Évora’s Delayed Mail Crisis Opens Post Privatisation Debate

Whitewashed lanes that normally draw tourists to Évora’s historic centre are this summer witnessing a very local drama: letters that should arrive in days are taking five weeks or more to reach doorsteps. Mayor Carlos Pinto de Sá, who leads the city hall for the left-wing CDU coalition, has gone public with complaints that the slowdown is not acceptable and it is already holding up social-security cheques for some of the municipality’s most vulnerable residents. The municipal assembly warns that urgent mail now reaches certain villages only once or twice a week, jeopardising access to healthcare appointments, court notices and routine bills.

Why foreigners feel the pinch too

Although digital banking and e-invoicing are widespread, many Portuguese agencies—including immigration offices and tax authorities—still rely on registered post to deliver critical documents. Newcomers waiting for biometric residence cards, driving-licence exchanges or bank debit cards are discovering that a notified delivery date can no longer be taken at face value. Complaints logged with the national postal operator CTT show that the Alentejo delays are not isolated: customer-service hotlines in Lisbon and Porto have recorded a jump in calls from expatriates anxious about time-sensitive paperwork stranded in transit.

What CTT says is going wrong

City officials in Évora asked CTT for an explanation and were told, informally, that an internal reorganisation of delivery routes was disrupting schedules. The mayor rejects that argument, stressing that the company’s concession with the state obliges it to maintain daily distribution in urban areas and regular service everywhere else. "They can re-engineer routes all they want," Pinto de Sá told reporters, "but they cannot downgrade an essential public service." CTT has not issued a formal statement on Évora’s protests, but its annual performance report acknowledges "operational challenges" linked to personnel shortages and a nationwide shift from letters to parcels driven by e-commerce.

A national service under long-term pressure

Portugal sold a majority stake in CTT on the stock market between 2013 and 2014, breaking a 500-year tradition of state ownership. Since then the communications regulator ANACOM has repeatedly chastised the company for missed delivery targets. In 2019 CTT failed twenty-three of twenty-four quality indicators, triggering a legally mandated price cut designed to compensate consumers. New performance thresholds introduced in 2024 have yet to reverse the trend, and parliament is scheduled to debate a mid-term review of the concession next year. Across Europe, only a handful of countries have entirely privatised their universal postal operator; several, including France and Germany, retain majority public stakes or tight regulatory leashes.

What could happen next

Évora’s council wants Lisbon to consider restoring public control when the current concession is assessed. The government has so far limited itself to saying that it "will follow ANACOM’s technical advice". For CTT, the political risk is real: postal workers’ unions are threatening August strikes unless staffing levels are increased in rural regions. Analysts who follow the company’s shares on Euronext Lisbon note that parcel revenue remains strong, but margins could suffer if new quality obligations force management to reopen smaller delivery centres that were closed during earlier cost-cutting rounds.

Practical advice while you wait for the post

Foreign residents can mitigate late deliveries by opting for electronic statements from banks, utilities and Portugal’s tax portal, and by monitoring the SEF/AIMA online dashboard for residency updates instead of relying on physical letters. When physical documents are unavoidable—such as a biometric residence card or a UK pension cheque—request the tracking number and check it daily. If mail surpasses the legal delivery window and incurs financial loss, consumers can file a complaint on the ANACOM public platform or at any "Livro de Reclamações" electronic portal, attaching evidence of the delay. Under Portuguese law, CTT must answer formal complaints within fifteen working days.

The bigger picture for newcomers