In 2021, Swiss Post once again faced heavy challenges due to the pandemic, with a lockdown at the beginning of the year, ongoing coronavirus restrictions and many staff absences due to illness at the end of the year. Nevertheless, Swiss Post’s employees maintained the universal service at all times and processed some 202.1 million parcels, which is more than ever before. “I was very impressed by the huge commitment of our employees, and our thanks go to them,” says Johannes Cramer, Head of Logistics Services and a Member of Executive Management. “Every day, they delivered letters and parcels on time, proving to the Swiss population that they can rely on Swiss Post.”

Parcels: remarkable performance despite record volumes

This has also been officially confirmed. In 2021, Swiss Post once again met or even exceeded the targets for letters and parcels set by postal legislation. 97.0 percent of A Mail letters and 99.3 percent of B Mail letters reached customers on time over a 12-month period. The benchmark for letters is 97 percent. This means that Swiss Post has met the legally defined quality targets for A Mail and significantly exceeded them for B Mail. A total of 1,811 million addressed letters were sent. In comparison to the previous year, the figure for A Mail (−0.1 percent) remained practically the same, while B Mail items (+0.2 percent) were delivered even more punctually to letter boxes.

The delivery quality for parcels was also high: 95.0 percent of Priority parcels and 95.9 percent of Economy parcels reached their recipients on time during the relevant measurement period of eight months. For parcels, the benchmark is 95 percent. Swiss Post also met this target (for Priority) and slightly exceeded it (for Economy). In comparison to 2020, the figure for Priority was lower (−0.4 percent), while that of Economy was higher (+0.4 percent). In light of the many challenges and the record volume of parcels, this performance is quite remarkable – as already announced, parcel volumes increased by another 9.6 percent in 2021.

PostCom: force majeure acknowledged

Delivery time measurement served as the basis for the 2021 punctuality figures. The data for all individual parcels was analysed over a period of 52 weeks, and the data for around 65,000 test parcels was analysed for letters. The measurement procedures are carried out and monitored by independent measurement institutes. The results are reviewed and approved by the supervisory authority PostCom, which limited the relevant measurement period for parcels to eight months and excluded four months. Swiss Post has asserted as circumstances of force majeure both the January/February lockdown and the sharp increase in staff absences due to illness caused by the Omicron variant in the period from early November to late December. PostCom has acknowledged this.

Over the measurement period of 12 months, Swiss Post also proved reliable for parcels sent in 2021. In comparison to 2020, this is a significant improvement. For the whole year, the figure was 94.1 percent (+4.0 percent) for Priority parcels and 95.2 percent (+5.3 percent) for Economy parcels. This demonstrates how quickly Swiss Post adapted to the pandemic and, within two years, adjusted its parcel infrastructure to the accelerated development in online retail.

The future: more capacity and additional jobs

Swiss Post expects the upward trend in parcel volumes to continue in the future. For this reason, it is continuing to develop its infrastructure, modernize existing facilities and build more parcel centers. Swiss Post plans to double its sorting capacity by 2030 and is investing around 1.5 billion francs towards this. In this way, it is securing existing jobs and will create an estimated 1,500 new positions by 2030.

Information;

Erich Goetschi, Media Spokesperson, 058 341 37 42, presse@swisspost.ch