Royal Mail

History

See also: General Post Office (United Kingdom)

The main post office in Oxford, England, in St Aldate's.

The Royal Mail traces its history back to 1516, when Henry VIII established a "Master of the Posts", a post which eventually evolved into the office of the Postmaster General. The Royal Mail service was first made available to the public by Charles I on 31 July, 1635, with postage being paid by the recipient, and the General Post Office (GPO) was officially established by Charles II in 1660.

Between 1719 and 1763, Ralph Allen, Postmaster at Bath, signed a series of contracts with the post office to develop and expand Britain's postal network. He organised mail coaches which were provided by both Wilson & Company of London and Williams & Company of Bath. The early Royal Mail Coaches were similar to ordinary family coaches but with Post Office livery.

Uniform penny postage

Main article: Uniform Penny Post

A post box in front of Mansfield College, Oxford. The cypher of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, ER VII for Eduardus Rex septimus is cast into its door.

In December 1839 the first substantial reform started when postage rates were revised by the short-lived Uniform Fourpenny Post. Greater changes took place when the Uniform Penny Post was introduced on 10 January, 1840 whereby a single rate for delivery anywhere in Great Britain and Ireland was pre-paid by the sender. A few months later, to certify that postage had been paid on a letter, the sender could affix the first adhesive postage stamp, the Penny Black that was available for use from May 6 of the same year. Other innovations were the introduction of pre-paid William Mulready designed postal stationery letter sheets and envelopes.

As the United Kingdom was the first country to issue prepaid postage stamps, British stamps are the only stamps that do not bear the name of the country of issue on them.

By the late 19th century, there were between six and twelve mail deliveries per day in London, permitting correspondents to exchange multiple letters within a single day.

Pillar boxes

Main article: Pillar box

A Victorian hexagonal red post box outside King's College, Cambridge.

Traditionally UK post boxes carry the Latin initials of the reigning monarch at the time of their installation: in this case VR for Victoria Regina. Pillar boxes and other RMG Street Furniture are maintained by Romec Ltd.

1960 to present

In 1969 the GPO was changed from a government department to a public corporation, and the position of Postmaster General was abolished.

In 2000, The Post Office renamed itself onsignia. However, the change proved to be highly unpopular with both the public and even the organisation's own employees, with the Communication Workers' Union boycotting the name. In 2002, the organisation adopted the name of the letters delivery business, becoming "Royal Mail Group plc" with the following operating divisions:

Royal Mail, delivering letters

Parcelforce, delivering parcels

Post Office Limited, managing the nationwide network of post office branches as retail outlets.

Contrary to urban myth, Royal Mail does not own the trademark on the colour red, but a specific shade of the colour red: "Royal Mail, the Royal Mail Cruciform, the colour red (as part of the Royal Mail logotype) and SmartStamp are all registered trademarks of Royal Mail Group plc."

In 2001 the government set up a postal regulator, Postcomm, and offered licences to private companies to deliver mail. In 2001, the Consumer Council for Postal Services, more commonly known as Postwatch, was created for consumers to express any concerns they may have with the postal service in the UK.

From 1 January, 2006, the Royal Mail lost its 350-year monopoly and the UK postal market became fully open to competition.[citation needed]

Timeline

London's largest sorting office, Mount Pleasant

1516: Royal Mail established by Henry VIII under Master of the Posts.

1635: Royal Mail service first made available to the public by Charles I.

1654: Oliver Cromwell grants monopoly over service in England to "Office of Postage".

1657: Fixed postal rates introduced.

1660: General Post Office (GPO) officially established by Charles II.

1661: First use of date stamp. First Postmaster General appointed.

1784: First Mail coach (between Bristol and London).

1793: First uniformed delivery staff. Post Office Investigation Branch formed, the oldest recognised criminal investigations authority in the world.

1830: First mail train (on Liverpool and Manchester Railway).

1839: Uniform Fourpenny Post introduced.

1840: Uniform Penny Post introduced.

1840: First adhesive stamp (the Penny Black).

1852: First Post Office pillar box erected (in Jersey).

1853: First post boxes erected in mainland Britain.

1857: First wall boxes installed Shrewsbury and Market Drayton

1870: Post Office begins telegraph service.

1870: Post Office Act banned sending of `indecent or obscene` literature; introduced the d rate for postcards; banned the use of cut-outs from postal stationery; introduced the d rate for newspapers; provided for the issue of newspaper wrappers.

1880: First use of bicycles to deliver mail.

1881: Postal order introduced.

1883: Parcel post begins.

1894: First picture postcards.

1912: Post Office opens national telephone service.

1919: First international airmail service.

1968: Two-class postal system introduced. National Giro bank opens.

1969: General Post Office changes from government department to nationalised industry.

1971: Postal services in Great Britain were suspended for two months between January and March as the result of a national postal strike over a pay claim.

1974: Postcodes extended over all UK.

1981: Telecommunications services split out as British Telecom. Remainder renamed as "Post Office".

1986: Separated businesses of delivering letters, delivering parcels and operating post offices.

1988: Postal workers hold their first national strike for 17 years after walking out over bonuses being paid to recruit new workers in London and the South East.

1989: Royal Mail establishes RoMec (Royal Mail Engineering & Construction) to deliver Facilities Maintenance services to its business. RoMec becomes owned 51% Royal Mail and 49% Haden BML in a joint venture.

1990: Girobank sold to the Alliance & Leicester Building Society.

1990: Royal Mail Parcels re-branded as Parcelforce.

1999: A new business: Royal Mail ViaCode - or ViaCode Limited - was launched. This wholly-owned subsidiary of the Post Office offered online encryption services to businesses, using "digital certificate" technology. The short-lived venture was wound up in 2002.

2004: Reduction of deliveries to once daily. Travelling post office ("Mail Trains") end. SmartStamp is introduced.

2005: Mail Trains re-introduced on some lines.

2006: Royal Mail loses its monopoly when the regulator, PostComm, opens up the Postal Market 3 years ahead of the rest of Europe. Competitors can carry mail, and pass it to Royal Mail for delivery, a service known as Downstream access. Also introduces Pricing in Proportion (PiP) for first and second class inland mail.

2006: Online postage allows Royal Mail customers to pay for postage on the web, without the need to buy traditional stamps.

2007: Royal Mail Group PLC becomes Royal Mail Group Ltd in a slight change of legal status.

2007: Official Industrial Action takes place over pay, conditions and pensions.

2007: Sunday collections from pillar boxes end.

2009: (September) CWU opens national ballot for industrial action.[citation needed]

Non-postal services

The General Post Office introduced telegraph services in 1870 and telephone services in 1912. It took over nearly all of the UK's municipal telephone companies (the sole exception being Kingston Communications in Hull) and was responsible for the resultant telephone network until British Telecommunications was demerged by the British Telecommunications Act 1981. BT was later privatised.

The National Girobank was introduced in 1968 and sold to Alliance & Leicester in 1990. The government run National Savings and Investments (founded in 1861 as the Post Office Savings Bank) is also operated through Post Office branches.

Historically, many government benefits and state retirement pensions were paid in cash through the post office network. However, in recent years, an increasing proportion of benefit and pension payments have been made directly by bank transfer, leading to a loss of revenue for Post Office branches and many closures.

Public interest

Postman of Royal mail in Ilminster, UK

The Royal Mail is regulated by Postcomm, while consumer interests are represented by Postwatch. The relationship between the two has not always been good and in 2005 Postwatch took Postcomm to Judicial Review over its decision regarding rebates to late-paying customers.

The Government department responsible for the Royal Mail is the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, however the public financial interest is managed by the Shareholder executive.

Although now a private company, the Royal Mail enjoys special protection under Government legislation which severely limits consumer rights. Under the Postal Services Act 2000, the Royal Mail is under no contractual obligation to deliver most mail, including special delivery items. In addition, no court action can be taken against the Royal Mail more than 12 months after an item is posted.

Royal Mail has, in some quarters, a poor reputation for losing mail despite more than 99.93% of mail arriving safely and in 2006 was fined 11.7 million due to the amount of mail lost, stolen or damaged. According to Home Office figures from 2002 up to a million letters a week were lost or delivered to the wrong address.

The Chief Executive of Royal Mail, Adam Crozier has been quoted on various occasions as saying that "every single letter is important."

Industrial relations

See also: 2007 Royal Mail industrial disputes

See also: Communication Workers Union (UK)

Royal Mail has been at the centre of a number of industrial disputes during its history - notably the national wildcat strikes in 2003 and a seven-week strike in 1971. By Autumn 2007, disputes began to escalate into industrial action. In mid October unions and management agreed a resolution to the dispute.

In December 2008, workers at Mail Centres affected by proposals to rationalise the number of Mail Centres (particularly in North West England) again voted for strike action on Friday 19 December, potentially affecting Christmas deliveries. The action was postponed less than 24 hours before staff were due to walk out.

Localised strikes have taken place across the UK from June 2009 and these have grown in frequency throughout the summer. There is currently a ballot on national industrial action, over Royal Mail's failure to reach a national agreement covering protection of jobs, pay, terms and conditions and the cessation of managerial executive action. The result will be known by 9 October 2009 .

Fleet

Royal Mail Ford Transit van

Royal Mail is famous for its custom load carrying bicycles (rack and basket built into the frame), made by Pashley Cycles for the past 10+ years. Since 2000, their old bikes have been shipped to Africa by Re~Cycle (10,000 as of 2008) .

In addition to running a large number of road vehicles, Royal Mail uses trains, a ship and some aircraft, with an air hub at East Midlands Airport.

The following aircraft are included in the dedicated fleet:

1x Boeing 737-3Y0 G-ZAPV operated by Titan Airways.

British Airways aircraft are also used for airmail deliveries and bear a small Royal Mail logo towards the rear of the fuselage.

The RMS St Helena is a cargo and passenger ship that serves the British overseas territory of Saint Helena. It sails between Cape Town and Saint Helena, occasionally visiting the dependencies of Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha. It also visits the Isle of Portland, England twice per year. It is one of the last remaining ocean-going ships to carry the designation Royal Mail Ship.

The London Post Office Railway was axed by Royal Mail in 2003 - this had been a network of driverless trains running along a private underground track since 1927.

Business services

The Royal Mail runs, alongside its stamped mail services, another sector of post called business mail. The large majority of Royal Mail's business mail service is for PPI or franked mail, where the sender prints their own 'stamp'. For PPI mail this involves either a simple rubber stamp and an ink pad, or a printed label. For franked mail, a dedicated franking machine is used.

Bulk business mail attracts reduced prices if the sender prints an RM4SCC barcode, or prints the address in a specified position on the envelope using a font readable by optical character recognition (OCR) equipment. There are no facilities to read addresses in these formats from general mail.

In the Media

In 2009, BBC show Top Gear (2002 TV series) presenters, James May and Richard Hammond in a Porsche Panamera raced aganist the Royal Mail to deliver a letter. The raced started in the Isles of Scilly and finished in the Orkney Islands. The letter reached the mainland first, but the car overtook the letter while it was in the sorting office in Truro. The letter did finally overtake the car shortly after leaving East Midlands airport. The letter opened up a lead of 115 miles when it reached RAF Kinloss. However after going on a lorry to Inverness Sorting Office, the car took the lead again. But the letter took the lead while on a plane to the Orkneys. The letter won the race by less than 10 minutes.

See also

Australia Post

Canada Post

General Post Office (United Kingdom)

Guernsey Post

Isle of Man Post

Jersey Post

London Post Office Railway

Postage stamps and postal history of Great Britain

Royal Mail rubber band

Royal Mail Ship

United States Postal Service

References and sources

Notes

^ "Royal Mail". Shareholder Executive. http://www.shareholderexecutive.gov.uk/performance/royalmail.asp. Retrieved 2008-10-27. 

^ "Post Office Act 1969 (c. 48) - Statute Law Database". Ministry of Justice. 1969. http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/content.aspx?LegType=All+Legislation&title=post+office&searchEnacted=0&extentMatchOnly=0&confersPower=0&blanketAmendment=0&sortAlpha=0&TYPE=QS&PageNumber=1&NavFrom=0&parentActiveTextDocId=1937508&ActiveTextDocId=1937520&filesize=5409. Retrieved 2008-10-27. 

^ a b "The Dissolution of the Post Office Order 2007 (No. 1180) - Statute Law Database". UK Ministry of Justice. 2007. http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/content.aspx?LegType=All+Legislation&title=post+office&searchEnacted=0&extentMatchOnly=0&confersPower=0&blanketAmendment=0&sortAlpha=0&TYPE=QS&PageNumber=1&NavFrom=0&parentActiveTextDocId=3314047&ActiveTextDocId=3314047&filesize=4863. Retrieved 2008-10-27. 

^ WebCheck entry for "Royal Mail Holdings plc"

^ Sparrow, Andrew (5 May 2009), Brown will back down over Royal Mail privatisation, predicts Labour rebel, The Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/may/05/brown-royal-mail 

^ http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?mediaId=50800724&catId=400029

^ "Report and Accounts Year Ended 26 March 2006". Royal Mail Holdings plc. 2006. p. pps. 2 & 11. http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?catId=23300505&mediaId=23300508#13900287. Retrieved 2009-02-28. 

^ "Mail boss gets 3m in pay packet". Business. BBC News. 2008-05-23. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7417634.stm. Retrieved 2008-12-14. 

^ "Royal Mail Group increases profit in the face of tough market and economic conditions but challenges remain". Royal Mail Group. 2009-05-14. http://www.news.royalmailgroup.com/article.asp?id=2534&brand=royal_mail_group. Retrieved 2009-05-14. 

^ http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?catId=6100041&mediaId=9500092

^ Marshall, Allan. Intelligence and Espionage in the Reign of Charles II, 1660-1685, p79 (Cambridge University Press, 2003).

^ [dead link]

^ "Murray's Handbook to London As It Is". Victorian London - Communications - Post - Delivery Times and Postal Regulations. 1879. http://www.victorianlondon.org/communications/dickens-postalregulations.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-03. 

^ "SmartStamp". Royal Mail. 2008. http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/jump2?catId=400138&mediaId=600023. Retrieved 2008-12-14. 

^ a b 1971: "Post strike ends with pay deal" (bbc.co.uk)

^ Richardson, Tim (1999-03-17). "Royal E-Mail backs security service with 100K bond". Business News. The Register. http://www.theregister.co.uk/1999/03/17/royal_email_backs_security_service/. Retrieved 2008-12-14. 

^ "End of line for mail trains". BBC News. 2004-01-10. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/3385111.stm. Retrieved 2009-05-13. 

^ "Royal Mail loses postal monopoly". BBC News. 2005-02-18. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4274335.stm. Retrieved 2009-05-13. 

^ "International Postal Update - Competition, Privatization Move Ahead in Europe" (pdf). Consumer Postal Council. 2006-07-01. http://www.postalconsumers.org/uploads/1/060701.pdf. Retrieved 2008-12-14. 

^ "Sunday postal collections ended". BBC News. 2007-10-27. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7065912.stm. Retrieved 2009-05-13. 

^ Collinson, Patrick (2003-07-07). "Girobank brand laid to rest after 25 years". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2003/jul/07/business.postalservice. Retrieved 2009-10-21. 

^ Jones, Alan (2006-02-10). "Royal Mail fined 11.7m over missing post". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/royal-mail-fined-pound117m-over-missing-post-466166.html. Retrieved 2009-10-23. 

^ "Royal Mail's Lost Mail" (pdf). Press release. Postwatch. 2002-08-12. Archived from the original on 2008-06-18. http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.postwatch.co.uk/pdf/pressnews/12.8.02lostmail.pdf. Retrieved 2008-12-14. 

^ Barrow, Becky (2003-07-18). "First class: only 14.5m letters lost". UK News. The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1436409/First-class-only-14.5m-letters-lost.html. Retrieved 2009-01-28. 

^ "Royal Mail increases security of letters operaration". Brief & KEP. Bundesverband Deutscher Postdienstleister e.V.. 2004-07-20. http://www.bvdp.de/index.htm?/files/briefe-kep/43E48A8160514D6DB434C9C58477E470.htm. Retrieved 2009-01-28. 

^ "Wildcats return with a roar - postal wildcat strike, 2003" (libcom.org)

^ Mark Tran and agencies (2007-10-09). "Crozier hits out at striking postal workers". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/post/story/0,,2186926,00.html. Retrieved 2007-11-11. 

^ "Mail deliveries 'still delayed'". London News. BBC News. 2007-11-09. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7087036.stm. Retrieved 2008-12-14. 

^ "Christmas post fears over strike". BBC News. 2008-12-15. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7783542.stm. Retrieved 2008-12-15. 

^ "Postal workers vote on strike" (bbc.co.uk)

^ "National post strike ballot" (cwu.org)

^ Re~Cycle web site

^ BBC 30 December, 2004

^ Airliners.net. "G-ZAPV". http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0896455/L/. Retrieved 2007-04-25. 

^ "Final delivery for Mail Rail". This Is Local London. 2003-05-30. http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/topstories/301893.final_delivery_for_mail_rail/. Retrieved 2009-08-19. 

^

^

^ Porsche Panamera vs letter: part 1

^ Porsche Panamera vs letter: part 4

Sources

Browne, Christopher (1993). Getting the Message - The Story of the British Post Office. Alan Sutton. ISBN 0750903511. 

A brief history of the POST OFFICE - A GPO public relations publication 1965

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Royal Mail

Royal Mail site

Post Office official website

Royal Mail Group plc

Royal Mail Group - About us: Facts

The British Postal Museum & Archive - Our history through the post

Postwatch - The Consumer Council for Postal Services

Postcomm - regulator for postal services in the UK

Monopolies and Mergers Commission The organisation of the Post Office and its letter post operations (September 1984)

Hellmail - Covers news stories about Royal Mail and other European postal operators

Bath Postal Museum

Mailroom News

Inside Whitchurch, Hampshire Delivery Office on the day it was shut (2 May, 2009)

v  d  e

Postal services in the United Kingdom

Postcodes and other postal units

Postal county  Post town  List of post towns  London postal district  List of postcode areas  List of postcode districts  Postcode Address File  Mailsort

Organisations and philately

Royal Mail  Post Office  British Forces Post Office  Parcelforce  Postage stamps and postal history

v  d  e

Postal administrations of Europe

land Islands  Albania  Armenia  Austria  Azerbaijan  Belarus  Belgium  Bulgaria  Croatia  Cyprus  Czech Republic  Denmark  Estonia  Faroe Islands  Finland  France  Georgia  Germany  Greece  Greenland  Guernsey  Hungary  Iceland  Ireland  Isle of Man  Italy  Jersey  Latvia  Liechtenstein  Lithuania  Luxembourg  Macedonia  Malta  Moldova  Montenegro  Netherlands  Norway  Poland  Portugal  Romania  Russia  Serbia  Slovakia  Slovenia  Spain  Sweden  Switzerland   Turkey  United Kingdom  Ukraine

Private postal services of Europe: Bring CityMail   PIN Group   UK Mail

Categories: Organisations based in England with royal patronage | Postal organisations | Postal system of the United Kingdom | Royal Mail | Service companies of the United KingdomHidden categories: All articles with dead external links | Articles with dead external links from October 2008 | Articles to be merged from March 2010 | All articles to be merged | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from July 2009 | Articles with unsourced statements from October 2009 | Articles with unsourced statements from January 2010 | Wikipedia articles in need of updating
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