U03E - Post Office

Like Post Offices elsewhere CTT (Portuguese Postal Services) provides a variety of services: collection and delivery of letters and parcels, a national and international courier service, sending and receipt of faxes, payment of bills, public phone booths, stationery, money transfer, financial products, and they are now also a bank. The 1.000 odd outlets vary from small village shops to specialised offices in the larger cities. They can provide up to date information on their services. 

Do you need a post box? 
The Post Office provides home deliveries of letters in most urban centres. Building regulations require new houses (even those in the most remote country areas) to have standard sized post boxes. However older buildings often do not have one. You may find that previous residents had an arrangement with the Postman, and mail is left elsewhere such as at the corner shop. If you find that mail is not arriving regularly you should first consult your local Post Office to ensure you and your addresses are known to them. 

Rural post routes tend to be along main roads and many country areas do not even warrant a post route. If your country house is not on a post route you have a number of options. Most of your neighbours may have their mail delivered to the café next to the bus stop in the town, which they collect on Sundays or market days. You need to be well known for this to work well. Others, who go into town more frequently on working days, have it held the remaining correspondence at the Post Office counter. Theoretically this costs €0.66 per letter. Those living close to a main road have installed a post box at their junction. The best boxes seem to be those sold by the Post Office itself. However, there’s an option of renting a box (Apartado) at the local Post Office. 

To rent a box (Apartado) you will need identification and your tax number (NIF), armed with these fill in a CTT form at the Post Office where you want to rent the box. The rental for the first year is now about €58.00 + IVA, and for renewal €38.00 + IVA. They will usually provide the number and key immediately. Renewal reminders are delivered to your box, and the deadline for payment of the renewal fee is December.

If you are not a permanent resident, then you should consider having your post addressed to a friend or your agent. 

ViaCTT service
ViaCTT is a comfortable and safe service that prevents the illegal use of your identity by third parties.

The good news is that you don't receive any type of SPAM, only digital correspondence from adhering entities that you authorise (such as: Tax Authority - Finanças). Another good thing is that you get an alert (by SMS or e-mail) whenever you have new messages. In other words, you can receive all your important stuff (water, electricity, gas, telephone bills) in an organised way in one place only. CTT will provide you with a login that gives you access to digital account.

Please note that membership and use are completely free of charge. The costs are paid by the entities that send the correspondence, as with paper mail.

Economy, Normal, Priority or Express 
For business purposes there are a whole range of options for direct mail and printed matter. However, for normal letters and small packets the Post Office offers four main services. The cheapest international service is the Correio Económico. This offers delivery to countries in Europe within 5 working days, and elsewhere within 7 days, but has certain restrictions (max. 2kgs). Normal mail (Correio Normal) offers delivery in Portugal within 3 working days and to Europe within 5 days. 

The priority mail service is branded as Correio Azul and the envelope gets a special priority sticker. This often impresses the person receiving the letter, especially as the service usually seems to work. In Portugal Correio Azul offers next day delivery, in Europe it is 3 days, and 5 for the rest of the world. 

The top of the range is a type of express courier service, EMS, operated jointly with other national Post Offices. This offers door-to-door, same day or next day service in Portugal, and from one to three days delivery in other countries. This seems to be one of the few organisations that have offices in all rural towns in Portugal and provide such a rapid service with provincial towns in most other countries. 

For more detailed information, please visit www.ctt.pt or call 210 471 616.