AN ENTREPRENEUR has designed an ingenious tool to help posties minimise contact with letterboxes while on the job.
Samantha Johnson, from Southampton, has been producing small plastic letterbox openers through her company Lighthouse Laser Crafts.
The not-for-profit device, which costs just 50p to cover manufacturing, is made from laser cut acrylic and can be used by postal workers to prop open letter boxes reducing the need to touch them.
35-year-old Samantha says she first designed the product for her paper-boy son who loved it so much she was motivated to make more.
Pictures show the hook-shaped device being used to prop open mail slots.
The postie can then use their free hand to push through the letters, without having to touch the cover.
Samantha took to Facebook to launch her product on April 8.
She posted pictures of the item with the caption: “Let us not forget about the wonderful postal service.
“They’re still out there delivering post, touching thousands of letter boxes, so today we made this. Will be giving it to our postman next time they are passing.”
Samantha’s tool was well received by one postie, who took to a Royal Mail Facebook group to tell fellow posties how the product had “made his day”.
He shared pictures of the item with the caption: “Just finished my 3rd loop today and toward the end of it, a family business had left this letterbox tool out for me, saying it’ll stop me from touching 90% of letterboxes.
“Such a nice gesture and it does actually work very well!”
Many other group members were equally enthusiastic about the device.
One postie wrote: “Great idea.”
Another added: “How nice is that, fair play to them.”
And one woman called the device: “Brilliant.”
Speaking today, Samantha said: “Our son, he is a paper boy in the local area and we wanted to minimise what he touches.
“He took it out on his round and said it was great, so we made another one and gave it to our local postman.
“I have sold and posted a fair few over the last few days across the UK to Scotland and Northern Ireland. I have many positive comments and thanks on my post.
“I’m not profiting from selling these, the main gain from this is keeping people safe and stopping the spread.”
Royal Mail have recently been criticised by workers who say they are not being adequately protected on the job.
Last week, posties accused the company of “putting profits before safety” for failing to provide protective gear.
