A claim that, starting 01 September 2025, India Post will discontinue the use of its iconic letter boxes (used to drop letters, postcards, etc.), is being widely shared on social media (here, here and here). Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: India Post is discontinuing its iconic red letter boxes starting 01 September 2025.
Fact: India Post has officially denied these rumours, confirming the letter boxes will remain operational. The date mentioned, 01 September 2025, actually refers to the merger of Registered Post with Speed Post, not the removal of letter boxes. Hence, the claim is FALSE.
A keyword search for details did not yield evidence of any such announcement by India’s Department of Posts. Moreover, after these rumours surfaced and gained traction on social media, India Post clarified on Instagram and X that letter boxes were not being removed and that they would continue to function as usual.
However, the Department of Posts has announced that Registered Post will be merged with Speed Post services from 1 September 2025. The decision was reportedly taken due to the modernisation of services, faster delivery and streamlining in the department. More details on this matter can be seen here and here.
However, according to statistics (here & here) on Factly’s data portal Dataful, the number of letter boxes in India has been steadily decreasing. While there were 4.85 lakh letter boxes in 2016–17, this number came down to 3.67 lakh by 2023–24.
To sum it up, the viral claim about India Post discontinuing letter boxes is false. The Department of Posts has officially denied the rumour, confirming that the letter boxes will remain in use.
