"Kind Regards" etc

Last week I received a missive from the Ombudsman informing me that a complaint I'd lodged is in delay. It has yet to be allocated to an 'investigator'. Oh well. Par for the course. Ironically my previous complaint to them concerned the ever increasing time it takes MSD to respond to OIA requests.

But I am musing about the sign-off at the end of the letter. KIND REGARDS.

Polite and warm.

But I don't use KIND REGARDS unless I specifically feel kindly towards the recipient of my correspondence.

REGARDS on its own is respectful and sufficient,  don't you think?

I'm certain readers of this blog will wrestle with correspondence etiquette regularly; not only as forms of communication change rapidly, but standards of language relax.

Probably the way I address people in emails and letters is now a product of my mood and my attitude to the recipient far more than teachings and protocol.

But when I was in high school we were taught conventional ways of writing letters and the use of terms REGARDS, SINCERELY and FAITHFULLY.

Is there a modern day equivalent?

Surely in the highly PC public service such guidelines exist. Some bright-eyed wallet-conscious consultant would have put up their hand to write them.

(BTW Ombudsman, I do not object to your KIND REGARDS. As I said, warm and polite. Just reflecting...)