now and less bills by post more vans are used than bikes but they still have parcel specific van deliveries on bike routes.

If they change the delivery routes then they might move them.

p_haugh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121695909#Comment_121695909

Spotted one of the electric box bikes in Clonskeagh the other week, then further along towards Milltown another postie was out on a normal pedal bike.

Our local postie parks his van up just inside the entrance of our estate and does most of the deliveries by foot, presumably going back to the van to restock as required. Previous postie went around by bike, but he retired a number of years ago now!

wench

Our postie is normally on a bike. When things are busy, he has a van, which he parks up, takes his bike out of the back, and does the route in chunks.

HeidiHeidi

Electric bikes with giant boxes on the back on the go all over D8 and D4 - they look like mighty yokes!

irishgeo

Our postman was pissed off they took his bike off him and give him a electric van. Too many parcels for the bike even though we have a parcel van delivery later in the day.

It I have seem mail being left in these boxes.

It could allow the postman to head off early with the mail for his early part of the round and his mates then sort the rest of the mail and drop it off for him to collect or the way to their own round in the van.

xper

Many years ago, there were all sorts of local ad hoc arrangements for staff on van routes to drop off second or third bags for staff on walking or bike routes - sub postoffice, newsagents, the unlocked porch of a private house in one case, whatever. A couple of staff used their private cars to get around their route. Managers would look the other way, just don't get caught.

I suppose somebody finally decided that ir had to be dealt with and these drop off boxes were rolled out to provide an official, secure solution. The giant cargo bikes is the other option.