The city's colonial pillar mail boxes are facing retirement after decades of service, but experts said the best way of conserving them is to keep them in service.
According to Hongkong Post, a total of 86 pillar boxes - cylindrical mail boxes built like a pillar which first appeared in the era of Queen Victoria - have been removed from streets over the past decade.
They were replaced either due to wear and tear or because they were too small to meet the growing demand, a spokeswoman for Hongkong Post said.
Three pillar boxes are on display at the Postal Gallery in Central and the Museum of History in Tsim Sha Tsui.
Most of the other retired pillar boxes are kept in a storeroom in Kowloon.
'As more are to be removed, we are now talking to local museums to seek ways to preserve them,' the spokeswoman said.
However, Lee Ho-yin, director of the University of Hong Kong's architectural conservation programme, said these iconic items deserved to be repaired and kept in use in proper places. 'The significance of these pillar boxes has gone beyond its practical function, as they have become a part of Hong Kong's history,' he said.
