Speak the Culture: Spain: Be Fluent in Spanish Life and Culture

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1. Identity: the
   building blocks of
   2. Literature
   and philosophy
   3. Art and
   architecture
   4. Performing
   arts
   5. Cinema
   and fashion
   6. Media and
   communications
   7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
   the details of

Slow to deliver: the Spanish post

Spain’s postal service, Correos, doesn’t enjoy the best

reputation. Erratic, slow and complicated are the usual

accusations. However, it’s better than it used to be.

Far less mail goes astray these days and notoriously slow

delivery times are improving with new technology and

changing practice. The state still controls Correos,

although there are periodic murmurs about full privatisation

and competition does exist. Almost everything connected

with the operation is yellow: postboxes, vans, nifty

scooters, bikes and the distinctive Correos sign with its

image of a post horn. Expect to queue if you actually

venture into a post office – if you’re only buying stamps,

it’s easier to do so from a tobacconist with the yellow

‘T’ sign outside. And choose your postbox wisely: some

are rarely emptied, particularly in rural areas, and others

look altogether forsaken. Your best bet is to post letters in

the town centre or outside a post office or railway station.

It’s a similar story with deliveries – the further you live

from town, the less dependable your supposedly daily

delivery will be.

Middle Ages

The Crown controlled the

post and anyone of due

importance could make

use of runners on

horseback to send

messages.

16 thcentury

The Habsburgs employed

Francisco de Tassis,

pioneer of a postal

service operating

between Italy and

Austria, to give Spain’s

mail a more centralised

structure.

18 thcentury

Felipe V made the post

available to anyone who

could afford to use it.

1850

Spain gets its first

postage stamps, carrying

an impression of Isabella

II. A basic letter required

a six cuartosstamp.

1889

The workforce of

the postal service is

formalised and the

home delivery service

takes off.

Post dated:

the history of

mail in Spain

6.2.1 Making connections:

posting a letter and making a call

Zip file

All Spanish postal codes

have five digits. The first

two numbers cover the

province, the following

three refer to the town

or village. Regions

are given numbers

alphabetically. So Álava

in the Basque Country

gets 01 and Zaragoza

brings up the rear with

50, while Madrid hovers

somewhere in between

with 28.

Mail shots

The Spanish postal

service is among

the nation’s biggest

employers with

65,000 staff

It delivers more than five

billion items of post

every year.

Over 10,000 post offices

operate throughout

Spain.

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