Post distributed only around 1.7 billion addressed letters last year – a decrease of 5.6 percent compared to 2019.
This is not without consequences for the service: Since the end of May, the Post has hardly emptied its mailboxes on Sundays; the magazine “Saldo” found that out of 14,000 yellow boxes nationwide, just 300 are emptied on Sunday.
Rural areas are affected, but also urban districts. In the cantons of Jura, Nidwalden, Uri, Glarus and Thurgau, the postmen only empty a single mailbox on Sundays.
Pressure to save due to low volumes
The new regime also has drastic effects during the week: Only about half of all mailboxes are emptied after 9 a.m. In many places, this practically means the end of A Mail: envelopes that are only dropped in during the morning are not at their destination the following day.
The Post justified the cuts with the pressure to save due to the shrinking volume of letters. The Zurich SVP National Councilor Mauro Tuena (49) does not want to accept that: “This is a secret reduction in performance. And a massive one at that! ” It is not about keeping the mailbox network completely in its current scope. But Tuena does not want to accept a clear cut. “That is tedious for private households,” he says. “It is downright harmful for business, the SMEs.” For example, invoices delivered later would also be paid later.
Mail volume could decrease further
Post chief Roberto Cirillo (50) has been summoned to the relevant telecommunications commission of the National Council for the end of August. Mauro Tuena demands that he then point out alternative solutions. The Post has so far owed it.
At the same time, the Post not only met with incomprehension in the National Council Commission. The Grisons center-parliamentarian Martin Candinas (40) criticizes the SVP. “Let’s be honest: we will either give Swiss Post the opportunity to generate profits on the market with which it can fulfill its public service mandate – or the state will step in.” As is well known, the SVP firmly rejects both, says Candinas. “It’s just not honest to start scolding when compromises are made.”
The volume of letter mail is likely to decrease further in the future. “I don’t think that today’s prices for postal items can be maintained for long,” says Candinas. “Otherwise there will be further reductions in the public service.”