Registered letters have become extortionately costly in Belgium (around €10). So to save money I make hand-deliveries and request recipients sign for it. I have no idea if this ad hoc proof of delivery would meet courtroom standards of evidence. But I’m fine with the risk.
The recipients are not natural people. It’s always companies, orgs, and gov agencies. It mostly works as far as getting the signature. Most receptions treat me like bPost.
But there are exceptions. A gov agency refused to sign for a letter. Since I was not wearing bPost swag, they were alienated and said “we don’t do that… that is not how we work… send an e-mail”. I said “what if I send this by bPost registered letter? Would you accept it or refuse it?” They said they would accept that because I have to pay bPost. That’s bizarre, is it not?
I realise some people are like robots. They want every task to be in their job description. They want everything scripted. And if an unfamiliar request or situation arises, they’re like “nope, can’t do it… that job is not on my list so I cannot handle it”. Because of this, I sometimes have to go through a few people. But in the case at hand 3 different staff independently confidently refused to sign for the letter.
So the question is, is this legal? The sketchy legal theory I am envisioning is that this is kind of like bundling. That is, they are imposing a 3rd-party purchase on their otherwise free reception service. I wonder if anti-competition law can be stretched in this way. So I also wonder if there are any more direct laws that require gov offices and companies to sign for deliveries when asked.
This information is usually available after some research. Belgium is known to be a Microsoft organization.
https://www.ptb.be/actualites/le-ptb-demande-que-le-spf-finances-arrete-de-se-soumettre-microsoft-et-protege-la-vie
https://www.lesoir.be/149600/article/2018-04-06/quand-le-spf-finances-se-lie-microsoft
This is never going to change anything as the vast majority of citizens are going to use email if they can. If you really want to make a change, support parties who fight for that, like PTB in the link above.
Also, with bpost reducing its collection to 2 times per week, good luck.
https://www.rtbf.be/article/le-courrier-habituel-ne-sera-plus-distribue-que-deux-fois-par-semaine-des-2020-10255093
Probably not for every agency. More importantly, what would the point be? There is no decision you can make in the course of your workflow that would influence an agency’s internal storage systems. When submitting documents, your choices are email via MS Outlook, paper letter, or sometimes fax (which likely traverses MS e-mail servers). That’s it. Given those choices, it helps to know which the couriers are involved and what they see. It does not help to know about processes and tech you have no control over.
Exceptionally, you might also have the choice to not interact at all, in which case you can avoid their internal storage. But that is a rare option with public services as gov interactions are typically essential. Would you move to Germany over it? Probably not. So if you choose to live in Belgium and the gov chooses MS for their data storage, you are trapped. But at least you still have your choice of couriers.
I do cast my insignificant blunt drop in the ocean electoral vote once every 4 or so years, which is not mutually exclusive with taking other actions. But a single ballot has very little influence. I also vote every single day with my wallet and my data. That’s far more important and carries more influence. You can’t make significant change with your ballot alone.
W.r.t the election, I scrambled last minute to learn about voting options. I ended up voting for Ecolo, which had some pro-FOSS positioning (public money → public code IIRC). Glad you point out PTB, which superficially seems equally reasonable on digital rights.
Thanks for the link. That certainly reinforces the importance of using postal mail which is apparently under threat to shrink and further reduce service quality. I hand deliver a lot of my mail which does not directly help bPost, but then the recipient always responds via bPost because I withhold my email address from recipients whose address is MS hosted. So I am helping bPost indirectly this way. bPost’s continued existence is important for maintaining people’s ability to be offline at a time when the gov wants to force digital transformation down everyone’s throat.
From a principle perspective, what you do makes sense.
From a practical perspective, you are the very first person I hear about who goes that far in this direction (dealing with physical mail, delivering mail themselves), and I’ve spent most of my life in Belgium.
Good luck.
Indeed I know it’s rare to overcome the tyranny of convenience in this way because I even had to clear a spider web to open a mail slot for one recepient. I have also encountered mail slots that are taped shut.
I would love it if 1000 more people would do the same. Or even better, 10,000. The vote would count then.