One in five Swiss post offices to close over next four years
Swiss Post will close about one in five of its branch offices by 2028. This means that in four years' time there will only be 600 post offices serving 2,000 locations. No jobs should be cut as a result.
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“We have to acknowledge that there has been a change in customer behaviour over the last four years,” Swiss Post CEO Roberto Cirillo told the Keystone-SDA news agency on Wednesday. The services at the counter are being used less and less. This is why Swiss Post must adapt its network.
No employees will be made redundant as a result of the reduction, Swiss Post said. Cirillo said that due to the large number of people retiring, Swiss Post would be hiring more staff across all of Switzerland over the next few years rather than implementing layoffs. “We will have to see how things differ on a case by case basis for each location,” said Cirillo.
Service centres
According to the CEO, it has not yet been decided which locations will be closed. Swiss Post will continue to have a nationwide network with 600 company-operated branches and 2,000 serviced locations throughout Switzerland, “in the valleys as well as in the cities”. But the format is changing.
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The branches are being developed into “service centres”, wrote Swiss Post. It is working together with banks, insurance companies, and authorities. Over the next four years, Swiss Post will invest over CHF100 million in staff, the modernisation of branches, and the development of new formats.
For locations where post offices must be closed, Swiss Post will work with municipalities to find follow-up solutions. For example, the “branch with partner” or the in-house service formats have proved successful. “We are confident that the population will continue to enjoy high quality public service from Swiss Post in the future,” said Cirillo.
A strengthened market position
As a provider of digital communication services, Swiss Post also wants to promote digital transformation in Switzerland and ensure the secure handling of data for all individuals, companies, and authorities, according to the press release. The fleet of vehicles is to be converted to emission-free models and Swiss Post will invest in the vehicle-charging infrastructure in Switzerland.
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However, for Swiss Post to continue to develop in the future and finance its public service without taxpayers’ money, it needs “appropriate legal and regulatory framework conditions”. Swiss Post therefore expects politicians to set the course for a basic service mandate of Swiss Post starting in 2030.
Adapted from German by DeepL/dkk/sb
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