The Spanish post office "Correos"
has long been known for its slow service, although there has been
an improvement over recent years. Post offices are generally open
from 8.30 am to 2 pm, although times will vary according to the
size of the city/town. Most will also open again on Saturday mornings,
but in the smaller towns will close as early as 12pm.
"Poste Restante" letters can be collected at the
post office and should be addressed Lista de Correos, followed by
the post code, town and province. Be careful to check that your
letter hasn't been incorrectly filed under a first or middle name,
as Spaniards have two surnames and a letter would be filed under
the first.
If you have to collect a registered or certified
letter or package you will be asked to show some form of identification.
When posting a letter, look for a yellow box and,
if possible, post at the post office itself where there will also
be divisions for local, national and international mail. Be prepared
for long queues at the post office. This is why "estancos"
(tobacconists) sell stamps and many will also have the facility
to weigh packages.
Post office "Giro" is a traditional way
to send money within Spain, and it is delivered like a certified
letter containing cash, to the recipient. There is an Express service
and a Normal service. The charges for the service are reasonable.
The Post Office is now offering a wider range of
services such as fax and in some cases e-mail however there is not
usually much literature on display to explain these services. Here
is a quick guide to the fundamental services with prices charged
in 2003:
Basic Letter or Postcard up to 20g stamps cost
0.26 Euro for Spain, 0.51 Euro for EU and 0.76 Euro for the World.
"Certificado" (certified) Letters to 20g
where the delivery is registered costs 2.15 Euro for Spain, 2.66
Euro for EU and 2.91 Euro for the World.
"Urgente" Letters up to 20g where
the delivery is as fast as possible costs 1.85 Euro for Spain, 2.30
Euro for EU and 2.55 Euro for the World.
Postal Express Nacional costs the equivalent of
a courier letter of small package up to 1kg. This costs 5.15 Euro
for deliveries to the same province (e.g. Malaga) in Spain, 7.25
Euro for deliveries to the same region (e.g. Andalucia) in Spain,
8.80 Euro for deliveries anywhere in the Spanish Peninsula and 10.50
Euro for deliveries to the Canary Islands.
There is a phone number for Customer Service which
is 902 197 197 and the Post offices website can be found at www.correos.es.
There you will find a full description of the services in Spanish.
To locate a post office in any town select "Logistica" from the
menu on the left and then "Localizador de oficinas" on the menu
on the right hand side.
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