Should Royal Mail Be Able To Call Themselves 'royal' After The Government Sell Off?

[barney15c]

The government will be selling off its last 30% shareholding in Royal mail as part of its austerity cuts. As there is no longer any connection with the state after this, should they be able to call theirselves "Royal" mail anymore? Personally I think not, what does everyone think?

[gingejbee]

....and take the Queen's head off the stamps, too?

[jourdain2]

I don't see how they can.

[ToraToraTora]

there are many private sector businesses that have royal warrant or by appointment. No reason why they have to drop they prefix.

[barney15c]

But would they have to reapply for the royal warrant as they are no longer state run.

[Canary42]

Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

No state connection.

[ToraToraTora]

there is no requirement for a state connection before or now so why? you seem to be connecting royal prefixing with state ownership in some way. The 2 can exist independently.

[EDDIE51]

They are already talking about getting out of the delivery service to every address in the UK. The delivery service in Scotland runs at a large loss and they want to reduce costs. It could soon cost more to post a letter to a remote area than to the big cities.

[Gromit]

The Royal Automobile Club had to rebrand as RAC when it became totally commercial.

Royal Mail must do the same. It would be ludicrous to retain 'Royal' when it is owned by foreign hedge funds. RM Letters Service is the obvious re-brand.

Likewise, the Crown on the logo must also go. The horribly dated typography is undoubtedly for the chop anyway, so a more stylised crown or to do away with it altogether should follow.

http://logos.wikia.com/wiki/File:250px-Royal_Mail_svg.png

[Gromit]

Charities such as the RSPCA retain the name 'Royal' through Patronage. The Queen is the Patron of the RSPCA.

Royal Mail will not be charitable, and will not have any Royal patronage. Since it is no longer a Crown (meaning UK Government owned) property, the inclusion of 'Royal' will be misleading to the public.

[youngmafbog]

//as part of its austerity cuts.//

My God, do you honestly think that? Nothing to do with the fact the RM is no longer viable and is becoming increasingly irrelevant in our society then?

[EDDIE51]

^^ RM no longer viable? where did you get that from?
It makes a good profit in England at least.As said the Scottish operation loses money which is why it is in danger from a full private Royal Mail.

[youngmafbog]

Going forward the mail will struggle. Letters will dwindle to a handful as more and more move to 'free' electronic mail.

The more mail going through an electronic medium will mean the cost of a letter will be driven up and up, thus forcing more electronic.

It's not rocket science, so that is where I got it from.

Or do you really think that wont happen?

[EDDIE51]

^^ Very little of what comes through our letter box is the traditional 'letter' but we still get post every day!

[AB Editor]

I suppose they could lisence the "head and shoulders" rights from HR?

[naomi24]

//Letters will dwindle to a handful as more and more move to 'free' electronic mail.//

Yesterday I reverted to snail mail. An email to my solicitor not received, a considerable time spent futilely trying to communicate with banks and other organisations electronically, and two hopeless phone calls to service providers, one of whom kept me for an inordinate amount of time trying to sell me products I don’t want, and the other, an electronic voice, insisting it didn’t recognise the card number it had asked me to key into my telephone. A short letter to all telling them that I’m changing my address cured the frustration. Traditional methods of communication have their uses.

[Old_Geezer]

As if I cared. Why would anyone ?

The damage has already been done anyway. A mail service by any other name would serve its customers just as inadequately.

[Gromit]

The shares in Royal Mail will be snapped up by large hedge funds (like the previous lot were). They are not in it for the long haul, but for a short term profit they can cash in, in a few years.

The company will be foreign own within 5 years, probably Dutch or German. As happened with Gas, Electricity, Water etal.

[vulcan42]

This country is the only one in the world that doesn't have to put country of origin on its stamps. This is because we invented the postal service and the monarch's head is considered sufficient. If the monarchs head remains on the stamps wouldn't that be a form of patronage and therefore the Royal could remain?

[jno]

they'll probably rebrand themselves as Mail4U or something anyway. The Post Office spent a fortune renaming itself Consignia, all wasted.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2002480.stm

[fiction-factory]

I'm sure there have been other businesses with Royal in the name - RBS, Royal Liver come to mind