Correos has returned to the fore. A thread published this morning by Editorial Cerbero, at this time erased, it detailed the range of dysfunctionalities that its clients face on a daily basis. The storytelling has gained traction to the point of becoming TT. In one of the most shared tweets, the publisher said that many books do not reach their recipients because the courier company, considering that they do not fit in the mailboxes, desists from delivering them. And to warn.
Discontent. We do not know to what extent the publisher’s allegations are true. But we do know that they have struck a chord among a large number of users: the company has been doing poorly for some time now. Is it a fair or unfair perception? Given the busy work he faces Post Office Serves, the Twitter account intended to serve the customer, one would say yes. Similar accusations, sometimes viral, are already regular on Twitter (here, here Y here other examples).
There is a hum.
The bottom line. Is it justified? Beyond that, the truth is that Correos is going through a deep political and economic crisis that has reduced its resources as a postal service. Starting with the most obvious: the company declared more than € 264 million in losses at the end of 2020, the first year of the pandemic, contributing to the bulk of the hemorrhage declared by SEPI, the state company that covers the main public companies, in the same course (more than € 480 million losses).
Well, I’m going to tell you something that happened to me with a supposedly serious company: @Post . I am going to tell you and present the evidence of a crime that they are trying to commit with me. I have sat down because I could not believe it. In August they lost a package that I sent
– Beatriz Rico (@bearicoactriz) November 2, 2019
To worst. The future is not brighter. At the beginning of last year, La Información published the forecasts of income and losses managed by the company for the current year and the next. If nothing changed, Correos would lose about € 400 million in 2021 (the figures have not yet been published) and more than € 630 million in 2023. Unsustainable numbers for a company that has a turnover of around € 2 billion annually. The reading of the president of the Post Office, Juan Manuel Serrano, was clear: we must change.
The fact that? This is where the problems for the common user appear. For some time now, it is common to come across news of cuts and layoffs in many delegations in Spanish territory: Valladolid, Soria, Pontevedra, Segovia, Alcoy, Cáceres, and so on. Workers’ protests are also frequent, how are you carried out in Alcorcón during the Kings Bridge and collected by the platform Post Office in Struggle.
The unions have long denounced the precariousness of the service. Here is a figure that sums up well the weight loss that the Post Office has undergone: if in 2001 it had more than 40,000 workers, today there are 9,000. 30% have a temporary contract and 16% of the permanent positions offered between 2015 and 2019 were partial.
The money. The key is financing. Correos is a “universal public service” that operates in some cases at a loss, reaching where free competition does not find any benefit. This cost is financed by the public coffers, but its amount has been discussed regularly by the European Commission. Between 2004 and 2010, for example, the EC accused the state of giving it € 167 million more for the provision of “universal public service”.
Brussels accused the Post Office of receiving more money than it needed to offer its “universal” services. As explained here, the state kept a “budget shield” of about € 500 million for the postal company … Which the Commission urged to liquidate in September 2020. It thus responded to complaints from the sector (private courier companies) that they understood that the state incurred in unfair competition by financially favoring Correos beyond its unprofitable services.
The crisis. That “shield” was nothing more than a state credit line in case Correos faced financial turmoil in the future. The EC also cut the annual budget for universal basic service (from € 250 million in previous years to € 110 million). All this in a context of pandemic in which the company entered 12% less. 65% of the Post Office business depended on the postal service, sunk in 2020 (500 million fewer letters). Spain sent more packages than ever, yes, but there it has a less dominant market share.
The future. A positive and a negative line. The positive: in the first quarter of 2021 Correos had returned to profits (about € 4 million), partly due to the push of the packages and due to the restructuring that the company is carrying out. The negative: it has had to request loans from banks (€ 325 million from Kutxabank and € 108 million from CaixaBank) to continue operating. He no longer owes money to the state, that “shield”, but to private institutions.
A volatile and complex situation that, understandably, could have affected the end customer. Of course, the official forecasts for this year lower the losses for 2020: no more than € 80 million.
Image: Jon Arrillaga / GTRES