Chapter 16: Post Office

As you walk around Gibraltar, you can't help but notice the red post boxes, with E.R. and the crown clearly engraved upon them. Another reminder of Britain. However despite the visual similarities to the UK, the postal system in Gibraltar is very different.

A post box in Gibraltar

My first experience at getting mail sent to me in Gibraltar was an eye opener, and further experience of the sometimes bizarre way things work in Gibraltar compared to the UK. My Mum had sent me a parcel of some letters and a DVD I had ordered before I left the UK. She'd posted it the day after she returned to the UK on 7 September. Over 2 weeks later I still did not have the parcel. Not long after I arrived in Gibraltar, I had sent postcards to friends in Edinburgh, and they had arrived within a few days. So I couldn't understand why the parcel was taking so long to arrive, and I eventually gave it up for lost. Then one morning, I received a card from the Royal Gibraltar Post Office. My parcel was at their sorting office, and I could pay £4 for them to deliver it, or collect it in person. It seems that in Gibraltar, the postman or postwoman doesn't deliver your letters and parcels to your home. They deliver a card. You then need to take that card to the sorting office to pick up your mail, or pay for home delivery.

The Main Post Office

I was ready to head to the main post office on Main Street (where I had sent my postcards from), but the sorting office is in a different part of town. I got the bus to nearby the sorting office, but had to use Google Maps to find it. If I hadn't I would have walked right past it, as it is just an industrial building, and doesn't look like a post office at all. At the sorting office I had to wait in a queue, present my card, then wait while they got my parcel ready. After presenting photo ID, I was finally able to take possession of my parcel. At least I finally had it, and it had only taken 3 weeks to arrive! I received parcels quicker from home when I was studying in Australia 20 years ago.

The sorting office.

Getting anything delivered to Gibraltar seems an awkward process. Even Amazon won't deliver to Gibraltar. I bought a tablet from Amazon, with the leaving donation my work colleagues gave me. I had to get Amazon to deliver the tablet to my Mum's address, and ask her to send it over. She sent this special delivery with tracking, and while this arrived quicker (in a few days), the sorting office were going to send me to customs before I could claim it. Thankfully I avoided this, after explaining it was for personal use, and after they ripped it open to check it was indeed what I said it was. I then had to pay £4 for the privilege of picking up my parcel. But I guess it was better than being sent to customs.

Easier to send a parcel to Australia.

Another unique thing about Gibraltar, is that Gibraltar only has one postcode G11 1AA. While postcodes have been used in the UK for decades, Gibraltar is only now developing a postcode system. However, I read this on a document dated 2013, so they obviously haven't got very far!

Postcodes trialled in Britain in 1959

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