Post in Moraira

Has the villa got its own letter box? If so, it's the same as the UK. If anything is too big to go in the letter box, or needs a signature, the cartero (postie) will ring the bell. If you're not in they'll leave a notification in the letter box, saying whether it's a parcel etc, and you go to the post office to collect. Take proof of ID - passport or Spanish driving license.

Thanks Jim. That's great. Is it as reliable as England, I was wondering why there are so many people who use a buzon?

Mike

Where we live in the countryside, we normally only get post twice a week, and it takes about ten days for post from the UK to arrive.

In fourteen years we've - to our knowledge - only once not received an item of post. Having said that, a lot of people seem to have problems with post going missing, and for such problem areas it's probably better to have a buzón at the post office. Several of our friends have to collect their own mail, as they live down tracks that the post office don't service.

A secure apartment block or urbanisation usually have a bank of letter boxes that the cartero can access, and this even happens on some residential streets where the cartero could get to individual properties, but instead there's a bank of buzones on the street.

In my opinion there are two problems with the postal system in Spain. 

The first is that a property can have several variations to its address, so it's best to check with the post office re what address they consider correct. This is more of a problem with couriers, when it's essential to include your telephone number with the address, so the courier can ring and ask where you or or arrange to meet at a mutually convenient location. For example, our road is not on any mapping other than Google Maps - and that's because I added it.

The second problem is the post code system, which only identifies an area. In our post code area there are thousands of properties, served by several post offices, so pity the poor postie if the address on an item is incorrect.

Thanks again Jim. I will get a post box put on my gate...

To add to the above, we discovered that no official Spanish authority will deliver anything to an Apartado, although they may sometimes deliver to a Buzon. The first we knew of a traffic fine, was some 6 months after the event when we received a somewhat tetchy email from our abogada regarding the non-payment of a speeding fine which had eventually, through various circumlocutions arrived in her office!!!!! In a different town 20 km from where we actually live!

And the tale of our non-delivered driving licences, eventually discovered hidden in a cupboard in Trafico en Alicante, marked as non-deliverable, would filll a book!

Thanks all.

I have bought a box for my gate, registered at a private post office and checked with my gestor that she is registered as my rep with SUMA.

So all bases covered😀