The British Post Office is to change its corporate name to Consignia in a move designed to underline its growing reputation as a global organisation but which some believe is a meaningless exercise.
The new name and swirling blue, red and green logo (colours which appear in current Post Office brand logos) will cost about £2 million to implement and will be used mainly by corporate customers in the commercial areas of financial services, e-commerce and home shopping.
The Post Office said the "Consignia" name was chosen because "to consign" meant "to entrust to the care of" and that is what its customers asked the company to do every day.
Changing the corporate name, however, will not affect the appearance or operation of the familiar Royal Mail postal service and Parcelforce delivery service brands. And there will be no change in the name or appearance of the high street post offices, the delivery vans or the uniform of the postal workers.
The change comes into force on March 26th when the Post Office is established as a government-owned plc and at a time when the organisation's monopoly on letter deliveries weighing less than 350 grammes is expected to end.
The Post Office chairman, Mr Neville Bain, said the change was needed because the old name did not differentiate the British Post Office from other companies offering similar services. A new name would reflect the full range of activities on offer from a company with an annual turnover of £7.5 billion.
"The Post Office is a generic term which cannot be legally protected and does not differentiate the organisation from other postal administrations," he said.
But the National Federation of Sub-Postmasters, which has been concerned about the decline in the number of post offices in rural areas, said it was not yet clear whether the £2 million spent on rebranding would prove cost effective.
The organisation's general secretary, Mr Colin Baker, said: "It might have some value abroad where it will help the Post Office distinguish itself from other national post offices. But it is going to cost a lot of money and I can't see the change having much effect in the UK.
"It is a change which is not going to mean much to many people."
The Communication Workers' Union (CWU), which represents postal workers, also expressed reservations about the name change.
The organisation accused the Post Office of "dumping" 350 years of history and said it was pointless to change the title of an organisation whose name the public held "close to their hearts".