Royal Mail
Royal Mail is the national
postal service of the
United Kingdom. Historically, the Royal Mail was a
government department, but it has been a state-owned company since
1969. Unlike other former
state monopolies such as
The Stationery Office,
British Gas and
British Telecom, Royal Mail was not
privatised in the 1980s and 1990s, but remains a
public limited company wholly owned by the
UK government.
A wholly-owned
subsidiary of Royal Mail is
Post Office Limited, which operates the national network of post offices. As the activities of Royal Mail have been reduced, so the network of post offices has contracted, much to the consternation of local communities which have come to rely on their services.
Royal Mail remains responsible for the universal mail collection and delivery service in the UK. Letters are deposited in a
pillar or
wall box, taken to a
post office, or (by arrangement) collected in bulk from businesses. Deliveries are made once every day (except Sunday and
Bank Holidays) at uniform charges for all destinations within the UK.
According to its annual report for the year ended 26 March 2006 the Royal Mail delivers 84 million items every working day and has a network of 14,376 post office branches. Revenue for the year was £9.056 billion and profits before tax were £312 million.
See also: General Post Office.The Royal Mail traces its history back to
1516, when
Henry VIII established a "Master of the Posts". The Royal Mail service was first made available to the public by
Charles I in
1635, with postage being paid by the recipient, and the
General Post Office (GPO) was officially established by
Charles II in
1660.
In his 1816 novel
The Antiquary,
Walter Scott has an express letter arrive in a small-town post office â€" which must now rise to the challenge of delivering it.
"I'm no gaun to let naebody see the letter," sobbed the boy, "till I gie't to Mr. Lovel, for I am a faithfu' servant o' the officeâ€"if it werena for the powny [pony]." [...] Davie... was with difficulty prevailed upon to surrender the packet to its proper owner... "But my minnie said, I maun be sure to get twenty shillings and five shillings for the postage, and ten shillings and sixpence for the expressâ€"there's the paper."
"Let me seeâ€"let me see," said Oldbuck, putting on his spectacles, and examining the crumpled copy of regulations to which Davie appealed. "Express, per man and horse, one day, not to exceed ten shillings and sixpence. One day? why, it's not an hourâ€"Man and horse? why, 'tis a monkey on a starved cat!"
Uniform penny postage
In
1840 the mail underwent substantial reforms and the uniform
penny postage was introduced. A single rate for delivery anywhere in the UK was paid by the sender. To certify that postage had been paid on a letter, the sender would affix the first adhesive
stamp, the
Penny Black.
1960 to present
In 1969 the GPO was changed from a government department to a state-owned company, and the position of
Postmaster General was abolished.
In
2000, The Post Office renamed itself "Consignia". 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 reverted to the name "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.
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
January 1,
2006, the Royal Mail lost its 350-year monopoly and the UK's postal market became fully open to competition.
Fleet
Royal Mail's main hub is at Nottingham East Midlands Airport - Royal Mail operates the following aircraft -
1x
Boeing 737-3Y0 [
1]
Timeline
|
Another postbox marked ER, now defunct. This postbox is situated on the outer wall of Leagrave Railway Station |
*
1516: Royal Mail established by
Henry VIII under Master of the Posts.
*
July 31,
1635: Royal Mail service first made available to the public by
Charles I. Postage was paid by the recipient.
*
1654:
Oliver Cromwell grants UK monopoly 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).
*
1840: First adhesive
stamp (the
Penny Black).
*
1853: First post boxes erected in mainland Britain.
*
1854:
Rowland Hill becomes Secretary to the Post Office.
*
1858: Ten London postal districts established.
*
1870: Post Office begins
telegraph service.
*
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.
*
1917: London postal districts divided into numbered zones.
*
1919: First international
air mail service.
*
1927: The
London Post Office Underground Railway is opened.
*
1968: Two-class postal system introduced. National Giro bank opens.
*
1969: General Post Office changes from government department to nationalised industry.
*
1974:
Postcodes extended over all UK.
*
1979:
Prestel videotex system launched
*
1981: Telecommunications services transferred to
British Telecom. Renamed to "Post Office"
*
1986: Separated businesses of delivering letters, delivering parcels and operating post offices.
*
1990:
Girobank sold to the
Alliance & Leicester Building Society.
*
1997: Royal Mail's association with London railway stations comes to an end.
*
1999: 'Royal Mail ViaCode' or 'ViaCode Limited' was launched. This short lived venture was an attempt to enter the internet security market, using '
Digital Certificate' technology. The company was wound up in 2002.
*
2000: Re-named to 'Consignia' for a brief period.
*
2001:
Neil Monk takes up employment with the company. The "Apollo Project" (restructuring project) takes place.
*
2003: The
London Post Office Underground Railway is closed.
*
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 due to the regulator,
PostComm opening up the Postal Market. Also introduces new first class postage costs dependent on size.
Royal Mail introduced telegraph services in
1870 and
telephone services in
1912. It remained responsible for the UK's telephone network until
British Telecommunications was demerged by the
British Telecommunications Act 1981. BT was later privatised.
The
National Giro Bank was introduced in 1968, and sold to
Alliance & Leicester in
1990.
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.
The Royal Mail is regulated by Postcomm however 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 of Trade and Industry, however the public financial interest is managed by the
Shareholder executive*
Isle of Man Post*
Jersey Post*
Royal Mail Ship*
BBC report on loss of monopoly*
Royal Mail site*
Bath Postal Museum*
The British Postal Museum & Archive*
Royal Mail Group plc*
Royal Mail Group - About us: Facts*
Postwatch - The Consumer Council for Postal Services*
Postcomm - regulator for postal services in the UK
