[Talk-GB] Postbox refs

[Dan S]

2015-04-03 19:01 GMT+01:00 John Aldridge <jpsa at jjdash.demon.co.uk>:
> On 03/04/2015 18:49, Rob Nickerson wrote:
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I've noticed recently that postbox references have started appearing
>> with a "D" on the end (same ref as before just with a D added to the
>> end). This seems to be in areas where RM have updated the collection
>> times.
>>
>> Does anyone know what the D means?
>
>
> I'm not certain, but the ones I've noticed round here seem to be those with
> latest collection times very early in the day (Perhaps done along with the
> delivery round, rather than a separate collection round? That's conjecture,
> though).

I hope RobW doesn't mind me quoting an email he sent me recently while
we were discussing this:

"""
A bit more investigation, and asking someone who's in the know,
suggests that these suffixes correspond to boxes that are being
emptied by postmen on the rounds, and so have earlier collection times
than normal. Royal Mail made this change for boxes with low volumes of
mail where there's another box nearby with later collection times. I
believe that the base box number will be unchanged, so it's just a
case of a D being added to the end.

I've written a bit about this at
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:amenity=post_box#Locating_postboxes_in_the_UK

I've also updated my tools, so they'll ignore a "D" suffix if present
-- and so any D boxes will still match the original number that's on
Royal Mail's records.
"""

Best
Dan