Fewer pillar boxes are now in use due to the drop in “snail mail” since emails and mobile phones are the preferred ways of communicating today.   Over the last 140 years or so there must have been all sorts of letters and cards posted here but I doubt whether the postman has much to collect now, apart perhaps from Christmas cards.

In Britain the first Post Office pillar box was erected in 1852 in Jersey and then in Carlisle in 1853. Originally they were green but people complained that they were hard to see and so have been red ever since, although some have been painted gold to commemorate local Olympic stars. The Victorian hexagonal pillar boxes were introduced in 1866 and became the standard design with acanthus leaves on the top and balls or seeds around the edges.  There are a few around but the later cylindrical box is more common.