--- description: Find out why Royal Mail Postbox of the Future earned a special mention on TIME's list of 2025's best inventions. title: Royal Mail Postbox of the Future: The Best Inventions of 2025: Special Mentions image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9c608a12884a58e/6998caa4e1ba00148498e014/solar-powered-postboxes-TIME-best-inventions-2025.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Oct 09, 2025 # Royal Mail Postbox of the Future Solar-powered smart mailboxes by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Courtesy Royal Mail After a successful trial run in Stevenage, the Royal Mail is rolling out 3,500 of their smart, solar-powered postboxes across the U.K. with a larger opening for big packages and a barcode scanner that can provide proof of post. These are independent reviews of the products mentioned, but TIME receives a commission when purchases are made through affiliate links at no additional cost to the purchaser. Royal Mail Postbox of the Future: The Best Inventions of 2025: Special Mentions ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-special-mentions/7320820/royal-mail-postbox-of-the-future/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-special-mentions/7320820/royal-mail-postbox-of-the-future/"},"headline":"Royal Mail Postbox of the Future","datePublished":"2025-10-09T11:20:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T11:55:01.256Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-special-mentions/7320820/royal-mail-postbox-of-the-future/","keywords":["Tech","E-Commerce","list","franchise","Magazine","best inventions","Special Project","sponsorshipblock","Accolades","Best Inventions 2025"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9c608a12884a58e/6998caa4e1ba00148498e014/solar-powered-postboxes-TIME-best-inventions-2025.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9c608a12884a58e/6998caa4e1ba00148498e014/solar-powered-postboxes-TIME-best-inventions-2025.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-special-mentions/7320820/royal-mail-postbox-of-the-future/","name":"Royal Mail Postbox of the Future"}}]}] ```