SEPI Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales

• Her Highness Sofía was able to know the way a multi-service postal office, a sorting office and a Special Services Unit work, and she saw how the activity at the postal company is being transformed
• Her Highness the Queen was awarded last year the title of “Honorary Post-Person”, thus becoming the first woman in History to be awarded this honorific title which CORREOS bestows

Her Majesty the Queen visited today a number of CORREOS’ facilities, which are located at Chile street in Madrid, at which she was able to know first-hand the way operate and work daily the employees at a multi-service postal office, a sorting office or a Common Delivery Unit and a Special Services Unit, which is in charge of delivering express shipments and packages.

During her visit she was accompanied by the Public Works Minister, Ms. Ana Pastor; the Undersecretary of Public Works, Mr. Mario Garcés, and the Technical Secretary General of Public Works, Mr. Eugenio López. She also was greeted by the secretary generals of the four biggest trade unions at the postal company, on behalf of the more than 53,000 professionals who work at the postal company.

CORREOS’ Chairman, Mr. Javier Cuesta Nuin, acting as the host, led the visit through the facilities, explaining to her Majesty the transformation process which is undergoing the postal company.

First of all, her Majesty the Queen visited the sorting office or Delivery Unit No. 16th, which constitutes a sample of the 1,800 facilities of this kind which CORREOS has all over Spain, and whose main function is the delivery of the common mail (common letters, commercial mail and publications) and certified mail (certificates, notifications, etc, which are delivered under signing and which can be followed through Internet). There she was explained how the district is organized into sections, and which are the different tasks which perform the 29 post-persons who work in that unit both before and after the home delivery.

Then she visited the Special Services Unit (USE 1) – of which there are 100 in all of Spain - located in the same facilities at Chile Street, in which work 36 employees. Its main mission – which distinguishes the USEs from the common delivery units – is its handling and delivery of express shipments and of part of packaging, which is experiencing a strong growth thanks to the expansion of ecommerce.

One post-person showed to her Majesty Sofía how he carries out his tasks, and delivered to her a telegram, using for recording its reception the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), the hand-held device which is used for recording all the shipment’s events.

The visit through CORREOS’ facilities concluded with the visit to Branch no. 19th, an instance of the almost 2,400 multi-services postal offices which make up the network which has the biggest territorial presence and scope in all of Spain. They are called “multi-services” because they constitute places in which it is possible to carry out many different activities in less time (bill payments, money transfers, recharging the cell phones, contracting BanCorreos’ financial services, digitalization of shipments to the Administration, post office boxes, etc.).

Her Majesty the Queen watched a demonstration of how are received and delivered the different types of shipments, and she was able to know the range of products and services which are provided at the office.

CORREOS’ Chairman, Mr. Javier Cuesta Nuin, also explained to Her Majesty Sofía the important role played by these offices in the Social Corporate Responsibility (SCRs) programs of the postal company, as they constitute one of the main channels for the commercialization of the solidarity products of a number of non-government organizations, such as UNICEF, the Red Cross, “Un juguete, una illusion (a toy, an illusion)”, as well as the points for the sale of the ecological packaging of the “Línea Verde” (Green Line), whose sale finances woodland planting.

The first “Honorary Post-woman”

Her Majesty the Queen was awarded last November the title of “Honorary Post-person”, thus becoming the first woman to be awarded this honorary title, which CORREOS bestows on those persons which have given prestige to the entity with their collaboration.

Besides recognizing the link which has existed throughout History between the Crown and the postal service, the appointment of Her Highness Sofía as the first woman to receive the title of “Honorary Post-Person” constitutes a fair acknowledgment to the support given and a homage, in her person, to the contribution made by women to the postal delivery tasks, and to the Spanish society itself.

When she received the documentation and the symbols which are attached to the title in the hearing which took place at the Royal Palace of la Zarzuela, Her Majesty the Queen manifested her wish to have a more in-depth knowledge about the work which carries out CORREOS’ personnel, a wish which became reality today.

Correos-Grupo SEPI

Correos belongs to Grupo SEPI, a corporate holding which includes a total of 16 state-owned companies in which it has a direct, majority shareholding participation, with more than 75,000 professionals in 2012, and to which is attached the state-owned radio-and-television corporation, as well as one public foundation. Besides, it has direct minority shareholding participations in a further 9 companies, and indirect ones in more than 100 companies.

Correos is the biggest company in Spain, both in terms of its presence and territorial scope, with around 10,000 points for gaining access to its services. It distributes over 4,000 Million shipments per year, and it reaches daily 28 Million households, companies and institutions. It has a human team made up by about 56,000 professionals who work to provide comprehensive solutions and a wide range of high-quality products adapted to the different customer categories, both in packaging and direct marketing, and in postal services based on the new technologies and financial services.