Our flagship General Post Office on O’Connell Street, Dublin, which opened in 1818, remarkably still functions as a post office. Few, if any, other period buildings in the capital still carry out the service for which they were originally constructed. Our public postal service, An Post, still endures, despite many disruptions to its business model in recent years. By the end of this year, in contrast, the Danish postal service will cease deliveries of cards and letters, and only deal with parcels.
What are those tall green cast-iron pillar boxes, those funny slots in walls of buildings, and those green boxes on stands that one sees throughout the country?
Receptacles for stamped cards and letters. Some pillar boxes have been around since before Ireland became a Republic, and bear initials of various former British royalty. There are apparently some 302 historic post boxes in Dublin alone. Some initials are: VR, for Victoria Regina, dates 1937-1901; and some are EVIIR, for Edward VII Rex, dates 1901-1910. These were originally red.
Do people actually send cards, letters or parcels through the post any more?
Enough obviously still do, otherwise we’d be going the way of the Danish postal service. They certainly do at this time of year. Someone is buying those Christmas cards you see in shops from before Halloween is even over. For those who still send festive greetings, they’ll most likely be sending multiple cards.
How much does it cost to post a card or letter these days?
A lot more than it used to. It’s €1.65 to post a card or letter nationally. It’s €2.65 to send one internationally. However, if you buy the Christmas booklet of 15 stamps, the An Post website is offering that for €20.
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Is there still time to send greetings through the post?
It depends where they are going. You have until December 22nd to send cards or letters within Ireland. It’s December 19th for Northern Ireland, December 18th for Britain and Europe, December 10th for the US, and if sending to the “rest of the world”, get your skates on, that deadline is today. Parcel deadlines are even earlier.
What can you send through the post by way of edibles?
Not a recently deceased goose, which used to come wrapped in newspaper, brown paper and string from my aunt and uncle’s Galway farm each Christmas when I was a child. Nor, due to the constantly shifting policies in the US, should you currently send foodstuff such as chocolate, crisps or tea bags. An Post issued an advisory notice in November that such goods may not be accepted: “Declarations with these items listed could be stopped and returned.”
