Postal service in Porto

[cdnwine]

We are starting our walk Porto to Santiago on Feb 4, 2015 and we would like to use the mail/postal service to forward an extra soft piece of luggage (that we will box) to a postal outlet in Santiago. I've read that the Spanish post office will hold a parcel for PERIGRINOS for up to 15 days which is ample time for the 250km walk. Are there any known issues re sending parcels from a Portuguese outlet to a Spanish outlet?

I know that there are other services/means by which I can do this but please limit your answers to the postal service.

Thank you,
Andre

 

[VascoH]

Hello Andre,
I have posted luggage from Porto to Santiago on both occasions when I walked from Porto to Santiago. You are correct the Post office (Correio) want your luggage boxed. I never had any problem at all and my luggage was there waiting for me. The only thing I would do is send your Luggage to Ivar's service rather than the post office information available on this site. Ivar will hold until you get there.
Bon Camino

 

[VascoH]

Andre,
found the link to Ivar's storage for you.

Try this https://www.caminodesantiago.me/luggage-storage-in-santiago-de-compostela/

Good Luck and Bon Camino

 

[cdnwine]

Good info Vasco, just what I was looking for. But why not just pick up my parcel at the post office in Santiago if I'm going to do so within the 15 day limit? Why add cost by sending it to Ivar's storage facility, the cost structure he advertises is expensive unless it's pro-rated, that is, shorter holding times are less expensive?

Thank you Vasco,
Andre

 

[docpam]

I am so glad I saw this. I want to see some museums in Madrid before starting my walk and will now buy the guide books with confidence. I will send them on to Ivar and pick them up later at Santiago. I trust him to keep the parcel better than I trust a post office. Best wishes. Pam

 

[cdnwine]

I corresponded with Ivar yesterday and he does confirm that his rates are on a daily basis, thus more palpable!

 

[cdnwine]

I've just completed the Portuguese Camino (Porto to Santiago ) and did forward a few boxes ahead to myself addressed to the Santiago correos and what could go wrong, did. I went to retrieve my boxes at the Santiago correos only to be told that they had been sent elsewhere (3rd party), why? no good explanation!!!! The 3rd party had already returned one box, our clothes for the rest of our trip, to the return address we had to list on the box which was the hotel address in Lisbon where we fly out of to go back home. We touch base with our hotel and there is no sign of that box, so we will likely have to shop or wear our Camino clothing for the whole trip, 3 more weeks!!! Meanwhile, we had to get on a bus and travel to a remote area of Santiago to get the other box which was also due to be shipped back to our return address the same day.

I fail to understand the system failures here and for all the questions I have ask, there are no answers. No one takes responsibility, it's the other guys fault. The Albergue staff did tell me that anything coming from Portugal does not get to destination (Spanish correos ), it ends up at this 3rd party location which does nothing but ship it back to the return address. This even though we had taken care of writing on the box that we were Peregrinos and were to arrive in Santiago on a specific date and also had our email address on the box and mail documents, but all failed to contact us about what was going on.

BE WARNED, DO NOT SHIP ANYTHING FROM PORTUGAL TO SANTIAGO.

If Ivar has comments on the subject, please feel free to add them.

 

[Albertinho]

I've just completed the Portuguese Camino (Porto to Santiago ) and did forward a few boxes ahead to myself addressed to the Santiago correos and what could go wrong, did. I went to retrieve my boxes at the Santiago correos only to be told that they had been sent elsewhere (3rd party), why? no good explanation!!!! The 3rd party had already returned one box, our clothes for the rest of our trip, to the return address we had to list on the box which was the hotel address in Lisbon where we fly out of to go back home. We touch base with our hotel and there is no sign of that box, so we will likely have to shop or wear our Camino clothing for the whole trip, 3 more weeks!!! Meanwhile, we had to get on a bus and travel to a remote area of Santiago to get the other box which was also due to be shipped back to our return address the same day.

I fail to understand the system failures here and for all the questions I have ask, there are no answers. No one takes responsibility, it's the other guys fault. The Albergue staff did tell me that anything coming from Portugal does not get to destination (Spanish correos ), it ends up at this 3rd party location which does nothing but ship it back to the return address. This even though we had taken care of writing on the box that we were Peregrinos and were to arrive in Santiago on a specific date and also had our email address on the box and mail documents, but all failed to contact us about what was going on.

BE WARNED, DO NOT SHIP ANYTHING FROM PORTUGAL TO SANTIAGO.

If Ivar has comments on the subject, please feel free to add them.

Even from Holland to Portugal did not succed. A Christmas present , sent to one of our forum friends returned to sender back home after more than one month.

 

[ivar]

@cdnwine I have not had any problem receiving bags/suitcases/boxes from Portugal using the postal service.

The rule at the Spanish post office is: "If you don't don't pick up your stuff within 14 days, they will send it back to the sender". That is why I offer this service:
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/luggage-storage-in-santiago-de-compostela/

This said, I know many that send thing to the post office in Santiago... and many times they keep things longer than 14 days... But the rule is (if you ask them), 14 days.

I am at the post office almost every day, sending credentials out.... so I know them quite well. If you need some help, please let me know. ivar.rekve at gmail.com

I hope this helps.
Ivar

 

[Diogo92]

I've just completed the Portuguese Camino (Porto to Santiago ) and did forward a few boxes ahead to myself addressed to the Santiago correos and what could go wrong, did. I went to retrieve my boxes at the Santiago correos only to be told that they had been sent elsewhere (3rd party), why? no good explanation!!!! The 3rd party had already returned one box, our clothes for the rest of our trip, to the return address we had to list on the box which was the hotel address in Lisbon where we fly out of to go back home. We touch base with our hotel and there is no sign of that box, so we will likely have to shop or wear our Camino clothing for the whole trip, 3 more weeks!!! Meanwhile, we had to get on a bus and travel to a remote area of Santiago to get the other box which was also due to be shipped back to our return address the same day.

I fail to understand the system failures here and for all the questions I have ask, there are no answers. No one takes responsibility, it's the other guys fault. The Albergue staff did tell me that anything coming from Portugal does not get to destination (Spanish correos ), it ends up at this 3rd party location which does nothing but ship it back to the return address. This even though we had taken care of writing on the box that we were Peregrinos and were to arrive in Santiago on a specific date and also had our email address on the box and mail documents, but all failed to contact us about what was going on.

BE WARNED, DO NOT SHIP ANYTHING FROM PORTUGAL TO SANTIAGO.

If Ivar has comments on the subject, please feel free to add them.

You should have sented it to Ivar storage stash!

Even from Holland to Portugal did not succed. A Christmas present , sent to one of our forum friends returned to sender back home after more than one month.

Probably because some one has written the wrong postal code on the package (201=/=681 )

 

[Diogo92]

@cdnwine I have not had any problem receiving bags/suitcases/boxes from Portugal using the postal service.

The rule at the Spanish post office is: "If you don't don't pick up your stuff within 14 days, they will send it back to the sender". That is why I offer this service:
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/luggage-storage-in-santiago-de-compostela/

This said, I know many that send thing to the post office in Santiago... and many times they keep things longer than 14 days... But the rule is (if you ask them), 14 days.

I am at the post office almost every day, sending credentials out.... so I know them quite well. If you need some help, please let me know. ivar.rekve at gmail.com

I hope this helps.
Ivar

14 working days right? It's how it works here in Portugal.

 

[ivar]

14 working days right? It's how it works here in Portugal.

Not sure.

 

[Diogo92]

Not sure.

I wonder if Portugal it's one of the few countries in Europe that don't have a Post Service working on Saturdays (besides some special offices, like the Lisbon Airport one).

 

[Albertinho]

You should have sented it to Ivar storage stash!



Probably because some one has written the wrong postal code on the package (201=/=681 )

The postcode is not the holy grail

Here stil arrive letters and parcels without any postal code

 

[Diogo92]

The postcode is not the holy grail

Here stil arrive letters and parcels without any postal code

Each street in Portugal, might have 1, 2, 3 or 4 postal codes, depending from the lenght of the street. That's the street identification, being the first 4 numbers the town/city and the last 3 numbers indicate the street, and what part of the street (pair or unpair numbers, below or above 100, etc etc).

If you mark a postal code to 2600-201, the system will regonize it has that street (Travessa da Misericórdia), either if it has a different name over it. What happened was that, 2600-201 it's Vila Franca de Xira (and not Castanheira do Rbatejo), and it went to the number 39 of that street. Mail man don't use the street name, but the postal code to know where they have to find it. You could even put the address from the Prime Minister, with a different postal code, it will end up at the destination of the postal code.

I never had problems with sending or receiving mail from abroad. What I have problems with, it's with customs handling and dispatch of the packages. That yes, I have complaints. Besides that, nothing at all. I even got mail from Vietnam every once and a while, and receive it without any problem besides sometimes the long waiting time

 

[Albertinho]

Each street in Portugal, might have 1, 2, 3 or 4 postal codes, depending from the lenght of the street. That's the street identification, being the first 4 numbers the town/city and the last 3 numbers indicate the street, and what part of the street (pair or unpair numbers, below or above 100, etc etc).

If you mark a postal code to 2600-201, the system will regonize it has that street (Travessa da Misericórdia), either if it has a different name over it. What happened was that, 2600-201 it's Vila Franca de Xira (and not Castanheira do Rbatejo), and it went to the number 39 of that street. Mail man don't use the street name, but the postal code to know where they have to find it. You could even put the address from the Prime Minister, with a different postal code, it will end up at the destination of the postal code.

I never had problems with sending or receiving mail from abroad. What I have problems with, it's with customs handling and dispatch of the packages. That yes, I have complaints. Besides that, nothing at all. I even got mail from Vietnam every once and a while, and receive it without any problem besides sometimes the long waiting time

Os "Goudse stroopwafels "foram gostosos quando volveram .
Enviarei-te frescos quando estaremos outro vez no Portugal. Por correios Portuguêses e esperamos que pasara !

 

[Diogo92]

Os "Goudse stroopwafels "foram gostorosos quando volveram .

And I was thinking that some fat customs guard was eating them

 

[ivar]

So I think I know what happened above.

When you mail something across border into Spain, it is not necessarily the Spanish post office that "takes over" when the parcel enters Spain. When I get suitcases/boxes from France it is actually SEUR (private transportation company) that delivers it to me. French Postal Service to the border, SEUR from the Spanish border to me.

Something similar is happening across the Portuguese/Spanish border. I think (the more I think, the more unsure I get... but I think) I get the boxes/suitcases from Portugal delivered to me in Santiago by the Spanish postal service (or it might be SEUR, now I am not sure). The problem occurs if you mail it to a Spanish Post office... and it is SEUR (or another private company) that delivers it. I am not sure if they will drop it off at a post office and having them store it. I have my doubts that this is done. Has anyone tried this? "Poste restante" across borders?

 

[Albertinho]

And I was thinking that some fat customs guard was eating them

He wished he should !

 

[cdnwine]

So I think I know what happened above.

When you mail something across border into Spain, it is not necessarily the Spanish post office that "takes over" when the parcel enters Spain. When I get suitcases/boxes from France it is actually SEUR (private transportation company) that delivers it to me. French Postal Service to the border, SEUR from the Spanish border to me.

Something similar is happening across the Portuguese/Spanish border. I think (the more I think, the more unsure I get... but I think) I get the boxes/suitcases from Portugal delivered to me in Santiago by the Spanish postal service (or it might be SEUR, now I am not sure). The problem occurs if you mail it to a Spanish Post office... and it is SEUR (or another private company) that delivers it. I am not sure if they will drop it off at a post office and having them store it. I have my doubts that this is done. Has anyone tried this? "Poste restante" across borders?

The good news if I can call it that, I now know where my two boxes are. The one box I did not need, I retrieved yesterday from a 3rd party named Tourline that seems to handle the Portuguese mail crossing into Spain, but as Ivar said there is no certainty about it but it's very likely the case. The other box, the one with our clothes was shipped back by Tourline, to the return address in Lisbon, at the hotel where I will spend 5 nights before the return flight home.

Back to the crux of the subject, if it is the case that a 3rd party handles parcels for the Portuguese correos at the Spanish border, it should not be an issue, their job is to deliver the parcel to the address on the package, that's what I paid for!!!! the boxes were address to myself at a Santiago correos location, my email address was on the mailing documents and in a hand written note on the box, in English indicating that I was a peregrinos arriving in Santiago on the 19th of Feb, l mailed my parcels on Feb 4th from Porto! I was in Santiago on the 17th and went to the post office for the boxes, they had no record of my boxes but surprisingly knew where they were. The clerk made a call to Tourline and sure enough one of my boxes was there and the other had already been returned, but they could not identify which one. Once I retrieved the one box, I went back to the Spanish correos who somewhat confirmed that my boxes were never delivered to them. Yet this 3rd party, without trying to contact me or trying to deliver the boxes, what they are paid for, felt it was the right thing to return the boxes/parcels to Portugal.

The whole thing stinks incompetency at all levels and possibly some connivance between some of these parties. I say so because I failed to grasp why, if my parcels would have been address to Ivar they more than likely would of made it to destination but they could not make it to the correos when all the correct information was on the box and fees paid. My suspicion is that Tourline probably knows that the Santiago Spanish correos does not want to handle peregrino parcels incoming from Portugal that they need to hold for later pick up but do so for peregrinos who do Spanish to Spanish correos because they have to. The 3rd party receives the package, no attempt is made to deliver it and the Spanish correos has no finger prints showing anywhere. Just my conspiracy theory.

Pissed off Canadian, stuff like this would not happen in Canada or the USA.