We have now had confirmation from Royal Mail Tallents House that this IS a visible change and will be included in regular orders for both Collectors and Dealers standing orders.
We now have the design. As you can see the brass padlock on the front cover has an imitation 1st class stamp on it (I imagine the similar 2nd class booklets to be issued in October will have a similar 2nd class stamp picture on), and the back cover has the Royal Mail cruciform logo and space for the bar-code, with a new slogan between them, reading
THE FUTURE, IN SAFE HANDS
The weight/dimension information and telephone numbers are now on the label on the inside. How this will translate to the books of 12 (including the 2nd class) we don't know.
(An interesting slogan, in the light of current events on the political stage.)
PS: As this stamp should be coded M16L MSIL it will be a new stamp with a specific issue date and we will produce a limited number of first day covers.
UPDATE 7 July: The stock code for this booklet is UB393 and it is being sent out to regular customers with Visible Change, with the 'Landscapes' Issue on 16/08/2016.
NB: My delivery of these booklets (14 July) had UB394 on the delivery note!
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UPDATE 28 June:
No transport livery reported yet, but Suzanne of Artstamped reports this from Marylebone Underground Station - 'not just redirection, protection', and a similar one at Leamington Spa station.
UPDATE 30 June:
As you probably know, the Google-originated adverts which appear to the right of the blog will vary for different viewers, based on your passed searching and viewing habits - cookies rule! Sometimes, however they do relate to the subject of the blog and this one appeared when I looked this morning.
Any more?
What was wrong with the current cover design?
ReplyDeleteYou've already bought that one.
DeleteVery good!
DeleteGood point John.
DeleteMy first thought on seeing the new cover was that they are advertising a new range of padlock with a Machin stamp etched on it.
ReplyDeleteIf this style of cover is introduced throughout the range of retail booklets, let’s hope the contents (special and Christmas stamps) are reflected on the padlock.
I had wrongly thought that RM was undertaking a corporate re-branding exercise, with the cruciform going in favour of something new, namely a padlock. Instead we still have the cruciform but with a strange, and irrelevant to RM, strap-line. "Your post, in safe hands" would at least score highly on relevance pre-comma, although may not be totally accurate all of the time post-comma! I wonder how much the creative agency charged for those five words?
ReplyDeleteI don't give a monkeys one way or the other about the slogan, but I do think it is an attractive booklet cover design.
ReplyDeleteAm I meant to understand what all these slogans are about? Because I may be rather dim but I don't.
ReplyDeleteFurther to my previous comment, it has occurred to me that I can vouch that Royal Mail is excellent at redirection since my correctly addressed mail is delivered frequently to my neighbours' properties while I, with equal regularity, receive theirs.
ReplyDelete"The future, in safe hands" and "not just redirection, protection", plus padlock logos?
ReplyDeleteI thought Royal Mail handled post. This branding sounds like they're in the security business. Very bizarre and a bit sinister sounding. Unimpressed.
These are not new concepts.
DeleteRoyal Mail has, for many years, stressed that if you allow your post to be delivered while you are on holiday, and have a glass panel front door, then it sends the same message as not cancelling the milk. That's why they have the Keepsafe service.
Security of householders' personal details is also important, so redirection of mail ensures that you get your mail when you move and it doesn't fall into the wrong hands. The system also ensures that if any Identity Theft attempt is made to redirect your mail, then you will know about it because the acknowledgement is always sent to you old address.
Nothing sinister, and you have every reason to be impressed - this is not just from a private company, all these ideas were well in place for the Royal Mail as a publicly-owned organisation.
Ian, thank you for explaining what this is all about. I genuinely did not understand what the adverts and slogans were trying to tell me which suggests to me that the publicity is all too clever by half. Perhaps the next time Royal Mail are organising a publicity campaign they should approach you to suggest something to them which their customers can actually understand.
DeleteIt's just a pity that every time I've used the redirection service over the past few years they've spectacularly failed to redirect the post, with significant numbers of items being delivered to the old address and then forwarded on by the new occupiers. It's great when it works, but my experience has been that it doesn't.
ReplyDeleteWhy are 58 postal workers all walking in the same direction to deliver mail? Surely the one worker with the trolley could have delivered all the post and saved RM some efficiency costs?
ReplyDeleteIt's a time-lapse photograph. There are only 2 or 3 different posties )allowing for the 5-day week and holidays), and the one with the trolley is there to pick up all the elastic bands that the other 3 have dropped over the 2 months that they have not been delivering to that house.
DeleteIn my experience nobody ever picks up the elastic bands!
ReplyDeleteI have just spoken to TH about the non delivery of my Pink Floyd stamps & in passing mentioned this new booklet design, the poor girl had no idea what I was talking about, those up the sharp end not being informed properly again by RM.
ReplyDeleteDoes anybody know the order code for this new booklet ? Having just phoned Tallents House, RM are now refusing to answer phone calls due to being overstretched and emails are not being responded to either.
ReplyDeleteIt's UB393 and is due on 28 July. I'll add the code to the blog, thanks Chris.
DeleteBTW don't forget this is (supposed to be) on automatic distribution from Tallents House if you have visible change booklets on standing order.
DeleteI now have all the Beatrix Potter stock that I originally ordered, so these ought to be out soon.
Having contacted Tallents House today, Booklet UB393 is being sent out to customers with Visible Change, with the 'Landscapes' Issue on 16/08/2018
ReplyDeleteThanks Chris, I'll add that up there ^^^^^ !
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