I have seen this at least twice now.

(background: Instead of paying bPost the extortionate cost of €10 to deliver a letter and collect a signature, I personally deliver the letter and ask for a signature.)

Most recipients are honest and simply sign. But in at least 2 cases I have seen the recipient open the envelope and read the letter in front of me before deciding whether to sign. That’s off, no? These are not individuals. It’s businesses and agencies who I approach to make a signed delivery.

Since I am not bPost, the situation is murky and does not seem to be legally defined. So I can understand some hesitation with signing as some recipients are alienated by a non-bPost courier. In fact 3 or so businesses/agencies outright refuse to sign, effectively giving bPost a monopoly on recorded delivery.

At the same time, the entities that refuse to sign for non-bPost recorded deliveries will accept email from anyone, which has the same legal status as recorded delivery. (Indeed it’s a terrible idea to give a simple email that does not pass through a digital notary service that level of standard of evidence, but that’s another matter). Anyway, it amounts to another situation where analog/offline people get unequal adverse treatment.