The report with the main findings of the latest survey into the consumption of postal services has been released. The survey was carried out with the aim of gauging the level of use and the perception of users with respect to the quality of these services in Portugal. It was conducted by ANACOM and by TNS-Euroteste between 19 November and 29 December 2008.
Of note among the main results of the survey was the fact that the majority of those surveyed expressed a positive level of satisfaction with respect to the general development of postal services during 2008. Compared to the results of the 2006 survey, an increase was seen both in the percentage of individuals who said they were “very dissatisfied” (3.3 per cent, compared to 2 per cent) and in the percentage of individuals who said they were “very satisfied” (28.4 per cent, compared to 19.5 per cent), which is echoed in a very similar assessment in average terms.
In terms of postal network use, it is estimated that during 2008 around 66.8 per cent of Portuguese individuals over 14 years of age used permanent post offices and, in the majority of cases, branches located in their area of residence. In this respect, nearly 70 per cent of the individuals surveyed were unaware of the replacement of certain permanent post offices with postal service offices, while half of the users who were aware of these replacements considered that the change had improved the level of service to which they were accustomed.
Regarding the type of service used in post offices, the sending of correspondence was the most widely used and known, by around 37.3 and 56.3 per cent of surveyed users. Meanwhile the least known services, which 90 per cent of post office and postal service office users said they were unaware of, were the charging and sale of mobile phones, the payment of taxes, sending faxes and telegrams, the forwarding of correspondence and parcels, financial products, access to the Internet, transfer and collection of money, postal orders, post office boxes and the sales of telephone calling cards.
Finally, with respect to complaints about the service, it was found that 6.1 per cent of post office and postal service office users over the age of14 had made at least one complaint during 2008. Of these, 27.3 per cent considered that it was difficult or very difficult to obtain information on how to complain. “Delivery to wrong address” (28 per cent of users who complained) and “loss of correspondence or parcels” (19 per cent) were the two main reasons cited for these complaints.
In the terms of the methodology used, the survey universe comprised individuals over the age of 14, residing in Mainland Portugal or in the Autonomous Regions of Madeira and the Azores. 1610 telephone interviews were conducted, using the system of computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI).
The results were rebalanced for a universe of individuals through the use of weightings designed to ensure the socio-demographic structure of the Portuguese population of over 14 years of age, residing in private households in Portugal. This process was based on the 2001 Census of INE.
Consult:
- Survey of the consumption of postal services - Residential Population in December 2008 https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=968299
