Jerome takes us back to the time when the mail came right to your doorstep – and not to the mailboxes at the void decks. In his post, learn also how kids came up with all kinds of mischief with the then-new mailbox system, such as stealing stamps off envelopes and putting toads and insects inside boxes!

Jerome writes:

Those were the days when the post man would come a calling, six days a week, bringing mail right to the doorstep of every home, whether landed or not. We didn’t have to look for a post box to have our letters posted as well, being able to have mail to be posted collected with the coming of the post man. If the door was closed, the doors of all flats then had been fitted with a slot for letters and the newspaper to be delivered through. Those were the days before a bill, the Post Office (Amendment) Rules, passed in 1971 made it easier for the post man, faced with the prospect of delivering mail to the doors of the numerous flats that were being moved into with the rapid increase in high rise apartment blocks that were being built, by having all high rise residential and commercial buildings install post boxes on the ground floors by 1973.

Having lived in the era where postboxes in the void deck were the norm, it’s hard to imagine a time when the postman would come a calling – the only time I face that now is when I receive parcels in the mail. Back then, I guess one would have a pretty personal relationship with your postman. Does anyone have any such stories to share?