How do you start an email if you don’t know who will read it?

[PrinceArchie]

“To whom it may concern” seems a bit stuffy

Just launching into the body of the email seems rude

Dear Sir/Madam?! Seems a bit

@OhEliza
Your comment made me chuckle

One thing I love about living in NZ is that I can use Te Reo Maori in emails. So Kia ora (less formal), Tena koutou (more formal).

Otherwise I’d start Good morning.

Dear Sirs is very out-dated.

Good morning/afternoon is fine. To whom it may concern if you want to be more formal.

To the poster who asked about job applications - I was short-listing last week and the application which started Dear Sirs to an all female shortlisting/interview panel did not go down well...

We used to have a letter template at work that had dear sirs. I specifically asked to change it and wasn't allowed. Apparently that was the "standard styling" and "wasn't sexist" as "sirs could refer to women too".

3 years on apparently someone more senior than me must have got mad, as the template has changed.

Dear Sirs! Seriously?
So outdated and not to mention utterly sexist.
Why would you assume it's going to be a male that reads your email?

I had no idea that the 2 old fashioned versions were so scorned upon.
I would always default to those. Oh dear!

@HerRoyalNotness

I would suggest you contact the company and find out the name of the person in charge of the recruitment for that vacancy and direct the letter / email to them. Dear Sirs / Madam does look a bit like you can’t be arsed. Fashions change.... my mum still indents the address of envelopes but I think that’s unnecessary nowadays too.

I use Good morning or good afternoon. I even use those when I know who I'm writing too (e.g. Good morning Simon). I prefer them to Hi, Hello or Dear within an email.

*writing to and not too!

"Fucking hell I hope people don't actually write Dear Sirs!"

Oh yes, they do. Still very common when writing to an organisation (cos obviously, only men work in offices!).

" I even use those when I know who I'm writing too (e.g. Good morning Simon). "

I also use it when I can't tell the person's sex from their first name so don't know whether to put Ms or Mr so Lyndsey Smith would get Good morning, but Brian Smith might get Dear Mr Smith.
A common thing these days is to put Dear First name Surname, which I don't like. Use either first name or surname (with title), but not both.

I like to use "Yo!"

Aa the OP is emailing a school, presumably about their own child, I would start with:

Good morning/afternoon

Re: Child's name (class name/teacher's name)

Body of message

That way the child is identified early in the message which should help the office staff know who to forward it to.

If I was writing to my children's school I would put Hi, I am writing in regard to... I'm fairly informal in my writing style though.

When I write to my solicitor I always start it 'Hi name' and always get a 'Dear Dino' back , but my accountant is fairly laid back.

I always think the 'Good Morning' emails are going to be someone saying 'I need to transfer a million pounds to your account, just let me have your bank details.'...

Don’t start with Dear Sirs... I work for a charity and the amount of these I get pisses me off! Dear sir/madam is fine

Don't forget to end with;

I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,

(your name)

"I'm writing in regard to" sounds like someone trying too hard to be formal - it's awkward use of language and a step away from using "myself". Think what you might say in conversation and work from there.

Where I work everything gets started with Dear Team

I can’t stand the ‘I hope you are well’ sort of comment, it seems so fake and unnecessary. We get a monthly communication sent to a large list of people, the content is relevant & interesting but we just don’t need the ‘I hope you are well’ phrase.

I did a secretarial course in the 70s ( do they still exist? ) & learned all the Dear Sir/Dear Madam/yours faithfully/yours sincerely rules but agree they are rather out of fashion now.

If I write to a firm of solicitors and I dont know who will read it, its always Dear Sirs.

Otherwise it varies depending on recipients. If it was one if the DC's schools it would usually be good morning/ afternoon

All the people saying they would delete an email starting ‘Dear Sirs’ I expect do not work in professional services where it is common place (it may be old fashioned and sexist, but it is still used). I work in the law and all correspondence to the Court and the other side starts Dear Sirs. It is the norm. Given we still wear wigs and gowns to Court we are a traditional bunch. So whilst Dear Sirs May not be right for your email, it is wrong to suggest it is not commonly used now.

Yes I do an occasional solicitor letter and whoever is dictating will start Dear Sirs

I do legal work and the standard for unknown recipients for me is 'dear sirs', after which its personalised. Not appropriate for now!

If it's going to a generic inbox I would use the format:

For attention of: Headteacher, Mr. Tits, Secretary of the pencil cupboard etc

Good morning,

I hope that this email finds you [all] well.

Blah blah I left my geranium in the school gym would you kindly look into retrieving it for me.

If you would like to call me directly regarding my geranium, my telephone number is 01234567890.

I look forward to hearing back from you.

Kind regards

Ms. OP

Harry I'm quite senior in a large, professional, highly-regulated company. I receive a high number of emails daily. I've still not seen "Dear Sirs" used since the early 2000s. People tend to know it's very outdated now.

Harry I work in a senior-ish role in the City.

Not law, admittedly, but very professional.