Solar-powered QR reading postboxes being rolled out across UK
19 comments
·October 29, 2025drweevil
>"The firm [Royal Mail], bought by a Czech billionaire in December..."
I've no words. We're just playthings in a billionaire world.
dan_can_code
That's the UK in a nutshell this past decade. Privatise all of the public services for a quick buck, and slowly but surely the service decays whilst the prices for consumers increases. The trains in the UK are a great example of this.
pas
water companies in England and Wales are perhaps even better
the same sorry ass situation that PG&E is in California, everything is brutally expensive because it's an absolutely shitty old system sustaining an overgrowning fucking sprawl (which coincidentally also means more roads and pipes and less trains and tickets)
jacobp100
The EU were the ones who forced Royal Mail to be privatised
halo
If this is the case, why are many other EU postal services still state-owned (e.g. Ireland, Poland, Cyprus, Greece)? The UK left the EU 5 years ago yet it’s still being used as cover for UK political decisions.
rwmj
Citation definitely needed for this one.
FridayoLeary
Other users have pointed out this isn't entirely accurate but i'm still shocked. My understanding was the job of the eu was to impose continent wide standards to enable free exchange between member states. How does dictating the policy of national postal services achieve any of that?
eszed
Here's more about the guy, and his plans for RM:
maelito
It was a public good for 499 years. Crazy.
Křetínský is well known in France. He's less right wing than the other billionaires buying médias, such as Bolloré.
wartywhoa23
Nice surname, by the way!
segmondy
coming soon to USA.
This seems like a good idea, but I hope it doesn't stop the recent tradition of yarn-bombing[0] the postboxes[1][2]. The ones near me are really creative, change with seasons & national holidays, and just add a bit of British whimsy to day-to-day life.
(Looks like there's already some articles on this angle [3]!)
[0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yarn_bombing
[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_box_topper
[2] - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-63833983
[3] - https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly9q5jwv18o