Spanish State prepares up to €4 billion bailout for Correos

The State will inject up to €4 billion into Correos

Correos is losing money at the peak of its historical potential. While this paradox is not new, the scale of the deficit is unprecedented: the Spanish State is preparing an injection of up to 4,000 million euros to prevent the technical bankruptcy of the state-owned company, according to the framework presented in this report. The company employs 50,221 people and 1,279 union delegates, operating under a labor model that some analysts compare to Soviet-era state enterprises. Meanwhile, mail delivery is failing in much of rural Spain.

The most striking detail: Correos is the company responsible for delivering packages from Amazon, Vinted, Temu, Wallapop, and Carrefour. In other words, it operates during the golden age of parcel delivery, holding advantages over any private competitor due to its state status, yet it fails to generate returns. The question is not whether the money exists, but why it does not translate into results.

Why is Correos losing money during the e-commerce boom?

Because the business is being undermined from within. The dominant theory points to a cost structure inflated by middle management, commissions, and committees that consume all profit margins. A recurring calculation in this matter: for every office employee earning around 25,000 euros, there is a middle manager earning 100,000 euros in a role that does not translate into actual service. The total figure being discussed is a cost of 80,000 euros per employee, a number that does not align with visible productivity.

The most frequent comparison is with Televisión Española (the state broadcaster), another major public drain: nearly 200 executives with average salaries of 80,000 euros. That chapter, while scandalous, represents only about 1% of the budget. Therefore, the problem is not just the leadership; it is the entire model.

The Globalia contract and clauses that shift losses to taxpayers

This is the most controversial episode. The contract signed between Correos and Globalia included a sixth clause, according to which if the financial results for the year are negative, they will be fully assumed by Correos. In other words, business risk was socialized, while profits, if any, were privatized. This has become a recurring example of how a state-owned company can be used to serve external interests.

Some argue that the company is controlled by unions and that its labor structure prevents any attempt at competitiveness. The cited data: 1,279 union delegates for a workforce of 50,221, alongside record absenteeism and mindfulness and coaching programs on the payroll. The irony is self-evident.

The missing postman: rural delivery at the heart of the complaints

Service has degraded in many areas. Some report two and a half weeks without receiving mail in rural Álava. In villages 40 kilometers from Barcelona, with paved streets and a post office less than 500 meters away, delivery is limited to Thursdays, and in July and August, it disappears entirely: letters from those months all arrive together in mid-September. In another case, credit cards that expired in July did not arrive until September.

Saturdays are no longer worked. In July and August, offices do not open in the afternoons. The company's argument, when questioned, is that there are delays or vacations. The taxpayer who funds the service does not always see the same level of reliability.

What peine during Feijóo's management of Correos?

Historical records are uncomfortable for both sides. When Alberto Núñez Feijóo presided over Correos between May 2000 and 2003, the company was accumulating losses of 30 million euros. Upon leaving, it showed a 109 million euro profit over two years, according to the version cited, trinc a push for digitalization. In April 2022, the PP (People's Party) called for the dismissal of Juan Manuel Serrano as president of Correos, alleging management deficiencies; the argument used then was that his merit was having served in Sánchez's cabinet.

Serrano has been denounced by Abogados Cristianos for alleged embezzlement of public funds during his presidency at Correos, according to published reports. The complaint refers to high losses despite subsidies, the executive's salary, and the promotion of certain ideological causes from the company. All of this is currently under investigation and does not constitute a conviction.

What is the solution? Liquidation, sale, or continued injections?

There is a wide range of proposals. One current defends an orderly liquidation, selling assets, and finding the best possible way out for the 50,000 employees, arguing that the private sector does the same without costing millions. Another maintains that the problem is not the postal service itself, but the clientelist network surrounding it: state companies used as employment agencies and sources of favors. A third suggests that, with competent management, Correos would be one of the most powerful companies in the country.

The immediate precedent is not encouraging: Correos lost another 120 million euros despite a 247 million euro injection from the State. The election year, as is often the case, fixed nothing.

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The injection of up to 4,000 million is presented as the definitive bailout. If the pattern repeats, in a few years there will be another almost identical headline, with a different figure and the same missing postman. The prediction, with reservations: someone will open a bottle of wine the day the company closes, and they will likely do so with the package still undelivered.