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Can people in the UK not send outgoing letters by putting them in their mailbox and raising the little outgoing mail flag? Is that a uniquely American thing?

cbracken 6y ago
As a Canadian who has been in the US close to 10 years, this is the first I've heard of this! I had always assumed the flag was meant to be set by the letter carrier in some bygone era as a courtesy to let residents know they had mail. Thank you, kind internet stranger. To answer the question, this service doesn't exist in any other country I've lived in -- Canada or Japan, in my case.
- deleted 6y ago
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- nkrisc 6y ago
  > I had always assumed the flag was meant to be set by the letter carrier in some bygone era as a courtesy to let residents know they had mail. Even as an American I used to think this, but because I grew up in a large city where all mail collection was from a mail box at the corner of the block. It wasn't until I moved to a sprawling suburb did I have my own mailbox at the end of the driveway and I got to use that little flag thing for the first time.
jinglebells 6y ago
Most houses don't have an external mailbox, the mail goes through the front door and into a basket. A lot of houses on terraced streets have no front garden and open directly onto the road, especially in cities. There is doorstep letter and parcel collection for less than a dollar. https://send.royalmail.com/ https://send.royalmail.com/
rswail 6y ago
I've never heard of it outside the US. In Australia, you post something by putting it in a post box, they're located in shopping areas and have specified collection times, usually daily on weekdays. Of course, you can also go into the post office and deal with a human who will take the postage $ as needed. These days, the number of times I've posted something can be counted in low single digits per year. Mostly dealing with government forms that need signatures because stupid reasons.
rndgermandude 6y ago
Does not exist in Germany either. Most of our regular mail delivery is done by foot or bicycle, except in very sparse rural areas. And our mailboxes have locks anyway. So it's either the post office or a street mail drop-off box/pillar box. Nobody I know does regularly post letters anyway, it's more in the range of 1-2 letters a year if even that.
benplumley 6y ago
In the UK, there's normally a postbox serving a whole street that people can put letters in to send (distinct from the letterbox in each house's front door). GP's nearest postbox might have been inside their local post office, or they might just have needed to buy stamps.

cbracken 6y ago

As a Canadian who has been in the US close to 10 years, this is the first I've heard of this! I had always assumed the flag was meant to be set by the letter carrier in some bygone era as a courtesy to let residents know they had mail. Thank you, kind internet stranger. To answer the question, this service doesn't exist in any other country I've lived in -- Canada or Japan, in my case.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
nkrisc 6y ago
> I had always assumed the flag was meant to be set by the letter carrier in some bygone era as a courtesy to let residents know they had mail. Even as an American I used to think this, but because I grew up in a large city where all mail collection was from a mail box at the corner of the block. It wasn't until I moved to a sprawling suburb did I have my own mailbox at the end of the driveway and I got to use that little flag thing for the first time.

jinglebells 6y ago

Most houses don't have an external mailbox, the mail goes through the front door and into a basket. A lot of houses on terraced streets have no front garden and open directly onto the road, especially in cities. There is doorstep letter and parcel collection for less than a dollar. https://send.royalmail.com/ https://send.royalmail.com/

rswail 6y ago

I've never heard of it outside the US. In Australia, you post something by putting it in a post box, they're located in shopping areas and have specified collection times, usually daily on weekdays. Of course, you can also go into the post office and deal with a human who will take the postage $ as needed. These days, the number of times I've posted something can be counted in low single digits per year. Mostly dealing with government forms that need signatures because stupid reasons.

rndgermandude 6y ago

Does not exist in Germany either. Most of our regular mail delivery is done by foot or bicycle, except in very sparse rural areas. And our mailboxes have locks anyway. So it's either the post office or a street mail drop-off box/pillar box. Nobody I know does regularly post letters anyway, it's more in the range of 1-2 letters a year if even that.

benplumley 6y ago

In the UK, there's normally a postbox serving a whole street that people can put letters in to send (distinct from the letterbox in each house's front door). GP's nearest postbox might have been inside their local post office, or they might just have needed to buy stamps.