You can soon be your own post office

Long way to the nearest post office? By the end of the year it may be possible to send letters and parcels directly from the mailbox at home.

Main Post Office in Stavanger. Photo: Norway Today media

– I had a letter at home for several days, which I did not send. Then I received a letter from the Postal service whether I would participate in a test involving sending mail from my own mailbox. It suddenly became very easy to do something about it.

Constance Hauser has just used the mailbox for the opposite of what she usually does – she has posted instead of retrieving.

As one of 10,000 Norwegians, she has been invited to a new trial under the auspices of the Postal service. This means sending letters and packages straight from the traditional box outside the home to anywhere in the country.

No stamps

In order to send the package off you need to use your kitchen scales. The packet size is limited to two kilograms and obviously the size of your mailbox. After that you need to enter the Posten.no website.

– Here you will receive a shipping code with payment. This depends on the weight and size of the package. I write the code in the corner of the package, where it would be natural to apply a postage stamp, Hauser says.

– I think the solution is awesome. It will be so much more convenient for the customer, says postman Kjell Anker Stengård.

The mailbox will be part of the future

Mailboxes. Photo: Norway Today Media

The idea was, among other things, that Posten discovered high trade between individuals. Press Officer in the Postal service, John Eckhoff, thinks it will make it easier for people to make use of buy & sell sites like Finn.no.

– It’s so easy when you can just put the package right in the mailbox outside. Norwegians mostly like digital services, and are fond of self-service. I think this is something they will be open to.

If the trial is the success the Postal service hopes, 2.4 million mailboxes will be part of the digital life in the future. Eckhoff wants to preserve mailboxes in future development.

– No matter how digital we become, we will still send physical things to each other. Hand knitted socks, forgotten books and love letters will now get a renaissance, he says.