Mailboxes in Thailand

Postcard TH-150353 shows various mail boxes used in Thailand over time, from the oldest on the left to the two currently-used ones on the right.

Thailand has a relatively short postal history. Great Britain started to operate the British Consular Post Office in Bangkok 1858. Thailand Post Co., Ltd. was established in 1883 to provides postal services. The first stamp was issued in Siam on August 4, 1883.  Siam joined the Universal Postal Union on July 1, 1885 and started to provide its own international postal service. The British Consular Post Office ceased operation the same day.

Nowadays, there are post mailboxes on almost every street in Bangkok. You will see more of the larger ones than the smaller ones. However, I was told that for international mails you would still need to visit a post office.

Airport Mailboxes: Chicago

I just came back from a 3-day flash trip to Washington D.C. for the 50th Anniversary of March on Washington. I had a connection at the Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD) on August 27, 2013 on my way to the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI).

I found a CNN Newsstand store near Gate B6 that had Chicago postcards for sale. Since I had some stamps with me, I decided to post a postcard to myself. There was a USPS mailbox just down the duty free store next door.

The postcard arrived today in Las Vegas bearing a postmark from Carol Stream, IL, a village next to ORD with a population of 40,438 as of the 2000 U.S. census. It was incorporated on January 5, 1959, and named after the developer's daughter.

You can find mailboxes in some other airports at airportmailboxes.com.